Minnesota legislature on track to end shutdown today; Details of bills

pioneer press ^ | 7-20-11 | Bill Salisbury, Dennis Lien and Doug Belden

[WOBBLY BOB]

The public was in the dark on many of the measures. When the session started, only seven of the 12 bills scheduled for votes were posted on the Legislature's website.

When lawmakers returned to the House and Senate floors shortly after 6 p.m., they quickly passed six of the 10 tax and spending bills that make up the budget. Most bills sailed through largely on party-line votes with little debate.

Still to come were three highly contentious spending bills to fund K-12 education, health and human services and state agencies. The House passed a controversial tax bill late Tuesday night.

Here's a look at the bills passed by the end of the day:

[Parmenio]

Reading the article, it looks like the bloated budgets for for the state university system have been pared back. About time.

[DManA]

But House Republicans dropped their proposal to phase out aid to Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth over the next three years.

Duluth literally lives on that money. Most of the money collected from real estate taxes goes to pay for retiree benefits.