Minnesota Legislature: Minnesota's Budget Crisis



The Minnesota Senate has given preliminary approval to a bill that relieves cities, counties and school districts from dozens of state-imposed mandates. The bill is aimed at helping local officials save money. (04/06/2009)
City officials in South St. Paul worry that cuts in state aid by native son Tim Pawlenty will cause big problems. (04/05/2009)
At a time when many Minnesota school boards have been cutting programs and laying off teachers, school districts as a whole are sitting on record budget reserves. (04/03/2009)
The governors of Minnesota and Wisconsin say after looking at ways the two states can work together to save money, they've identified about $10 million in savings for each state. (03/31/2009)
Democrats in the Minnesota House have proposed a $200 million public works bill that borrows money for higher education, rail projects and flood mitigation. (03/30/2009)
Governor Pawlenty and DFL legislative leaders made little progress on the state budget during a private meeting Thursday. DFLers complained that the governor doesn't appear willing to balance the state's budget over the long term. Governor Pawlenty said he opposes the DFL plans to raise taxes to help erase the state's $4.6 billion budget deficit. (03/26/2009)
Gov. Tim Pawlenty is proposing that state employees agree to take up to 48 days of unpaid leave over the next two years as a way to save money. Union officials say the plan for forced furloughs is unacceptable. (03/26/2009)
Gov. Tim Pawlenty said he has invited top legislative Democrats to his office on Thursday to discuss fixing Minnesota's deficit. (03/25/2009)
Gov. Pawlenty is criticizing Democrats in both the House and Senate for not saying which taxes they plan to increase to balance the budget. (03/20/2009)
Key lawmakers of both parties debate the merits of the new tax and spending proposals from Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, the Senate DFL and the House DFL. (Midday, 03/20/2009)
Democrats in the Minnesota House have released a proposal to erase the state's projected $4.6 billion deficit with a combination of spending cuts, accounting shifts, tax increases and a big shot of one-time federal stimulus money. (03/19/2009)
The chair of the state Senate Taxes Committee says he's looking at a wide range of revenue options to help balance the state budget. Among them are raising income tax rates to 1990 levels, as well as taxing Internet sales and music downloads. (03/18/2009)
Using federal stimulus funds, Gov. Tim Pawlenty proposes a further increase for K-12 schools and restores cuts made to colleges and universities -- but also cuts spending on health care. Two state senators react the the proposal. (Midday, 03/18/2009)
Minnesota Lawmakers have held hearings and set up a web site asking the public for ideas on how to solve the state's budget shortfall. One former legislator says some of those ideas are helpful, but the big decisions are usually dictated by party leaders. (03/17/2009)
Gov. Tim Pawlenty's revised budget proposal uses money from the federal stimulus package to restore funding to some programs that were cut in his earlier budget. (03/17/2009)

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