Minnesota Report
Discussions we are having with the members of the Republican Senate Majority, which we see as the essential element, to whether a Special Session occurs, are split. We are hearing assessments of 50/50, but largely contingent of whether the three sides, Governor Tim Walz b(DFL-MN), House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-36B, Brooklyn Park) and the lynchpin Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller (R-14, Winona) and cut a deal.
This deal will need to be ironclad, all of the agreements reached before the members are called back and all of the I’s dotted and the t’s crossed. Unlike the broader agreement provided near the end of the regular session. Problem is the three are not talking, and no shuttle diplomacy appears to be occurring.
When the legislators went home after the session, conversations we are having is an increase in intractability, rather than more of an amenable position, and this is again, mainly from the Republican side. They want permanent tax cuts, when the funding is only one-time, and as we are the only source to have pointed out contrary to Miller’s give it all back rhetoric, the surplus is only 36.74% from income tax revenue.