Good morning. The University of Minnesota turns 156 years old today, but doesn’t look a day over 155.

Closed-door budget negotiations are ongoing – and, in some cases, that means committee meetings are on hold for now.  A variety of committees cancelled their meetings yesterday as co-chairs continue negotiating what will end up in their areas of the budget. Some are waiting on the overworked Revisor’s Office to get them done. To give you an idea of what this means, Rep. Jeff Backer, a Republican from Browns Valley, said he and House Health Committee Co-Chair Robert Bierman, an Apple Valley Democrat, met throughout the weekend and had exchanged nine offers back and forth. Backer said a sticking point remained between the two parties about how much to cut state health programs. They have to cut $50 million under budget targets approved by the House – if they can’t agree to raise revenue through taxes or fees to keep current spending flat. “Once we get through that, everything else will fall in place,” Backer said, noting that getting House members on board would be a first step. Negotiations over a budget blueprint between the House, Senate and governor are also in process.

One area where there seems to be agreement in that back-and-forth: funding for rural emergency medical service providers . Ambulance service providers from around Minnesota met at the Capitol yesterday to call on lawmakers to boost reimbursement rates and approve ongoing funding streams. The public EMS providers said they appreciated a $30 million one-time appropriation last year but they still faced budget problems. Those could be borne by property owners in the cities that run the EMS services unless the state or federal officials step in. “We know that that's a hard ask this year,” said Minnesota Ambulance Association President Michael Juntunen. “We totally understand that dollars are a struggle. But again, we have ambulance services that are not sure how they're going to keep their doors open. So something is needed.” The package has bipartisan support, which could help its chances in the split Capitol.

In Washington, GOP leaders in the House of Representatives say they’re planning to take up a vote on the Senate’s budget resolution today. But, as NPR reports , it's not clear that they’ll have the votes to pass it. Fiscal conservatives and deficit hawks within the Republican conference could jeopardize the measure that contains several of President Donald Trump’s priorities. The Senate approved its version early Saturday morning. A single plan needs to pass both chambers to move forward. House GOP Whip Tom Emmer penned an op-ed with the president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers Jay Timmons urging the measure’s passage, noting the extension of 2017 tax cuts were key. “The time to act is now. Failure is not an option,” they wrote. Democratic U.S Rep. Kelly Morrison, who represents Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District, told Clay Masters that Republicans are looking to slash funding from Medicaid to “make the math work to enact big tax cuts for the wealthiest among us.” Morrison pointed to a letter that 14 Republican state lawmakers sent to their counterparts in Washington earlier this year asking them to not make deep cuts to Medicaid. “These are not cuts that are necessary,” Morrison said. 

Minnesota’s Department of Education is pushing back on federal requirements that states drop diversity equity and inclusion policies to maintain Title I funding. Elizabeth Shockman reports on a letter Commissioner Willie Jett sent to his federal counterparts that argues the Trump administration needed congressional signoff to make some of the changes. There is sure to be a legal tussle over this one. Speaking of the state Education Department and legal tussles, the Center of the American Experiment said yesterday it had reached a $7,000 settlement with the state agency over a data request dispute. Half of the money will go to the organization and half will go toward legal fees. The organization said it sued after getting no response for almost two months to a records request about ethnic studies discussions at the department. It was finally released to the center in December.

State employees have more artificial technology tools at their disposal. Minnesota IT Services, or MNIT, announced yesterday that the agency will back agency efforts to explore Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat. That’s an AI tool that meets state security and compliance standards for government data. MNIT Commissioner Tarek Tomes says Minnesota is among the first states to adopt the new technology. "This marks a significant step in our ongoing efforts to empower state employees with AI, enabling them to work more efficiently while upholding the highest standards of data protection," Tomes said.

Most golfers would be happy to shave some strokes from their scorecard.  Rep. Greg Davids, R-Preston, the co-chair of the House Tax Committee, wants to shave some of the admission costs for PGA events in Minnesota. He's authored a bill that would give an exemption from sales tax for tickets to PGA tournament events in Minnesota. It's a move Davids, an avid golfer himself, hopes will attract more PGA events to Minnesota in the future. The state will host the 2026 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and the 2029 Ryder Cup, both at Hazeltine in Chaska. Davids argues that it's a small investment for a large return. "The state of Minnesota makes out like a bandit on this one," he said. But his committee Co-Chair Aisha Gomez, DFL-Minneapolis, called the bill "audacious" especially as the legislature is making cuts to funding in education and human services. "I just have a problem with continually hearing  these kinds of arguments of ‘Well, if you don't subsidize this particular activity, then we're never getting another PGA tournament here.’ I mean, it's a little bit like a threat." It’s no gimme, although the Senate Taxes Committee chair is chief sponsor of that version. A final call is probably weeks away.