When the House and Senate gaveled to order on Feb. 4 for the 2010 legislative session, Minnesota faced a $1.2 billion budget deficit (later revised down to "only" $994 million). Our state's economy was in a slump, unemployment was high and funding for General Assistance Medical Care was set to expire, leaving thousands without health care.

Lawmakers hit the ground running and promised to fix all of these problems. By late March, several key pieces of legislation had already passed, including a $680 million bonding bill, a package of tax incentives for businesses and a compromise plan to restore partial funding to GAMC. The legislature also passed a bill that solved roughly one-third of the deficit through spending cuts.

By April, the legislature appeared to be on track for an early finish. Then, officials received word that $408 million in expected federal funding would not arrive in time for lawmakers to use to solve the budget crisis. Eight days later, the Minnesota Supreme Court threw out the governor’s $2.7 billion in unallotments from 2009, turning the entire session on its head.

The sudden ballooning of the state’s deficit in the final days of the session nearly derailed four months of hard work, but a last-minute deal between legislative leaders and Governor Pawlenty was eventually reached.

The House and Senate will reconvene Jan. 4, 2011, when legislators will begin work on erasing a $5.8 billion deficit projected for Fiscal Years 2012-13.* In the meantime, an election will determine who controls the House and Senate as well as the Governor’s office next year. The winners have a lot of work ahead of them.

*This number would be reduced to just over $1 billion if the school shift is made permanent, cuts to local aid and the unallotment (now legislated cuts) are made permanent, and we continue not to consider inflation in this projection.