The 38-year-old Golden Valley representative has emerged as one of the DFL's most outspoken progressives.

After a steady flow of budget bills on the House floor that appropriate general fund money for the 2014-2015 budget period, the House on Wednesday night passed the tax bill intended to pay for the spending.

By most accounts, a constitutional amendment to make it harder to raise taxes was a key sweetener offered by House Republican leaders last summer in their efforts to entice the chamber’s most conservative members into voting for the budget deal that ended Minnesota’s historic government shutdown.

DFL Gov. Mark Dayton said that it is a "fantasy island" scenario for Republicans to believe that the state will receive a waiver from the federal government in time for the start of the next biennium in July.

After several hours of debate and failed amendment attempts from Democrats on Thursday, the GOP-proposed bill passed off the floor with a 37-27 party-line vote. The bill makes about $1 billion worth of cuts by making permanent reductions to local government aid, higher education and health care made at the end of the 2010 session.

Dayton's cabinet picks have leaned toward individuals with few close ties to the Capitol. But in assembling his legislative affairs staff, the DFL governor is relying on a roster of legislative veterans with established relationships under the dome.

Twenty-six states elected new governors last month - 17 Republicans, eight Democrats and one independent - and now they are going to have to reconcile their principles and campaign promises with some harsh fiscal realities: This is the worst budget climate for the states in at least a generation.

The 2010 elections bolstered the ranks of fiscally conservative Republicans in the Legislature. And that spells trouble for a bonding bill's prospects in the 2011 legislative session.

Nearly a quarter of respondents would fix the budget gap solely with tax hikes, and just 12 percent would close the deficit by spending cuts alone.

With the release of another economic forecast this week, fiscal analysts, lawmakers, reporters and the rest of the Capitol world set about their semi-annual search through the details of the state’s most recent budget performance.