Almanac: At the Capitol

It depends whom you to talk to about end of session negotiations whether it's time to panic or remain calm. The Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem says, "I fear dearly we may simply walk off a cliff this session with no agreement at all." He says Democrats have failed miserably in leadership in specifically addressing a nearly billion dollar budget shortfall. Some sarcastically wondered if the news wasn't that the Senate minority was having a news conference; they are the quietest caucus at the Capitol. Although Sen. Geoff Michel gets a good amount of press because he's simply a smooth quote machine.

Budget negotiations will pick up this weekend. Lawmakers and the governor are set to meet at 11:00am Saturday and are keeping Sunday open as well. That is a good sign and there is still some optimism. House Majority Leader Tony Sertich chided us for questioning if 8 or 9 legislative days are enough to finish everything up. For non-Capitol dwellers, the session doesn't end until Monday May 19th, but they can't pass bills on the final day and don't like to work on Sunday, so Friday the 17th exactly two weeks from now is the real deadline. A legislative day is a day where either the House or Senate meets in session.

The House leaders seemed relaxed and confident in contrast to the concern from the Senate minority on the fate of the end of session. Speaker Kelliher said she trusts Sen. Pogemiller wants to negotiate bills, but not everyone is sure if the House should trust the Senate. The two chambers have big differences on issues like property taxes. Remember if lawmakers don't reach a deal with the governor, he can unallot — that means unilaterally cut — but some things he can't cut. Kelliher says the judicial branch could not suffer under unallotment so certain parts of government might prefer unallotment because they'd be safe from cuts either the governor or lawmakers have proposed.