Minnesota Senate recesses as budget negotiations stall; leaders warn special session may be needed

St. Paul — The Minnesota Senate recessed to the call of the president on May 19, 2025, after senators said negotiations with the Minnesota House had stalled and that a special legislative session may be required to complete the state budget.

Senator Murphy said the Senate has worked through the session to process the budget but that last-minute additions by House Republicans had slowed several conference committee agreements. "For 3 weeks, we negotiated with the administration and with the house in a tie to reach joint targets," Senator Murphy said on the floor. "Every person in that room committed to doing the work to get this budget processed as swiftly as possible. And we've seen over and over again, particularly the House Republicans, adding new conditions and new ideas when budget bills are about to close."

The prospect of a special session followed floor activity including a House message about Senate File 2298, a housing finance bill, and several motions on the Senate floor. The secretary read the House message reporting that the House adopted the conference committee recommendation on Senate File 2298 and repassed the bill in accordance with that report; the message was received in the Senate. No Senate action was required on that message.

Senator Abler briefly brought a procedural motion about Senate File 3529, moving that it be withdrawn from the Committee on Finance, given a second reading and placed on general orders. Abler said the proposal provides a method for continuing operations by allocating one-twelfth of prior-year appropriations to agencies if agreement on budgets is not reached. He later withdrew the motion. "I didn't intend to take it to a vote," Abler said before withdrawing the motion.

The Senate also adopted an author's motion to refer Senate Resolution 52 to the Committee on Rules and Administration. When Senator Klein requested a roll call on another floor motion, the request was granted; however, most later procedural actions were decided by voice vote and recorded on the floor as "the motion prevails" rather than by roll-call tallies.

Senator Murphy urged continued negotiations and said senators would remain available to work. "We're gonna finish up the day. We're gonna go home. We're gonna get a little rest, and I'll be back here tomorrow, ready to get to work to finish this budget," he said. Murphy also said some conference committees and working groups would continue meeting to try to finalize remaining bills, and that formal conference committee action would resume once a special session is called if necessary.

Floor exchanges included policy disputes mentioned by senators: nursing home funding and proposals on MinnesotaCare for undocumented immigrants were cited as examples of items complicating talks. Senate speakers described the end-of-session negotiations as emotional and difficult because of the legislature's closely divided makeup.

The Senate recessed "to the call of the president," a procedural recess that allows the presiding officer to summon the chamber back when work is ready. No further floor votes advancing final conference reports were recorded in the transcript provided.