DFL deficit: Budget negotiations continue in secret

The Monday deadline for Minnesota’s legislators to pass a budget came and went without a budget being passed. We did get an agreement on spending targets for the upcoming two biennia, a crucial step towards getting a budget deal, and the details of this are now being thrashed out in secret meetings.

“And when we get behind closed doors…”

“In the place of committee meetings, lawmakers are meeting in working groups to go over the budget,” Minn Post’s Matthew Blake explains:

With the exception of a taxes bill working group, the date and time of these meetings have not been made public, despite Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, telling reporters late Monday night that the sessions “should be public.”

The groups are the outcome of the Legislature adjourning without passing spending bills for health care, K-12 education, transportation, and the environment, among other areas. 

From the outside, working groups appear to be like a conference committee, which is where House and Senate lawmakers iron out their differences. Except conference committees meet in public. 

Puttin’ in Overtime at Home

The working groups were expected to report their progress on bills to House Speaker Lisa Demuth (R), Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman (DFL), and Sen. Murphy in similarly secret meetings last night. They did not. As KSTP’s Tom Hauser reports:

Minnesota legislative leaders issued a self-imposed deadline of 5 p.m. Wednesday for “working groups” to finish agreements on budget bills ranging from health and human services to education. The deadline came and went with no agreements announced.

When these committees do report, Blake explains: 

…legislative leaders will meet with Walz. That meeting will be public. I’m just kidding, of course. It’ll also be behind closed doors. 

At some point, it would seem, when these budget bills have been hammered out, Walz will call a special session of the Legislature. 

There, lawmakers are expected to rapidly pass these budget bills they have been negotiating in private. 

“Leaders say they hope a special session could happen as soon as the end of the week, or possibly following the Memorial Day weekend,” the Pioneer Press‘ Alex Derosier reports.

You might think all this violates Minnesota’s 1957 Open Meeting Law. It doesn’t. As Blake, again, helpfully explains, the Legislature passed a bill exempting itself from this law back in 1990. Democracy thrives in darkness.

I’ll Wake You Up When I Get Home

It is anybody’s guess what will end up in these bills and what won’t. All manner of tittle tattle is floating around. “There also isn’t any publicly available document with complete details on the deal between Walz and legislative leaders,” Derosier notes:

Most of the information has come in the form of statements from officials. And the information hasn’t always been complete.

For example, Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth made it seem like cuts to state aid for private schools are off the table, while House DFL leader Melissa Hortman has told reporters that they remain subject to negotiations.

A cut to the state family and medical leave payroll tax touted by Demuth as part of the deal turned out to be a decrease to a cap on the maximum rate.

“No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session,” Gideon J. Tucker famously said. How much more imperiled is all that when it is session but won’t let you see what it is doing? The German statesman Otto von Bismarck is reputed to have said that “Laws are like sausages; it is better not to see them being made.” Budgets too, apparently.

We will do our best to let you know what is going on, so watch this space.