This was a pretty busy week at the Capitol, with both the House and Senate preparing their budget omnibus bills and the House beginning to roll theirs out. Committee chairs released the initial drafts and then they were marked up with amendments. Many were passed out of committee but some of the larger ones are still going through the process.  "Third Deadline" will be one week from today, so finance committees are racing to get all budget bills and markups squared away on time.  

In other news, Governor Walz gave his first State of the State speech, highlighting his goals for this session and how he hopes to work with the legislature. Read all about it below.