After two months of negligible action at the Capitol, serious work will now begin on the main agenda for the 2013 legislative session: crafting a budget for the next biennium.

Rep. Michael Nelson, DFL-Brooklyn Park, and Sen. Chris Eaton, DFL-Brooklyn Center, will carry legislation that would allow thousands of home-care workers to seek union representation.

Gov. Mark Dayton vigorously defended his proposed budget for the next biennium-- including $2.1 billion in additional taxes -- in his annual State of the State address on Wednesday evening. Speaking before a joint session of the House and Senate, Dayton argued that a substantial overhaul of the state’s tax code is necessary to eliminate chronic budget deficits, make additional investments in key programs and restore fairness to the tax code.

If his 2013 budget proposal is any indication, Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton intends to make history. The document landed on Tuesday, containing some of the most significant proposed tax overhauls and increases in Minnesota in decades.

In his first public appearance since the 2013 legislative session began, Gov. Mark Dayton unveiled his proposed budget for the upcoming biennium and immediately launched a vigorous defense of his proposal to generate more than $2 billion in new revenue through an historic overhaul of the state’s tax code.

The first partisan front in the newly constituted Minnesota House of Representatives was established only minutes after that body opened the 2013 session. After the chamber cycled through a handful of procedural votes, Rep. Rod Hamilton, R-Mountain Lake, rose to challenge the DFL majority’s decision to create the House Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Finance Division.

In their first joint action of the 2013 session, the newly elected Democratic leaders of the Minnesota Legislature held a news conference to show they were on the same page regarding broad goals for the biennium. First and foremost, House Speaker Paul Thissen and Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk promised to balance a projected $1.1 billion budget deficit without gimmicks and without heading into a government shutdown.

House Speaker Paul Thissen and Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk gave what Bakk called the “35,000 foot view” of their priorities this session in a news conference Wednesday afternoon, with few specific details on how they will balance a projected $1.1 billion budget deficit or find the funds to invest in their priorities.

Paul Thissen made himself one of the most powerful legislators of 2012 on a quiet Saturday near the end of session. Just two days before Republicans in control of both chambers had hoped to adjourn for the year, Thissen, then the DFL House minority leader, called a press conference alongside other leaders in his party.

In a pair of interviews with Capitol Report, the Minnesota Legislature’s new leaders talk about budget priorities, tax code changes, bonding, and their short list of policy priorities for 2013.