After a long week of marathon floor sessions in both the Minnesota House and Senate, legislators are wrapping up a busy week of debating and passing major spending legislation. The spending bills, which include appropriations for health care, environment, transportation and education, will now be hammered out in conference committees which are expected to begin meeting next week.
Major differences remain between the bills.
The end of the 2000 legislative session is still expected before the Easter holiday weekend. Although conferees will be working diligently to reconcile differences between the House and Senate spending bills, they are doing so without the blessing of Governor Jesse Ventura who has warned legislators that he will veto most major spending initiatives. Ventura has consistently stated that the legislative agenda during the second year of the biennium should be limited to producing a bonding bill and that he will veto any major spending bills that reach his desk. If Ventura is to keep to his word, legislators will likely recess and return to the Capitol after Ventura vetoes legislation and then attempt to override a number of the Governor's vetoes. It takes a two-thirds majority in both houses to override a gubernatorial veto.