The key financial committee leaders in both houses of the Legislature are withholding judgment for now, but their caucus leaders are striding forward with companion bills to remove the fiscal note process from MMB.

For casual observers outside Minnesota health care policy circles, the health insurance exchange that’s being pursued under the strictures of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act appeared to be a collaborative process. At least until recently.

Members of the GOP legislative majorities came into the 2012 session carrying some unflattering baggage ahead of the fall election. Last year they agreed to a budget deal that shifted an additional $750 million of K-12 school aid into the future.

Many of the questions focused on the government shutdown last year, and whether steps should be taken to ensure state spending or programs continue in the event of a future impasse.

The net cost to the state of July's three-week partial government shutdown came to roughly $5 million, according to a report released Tuesday by the Minnesota Department of Management and Budget. During that time, Minnesota lost some $50 million in revenues that the state cannot recover, spent nearly $10.5 million in costs related to unemployment insurance, and spent another $10 million on special expenses associated with closing and then reopening many state services. But that $70 million or so in costs was largely offset by $65 million in payroll savings from the salaries of 19,000 laid-off state employees.

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.

Planners for a new Vikings stadium may have come up with a solution for one part of the financing puzzle — one that improves the stadium’s opportunities in the bond market but also may threaten new skirmishes at the Legislature.

Thirteen unions representing approximately 43,000 workers are locked in difficult negotiations with the state over health care insurance premiums for the next two years.

As Gov. Mark Dayton’s self-imposed deadline of Nov. 7 to announce a stadium proposal draws close, there’s growing sentiment that he is seriously weighing whether to cover the state’s share of the project with revenue from electronic pulltabs.

Although the state won’t issue its next economic forecast until early December, the outlook for the state budget is growing increasingly gloomy.