Moody's Investor Service, one of the three big bond rating agencies, has announced a negative outlook for Minnesota's creditworthiness. MMB's Schowalter implores lawmakers to solve long-term fiscal woes.

After the framework of a budget deal was announced last Thursday, commissioners, chairs and fiscal staff members went to work, turning the still-closed Capitol into a hive of private meetings on each bill, featuring shuttle diplomacy visits from the leadership as needed.

After a seven-month standoff between DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and the Republican-controlled Legislature that produced an unprecedented three-week government shutdown, the state budget impasse came to a rapid conclusion this week as the House and Senate worked through the night on Tuesday to pass a set of budget bills during a one-day special session. Dayton responded just as quickly, signing the legislation in a ceremony at his office at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Jim Schowalter says state agencies can restart a day after the Legislature and Gov. Mark Dayton approve a final budget bill, but it could take weeks for services to return to normalcy.

One of the three big New York bond houses today downgraded Minnesota's credit rating. The decision, which is being blamed on years of failure to solve the state's structural budget problems, will lead to higher borrowing costs, state officials say.

After Gov. Dayton refused to let key commissioners testify last week, they appeared before the Legislative Commission on Planning and Fiscal Policy for two heated, but largely inconsequential, hearings.

In a news conference Tuesday, Dayton said he wants Republicans to pass their conference committee reports off both floors by May 6, giving the executive branch and legislators a little more than two weeks to hammer out a final deal to solve the $5 billion budget deficit.

Myron Frans didn't ease into his new role in the Minnesota political world. Within days of starting his job as Gov. Mark Dayton's head of Revenue on April 6, Frans and Budget Commissioner Jim Schowalter penned a contentious letter to Republican leaders. It warned them that their budgets were at least $1.2 billion shy of solving the state's $5 billion budget deficit, and were based on unsound fiscal notes and estimates.

Minnesota has traditionally enjoyed high marks from the three primary credit rating agencies - Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings. Starting in 1997, all three firms gave the state their highest Aaa rating. But in 2003 Moody's downgraded Minnesota's bond rating to Aa1, citing concerns about balancing the state's books through volatile, short-term fixes. The assessments of the three firms have remained fixed ever since.

Gov. Mark Dayton's top two finance officials sent a letter to Republican leadership in the Legislature Monday saying their budget proposals fall short of balancing the $5 billion budget deficit. But GOP leaders say Dayton's February budget proposal is the version that doesn't add up.