Capitol Latest: Lawmakers race to the finish line to put finishing touches on budget and other bills

The measure includes car tab fee reductions, fraud protections, and a bonding bill that includes funding to renovate St. Paul's Grand Casino Arena.

"The good news is that this is a fiscally responsible budget that reduces the long term over the horizon structural deficit by 12.5%, which once again puts Minnesota, if not the top, one of the top most fiscally sound states in the country," Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has said.

Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth says they were able to secure critical funding for Hennepin County Medical Center.

"We did that by not extending the Hennepin County ballpark tax," Demuth said Thursday. "We were able to allow that, as it is expected to sunset, so we were able to help HCMC without any raising of taxes."

Walz says they should get everything nailed down before Monday's mandated adjournment.

"This is the point where the leaders had to make decisions and now they have to go back to very unhappy legislators and tell them what was agreed upon," Walz adds. And then you got to bring those things over the finish line. So there's more work to be done. That's where they're at. These will go around the clock until Monday morning."

It's a bipartisan deal that leaders in both houses say make sense.

"We were very reluctant to go up to $1.2 billion unless we had a deal that was something that we thought our caucus could get behind and Minnesotans would agree with at the end of the day," adds Senate Republican Leader Mark Johnson. "What we're looking at right now is a good package going forward. We're at the upper extremity of what we're comfortable with, but I think if this sticks, we'll be in a very good spot."

Lawmakers have until midnight Sunday to finish up their work and potentially vote on the measure.

DFL stages a sit-in over a lack of a vote on gun legislation

On Friday, the House is in recess but will still work behind the scenes until Saturday afternoon. But not before an extremely chaotic end to Thursday's session.

That followed six hours of debate over whether to bring a gun control bill to a floor vote, something Walz and the DFL have been calling for since the tragic mass shooting at Annunciation.

The motion failed along party lines. At that point, Demuth gaveled out over the loud protests of Democrats who tried to shout her down.

It was then that some DFL lawmakers began a 'sit-in' inside the House chamber to continue to demand an up or down vote on the already-passed Senate bill. That bill would, among other things, ban semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity magazines.

Demuth, speaking to Vineeta Sawkar on the WCCO Morning News, says votes have already taken place in committees, and said even when the DFL had full control of the House and Senate in 2023-24, they never brought a gun bill to a vote because they didn't have enough support in their ranks.

"These are the same people that didn't show up to work last year for 23 days," Demuth says. "They boycotted the session because they didn't like the math of where we were at, and the organization that was taking place with the tie, and then a one seat advantage by the Republicans. Now they're sitting in to protest something that has already taken place."

When asked by DFL Rep. Jamie Long if the bill will be brought up for a floor vote Thursday, Demuth answered, "the bill is still being reviewed."

"It's outrageous," says House DFL Leader Zack Stephenson. "Everyone from the parents of the Annunciation children to members of our community have been asking us to have a vote on meaningful gun violence prevention measures, and to try and get these weapons of war off the street. And Republicans will do nothing, will do everything in their power to stop that vote from happening."

Also on Thursday, a group of gun reform advocates delivered a petition with 7,000 signatures to Demuth asking that she let the vote be taken.

"Believe me, in six months from now, all of Minnesota will have a voice," said Chad Kuyper, with the Minnesota chapter of Moms Demand Action. "The entire legislature is on the ballot, and we will remember who stood up for the safety of our communities and who ran and hid."

The Senate passed a bill ten days ago, that would ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines. It passed along party lines, with the DFL holding a one-seat advantage in the Senate.

"We have said single subject individual bills are how we're gonna do this and so that is why then you saw last night the bill that was brought up as an urgency by a Democrat. That's why it was fully debated on the House floor," added Demuth.

Prior to Thursday, Demuth and House Republican Floor Leader Harry Niska had not given a reason for the Senate bill going missing in action, other than to say that such a comprehensive bill would have to go through the committee process.

They elaborated a bit more at a Thursday news conference.

Demuth said House committees have heard several DFL-sponsored gun control bills that are in the Senate bill, but they failed due to a lack of bipartisan support. “We have absolutely taken votes; they just haven’t turned in the way that we’re hearing some people want.”

Claims of indecent language exchanged between House members

Overnight, a video and social media posts that show expletives were flying in the House chamber.

A social media post by Republican Rep. Elliot Engen claiming that DFL Rep. and Tax Chair Aisha Gomez suggested he “go ****ing kill himself" with his gun.

Gomez issues a counter statement with audio suggesting she didn’t say it, and audio to prove it from another clip.

It's difficult to determine what was exactly said in the video Engen posted, and a video shared by KSTP-TV also shows the scene without the words Engen claims were said. It sounds like Gomez says "think of them, not yourself." That is followed by another person calling Engen a "****ing coward," but it's difficult to determine who said it.

Regardless ofwhat was said, which is still not clear, both Fredriksen and Haydn condemned the heated exchange.

"Yeah, I mean, the decorum aspect of this, I'm really concerned about," says Haydn. "And we have been concerned about this, that the lack of decorum actually filters out into our community. I would hope that Chair Gomez didn't say it, and she said she didn't, and the investigation would ensue."

Fredriksen concurred, and added it's a dangerous precedent for leadership.

"We're in a dangerous era for politicians and politics, I do think it needs to be gotten to the bottom of, and I do think that there needs to be, if things were said, there needs to be some repercussions," she says. "It was difficult to hear. I'm watching videos, so I'm always hesitant to make bold statements when I haven't been there in person, and when it's a video that I'm not sure where that came from. So, we'll see what comes out of it, but very dangerous."

Speaker Demuth said on WCCO Radio Friday morning that she has asked DFL Leader Stephenson to removed Gomez from her position as Tax Chair, and denounced the actions by Gomez.

"I've watched the video and I did talk to Representative Gomez," says Leader Stephenson. "I think the video is very clear that she did not say the things that Representative Engen alleges. It's very clear that she encouraged Representative Engen to think about other people and not himself. It's unfortunate that Representative Engen is mischaracterizing those words."