There will be no state shutdown in Minnesota this year. But there may be a need for another special session after the governor and legislators played politics once more.

 

Tuesday, Gov. Mark Dayton announced he would sign 10 budget bills presented by the state legislature, but said he had issues with each bill.

 

The new $46 billion two-year budget will take effect in July, pre-empting a possible shutdown.

 

State lawmakers wrapped up their four-day special session just before 3 a.m. last Friday after voting for a $650 million tax cut, a $300 million transportation bill and $483 million in additional funding for schools. The healthcare budget includes more than $450 million in state spending cuts.

 

Dayton, however, was not pleased with some of the provisions in the tax bill. He called the move to add a last-minute provision to de-fund the Dept. of Revenue “a reprehensible sneak attack.” 

 

In a letter he signed Tuesday to the legislature, he wrote, “I will allow the tax bill to become law without my signature. I will not sign it, because of very major objections I have with certain provisions in it. However, I cannot veto it, because of the “poison pill” provision you snuck into the State Government bill, which attempts to eliminate all funding for the Minnesota Dept. of Revenue in fiscal years 2018 and 2019, if the tax bill were not enacted.”

 

In response to the move by legislators, Dayton said he would line-item veto appropriations for the House and Senate in fiscal years 18/19 and 20/21 and said he would only allow a special session to re-fund if legislators agreed to certain provisions, including eliminating tobacco tax breaks, cancelling the $1 million estate tax exclusion increase, eliminating the commercial-industrial property tax freeze after $100,000, removing redundant language that prohibits undocumented immigrants from obtaining drivers licenses, and renegotiating teachers licensure provisions.

 

Without the $82 million in state funding, both branches - the House and Senate, will run out of money for operations in a few months.

 

Dayton ended his letter to legislators with, “I will await your response.”