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Surprise snags are part of unfinished business at Minnesota Capitol

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Published  May 20, 2025 6:57pm CDT
Politics
FOX 9
Minnesota lawmakers headed to special session

Minnesota lawmakers headed to special session

The deadline has come and gone, and the Minnesota Legislature is headed for a special session, where lawmakers will work to try and agree on a statewide budget among other priorities. FOX 9’s Corin Hoggard is live from the Capitol with the latest developments.

The Brief

    • Some surprise snags are among the reasons legislators couldn't complete a budget during the 2025 regular session, which wrapped up Monday.
    • A cannabis tax increase, who chooses University of Minnesota regents, and paid family and medical leave are among the unexpected differences after a global budget agreement last week.
    • Working groups are working on a Wednesday evening deadline to sew up the various bills before leaders inject themselves into the negotiations. Gov. Walz plans to call a special session when agreements are in place, but likely not until next week at the earliest.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Several months' worth of drama at the Minnesota Capitol ended with a whimper Monday night, and now we’re into overtime.

What went wrong?

Surprise snags:

The most difficult issues are still unsettled, but some surprise snags have popped up as well.

The legislature hit the finish line without completing eleven out of the 20 omnibus bills, but the work started Tuesday to sew those up.

Most of those negotiations are happening behind closed doors, but taxes – the last bill expected to pass – was the first to get a public hearing in between times.

House and Senate tax bills are vastly different, but last week’s global agreement between leaders bridged a lot of the gap.

It’s also a surprise sore spot in the agreement because it includes increasing the cannabis tax from 10% to 15%.

"Look, we said no tax increases, and so that applies to everything," said Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, (R-East Grand Forks).

Pop-up problems

New deal?:

Senate Republicans didn’t sign the deal, and they’re trying to use some rare leverage for the minority party to sweeten it.

"There were a number of issues that were popping up," said Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy (DFL-St. Paul).

Murphy said Republicans are trying to tweak at least six bills from the terms leaders agreed to last week.

House GOP leadership acknowledged only one change, but with some DFL support.

"There's a majority in the Senate that wants to fix paid family medical leave, but Democrats are continuing to hold that up as something that would not be possible," said House Floor Leader Harry Niska (R-Ramsey).

Big healthcare compromise

Still holding:

The GOP also argues that DFLers want the biggest tweak because a lot of them are still fighting the change to MN Care coverage for undocumented immigrants, but that seems like one of the pieces most likely to stick whenever the special session arrives, probably not until next week at the earliest.

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