ST. PAUL -- Legislative leaders did not appear panicked Thursday even though little time remains for them and Gov. Tim Pawlenty to hammer out a session-ending deal.
"We aren't even at yellow-alert status yet," House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, R-Marshall, said.
State legislators have thr-ough Sunday to pass bills; they can meet Monday, but only for ceremonial matters.
Property tax decreases, budget balancing and health-care re-form were the prime topics of high-level negotiations Thursday. Little, if any, progress was reported during the day-long talks.
At one point late in the afternoon, Senate Tax Chairman Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, was asked if progress was being made. "Very incremental," was his reply.
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Property taxes were the focus of much of the day.
The governor wants to limit annual property tax increases local governments can enact to 3.3 percent. Democrats propose a 5.5 percent cap, but with several exceptions that would allow larger increases.
Still in play was a Democratic-Farmer-Labor proposal to increase state payments to local governments, an attempt to help them keep property taxes down. Many Republicans don't like the idea of boosting local aids.
But Seifert declared dead another DFL plan to eliminate the property tax deduction on the state income tax form, instead using that money to send checks to people who pay a high percentage of their income in local property taxes.
Those involved in the closed-door talks did not indicate there was much discussion about the $935 million budget deficit.
Some were thinking about another option -- nothing major happening the rest of the legislative session.
The governor can make budget cuts on his own, but cannot take all of the actions he and the Legislature together can do to balance the budget. Lawmakers return to session again in January, with six months left to finish balancing the budget.
House Republicans point fingers at Senate Democrats as the culprits for lack of negotiation progress.
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"The Senate doesn't seem to care or want anything," Rep. Kurt Zellers, R-Maple Grove, said.
Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis, said earlier in the session that little needed to be done this year other than a public works funding bill and increasing transportation funding, which both passed.
