UPDATED: Special Session Drags into Wednesday Morning

As of 1 a.m. Wednesday, eight bills were on their way to Gov. Mark Dayton's office to be signed into law. Two additional bills had been passed in the House but not the Senate.

Sen. Chris Gerlach (R-District 37), Rosemount, said Tuesday night he anticipated that lawmakers would pass all 12 budget bills, sending them to Gov. Mark Dayton to sign into law. He also said lawmakers will look at a bonding measure Tuesday night, as well.

"I am pleasantly surprised at what we were able to accomplish in these bills," he said Tuesday night, and said he would vote in favor of all the bills.

For example, he said, while the Health and Human Services bill originally was slated to increase in cost by 22 percent over the previous biennium, that increase likely will sit at 4.8 percent—"the most cost control that we have had in that area in decades," he said.

He also said he thinks there will be an "enormous amount" of positive education reform, and "a lot of good things" in state government finance as well.

Gerlach said a downside of the budget agreement is the state aid shift for schools, which will give districts 60 percent of their aid during the current school year, rather than the 70 percent they have received for the past few years. The rest, then, is paid after the year is over.

"Nobody likes the shift," he said. "There’s no question about it.”

He said, however, that the $700 million impact of that measure is small in the grand scheme of the $5 billion deficit the state faced at the beginning of the budget process; it will have "very little impact" on most school districts, he said.

The K-12 Education bill that will contain details about the school shift was still being drafted Tuesday night, he said.

Between the hours of 7 and 8 p.m. Tuesday, the process was moving along smoothly. Within 45 minutes, the Senate passed six bills and the House passed five. Then they recessed.

Lawmakers adjourned to discuss some of the most contentious and complex pieces of upcoming legislation. The bills: health and human services, taxes, K-12 education, bonding, pension and state government.

When the parties reconvened at 9:30 p.m., the finger-pointing began.

“This budget is morally bankrupt,” Rep. Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley) said while debating on the House floor. “The GOP are the first majority to leave the state worse off than they found it financially.”

Minority Leader Paul Thissen (DFL-Minneapolis) added: “This is a beg, borrow and steal budget. It borrows and steals from Minnesota’s future and begs the people of our state to look the other way as once again (Republicans) simply kick the can down the road. ... Republicans have nothing to be proud of today. In fact, Republicans have every reason to hang your heads in shame.”

GOP House Majority Leader Matt Dean (R-Dellwood) fired back at DFL counterparts, accusing them of forgetting to do their jobs by balancing the budget and “dragging (Minnesota) into a shutdown.”  

As it stands, listed below are the bills and the votes that passed them:

Special Session Bills
Senate Judiciary/Public Safety bill: 57-7
House Judiciary/Public Safety bill: 77-51

Senate Environment bill: 43-22
House Environment bill: 71-57

Senate Jobs and Economic Growth bill: 42-23
House Jobs and Economic Growth bill: 76-50

Senate Transportation bill: 38-27
House Transportation bill: 71-56

Senate Higher education bill: 35-30
House Higher education bill: 71-57

Senate Health & Human Services bill:
House Health & Human Services bill: 71-57

Senate K-12 education bill:
House K-12 education bill:

Senate State Government bill:
House State Government bill:

Senate Legacy bill: 65-0
House Legacy bill: 98-30

Senate Pension bill: 61-3
House Pension bill: 115-12

Senate Taxes bill: 37-27
House Taxes bill: 71-57

Senate Bonding bill:
House Bonding bill: 112-17

The overall budget proposal contains some measures Gerlach and other lawmakers are "not overjoyed about," like school aid shifts or tobacco bond borrowing, "it's something we were forced to do."

"The No. 1 most important thing is ... to open up the state government again," he said.

Dayton has maintained that he will not sign any bills until all 12 have passed the House and Senate.