The Taxpayers League of Minnesota is airing a new television commercial on cable stations calling on DFL Gov. Mark Dayton to negotiate a budget without tax increases. The ad asserts that state government spending would increase by 12 percent in the next biennium under the $34 billion budget that was passed by the Republican-led Legislature.

On Wednesday state GOP chair Tony Sutton sent out an email to local Republican leaders across the state imploring them to engage the debate over the budget impasse at the Capitol. The "action plan memo" calls on GOP activists to create a grassroots campaign to counteract the $500,000 to $1 million advertising campaign that Alliance for a Better Minnesota is bankrolling to support DFL Gov. Mark Dayton's budget plan.

The state Republican party has created a new web site criticizing Gov. Mark Dayton for a likely government shutdown. The site references Dayton's decision to shut down his U.S. Senate office in 2004 as evidence of a pattern of unpredictable behavior under pressure.

One day after the close of the legislative session, DFL Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed all nine budget bills passed by the GOP-controlled Legislature. Dayton's rejection of the Republican budget plan -- which eliminates the state's $5 billion budget deficit without any additional revenue -- sets up the prospect of a government shutdown when the fiscal year comes to a close at the end of June.

Department of Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson has detailed 41 concerns about the House and Senate health and human services bills in a letter to legislative leaders. The two proposals, which account for roughly one third of the state's budget, are currently being debated in a conference committee.

The House budget proposal would create a $3.5 billion budget deficit in the 2014-15 biennium. That's more than three times as large as the shortfalls projected under budgets proposed by the Senate and DFL Gov. Mark Dayton.

The top two finance officials in Gov. Mark Dayton's administration believe that budget proposals put forth by the GOP-controlled Legislature fall short of balancing the state's books by at least $1 billion. In a letter to legislative leaders, Revenue Commissioner Myron Franz and Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Jim Schowalter detail concerns about the fiscal soundness of budget plans recently passed by the House and Senate.

A provision repealing early adoption of the Medicaid expansion will be added to the House finance bill, according to Rep. Jim Abeler, chair of the Health and Human Services Finance Committee.

The House Health and Human Services Finance Committee is expected to vote on the $10.7 billion budget bill this afternoon. The hearing will likely be a long slog. There are currently more than five dozen amendments listed on the committee page to be vetted.

Department of Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson sent a letter to Rep. Jim Abeler today chastising him for the lack of fiscal notes scrutinizing key provisions of the House's health and human services finance bill. Specifically Jesson took issue with four provisions designed to save $1.2 billion -- roughly 75 percent of the GOP's overall budget reduction target -- that haven't been thoroughly vetted by fiscal staff.