The bills are the first to pass the Senate, where a number of shutdown-mitigating bills have been introduced. Republicans are also weighing an "umbrella" shutdown bill.

If there’s one thing lobbyists and longtime Capitol observers of all stripes can agree on with respect to the 2012 legislative session, it’s that the pressure is off.

A Republican state senator is moving legislation through committee that would hit lawmakers in their pocketbooks when they don’t pass a budget on time.

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.

Issuing tobacco bonds to help fix the budget deficit was perhaps the most controversial aspect of the ultimate budget deal agreed to by Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican leadership at the Capitol.

Support for an amendment to ban same-sex marriage stands at 44 percent; more than half of respondents blame the Republican-held Legislature for last summer's government shutdown.

Sitting down at the long, rectangular wooden table in the back of the governor’s reception room on Thursday, Gov. Mark Dayton noted that the last time he had sat there was during the 20-day state government shutdown that ended in July.

Gildea did, however, hint that arguments could be heard later, writing that "counsel will be notified at a later date regarding oral argument."

Attorney Erick Kaardal says core separation of powers and constitutional questions remain and deserve a resolution.

"I’m not entirely happy with this budget," Dayton said after signing the budget bills at the Capitol this morning. "But it’s the best option that is available."