Minnesota
Minnesota lawmakers continue to finish work behind the scenes, layoff notices go to most state workers soon if they don’t pass budget
Minnesota lawmakers continued their behind-the-scenes work on Tuesday as they eye a partial government shutdown next month if they don’t complete the next two-year state budget by July 1.
Most state employees will receive layoff notices next Monday if a special session approving those spending plans isn’t over by then, Gov. Tim Walz’s office said.
Walz won’t officially call lawmakers back to the capitol until all of the remaining bills are ready to go. Lawmakers have been in mostly private meetings to make that happen, finding agreement and then sending it to the revisor’s office for drafting.
Key lawmakers have been meeting in “working groups” since the May 20, after the regular session ended, to sort out the details of each unifinished bill. Some broader agreements and actual proposals are posted on the Legislature’s website, including a K-12 spending package.
If they don’t complete their work by the deadline at the end of the month, state services and programs would only partially shut down because some parts of the budget did pass before adjournment last month, including funding for the courts, attorney general’s office, and agriculture and veterans departments. State workers in those agencies would be held harmless.
The last time there was a government shutdown was in 2011. Four years ago in 2021, lawmakers in a divided capitol narrowly avoided one, passing the remaining parts of the budget June 30 during a special session.
DFL Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy told WCCO Sunday she hopes there will be a special session this week, but legislative leaders and key negotiators have blown past other self-imposed deadlines the last few weeks.
What’s unclear is how the Legislature will approve a part of a budget deal between legislative leaders and the governor that would remove undocumented immigrant adults from a state program providing health care coverage, which is sparking outcry among several DFL lawmakers.
Murphy has said it needs to be a stand-alone bill, while GOP House Speaker Lisa Demuth wants it to be part of a broader health package.
The mother of 10-year-old Harper Moyski, who was killed during the mass shooting late last month at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, remembered her on Sunday as a fierce, curious and funny child who “didn’t water herself down.”
Hundreds gathered at the Lake Harriet Bandshell in Minneapolis to celebrate Moyski’s life. Speakers also called for people to dedicate themselves to building a less violent American society.
Moyski and another student at Annunciation Catholic School, 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel, were killed and 21 others were injured in the Aug. 27 shooting.
Moyski’s mother, Jackie Flavin, told the mourners that their support had lifted the family when it felt as if it had been dropped at the bottom of an ocean “where it’s pitch black and the pressure is crushing.”
She said Moyski, who loved dogs and hoped to be a veterinarian, taught them “how to be a light in the dark.”
“She had her own point of view, her own sense of style, her own way of being. She didn’t wait for permission. She didn’t water herself down,” Flavin said. “And she really taught us to show up exactly as you are.”
Flavin also called Moyski “extra in the very best way.”
“Harper didn’t do anything halfway,” she said. “Always choosing the premium versions, always going for the extra scoop.”
The memorial came only four days after the fatal shooting of conservative activist and leader Charlie Kirk as he spoke at Utah Valley University.
During the celebration of Moyski’s life, speakers expressed frustration and anger that gun violence — particularly shootings that kill schoolchildren — hasn’t stopped.
Another extended family member, Rabbi Jason Rodich, urged people to avoid the acrimony of social media and “the scorched earth of these times.”
“Turn just a little to the warm soul beside you,” he said. “Do it for Harper. Do it for you.”
This story will be updated.
NOTE: The original airdate of the video attached to this article is Sept. 12, 2025.
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