Last week the Senate passed their full budget proposal in one, combined omnibus bill. The house took up various smaller spending bills over the course of this week, but then yesterday they debated the final sections and combined them into one omnibus spending bill to match up with the Senate bill.
The House and Senate bills - not surprisingly - contain significant differences on how to spend the projected $329 million surplus. Additionally, both bills have a significant number of policy provisions the Governor has already said he will not accept.
In addition to the legislative bodies finalizing their budget plans, the Governor also interjected a new budget proposal; with reports that many schools districts are facing significant layoffs, Governor Dayton is calling for additional money for schools, over and above what
was in his original funding proposal. Education Finance chairs in both bodies questioned the need for these funds and cited their spending bills had already bees passed when Dayton's proposal was released.
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