Dayton’s Verdict Looms On Legislature’s Budget Bills

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — It’s time for Gov. Mark Dayton to decide: Should he sign the Legislature’s budget bills or veto them?

The Democratic governor set himself a Tuesday deadline to act on budget bills. The Republican-controlled Legislature sent Dayton the remainder of a $46 billion budget last week during a three-day special session.

Dayton has expressed some reservations about those bills. He criticized a package of $650 million in tax cuts as too large, with provisions that benefit wealthy Minnesota residents.

But vetoes could trigger another special session or even a government shutdown starting July 1. And Dayton has conceded that the budget he’s weighing may be the best spending package that will come out of a Republican Legislature.