After another fruitless day of negotiations, Governor Mark Dayton announced at a 10:00 p.m. press conference yesterday that he and Republican legislative leaders had been unable to agree on a budget package for the State of Minnesota biennium beginning on July 1. As a consequence, most state functions and services are terminated and approximately 22,000 state employees have become unemployed.

The roots of the disagreement between the Governor and the legislators go back to the 2010 election. Governor Dayton had campaigned on a pledge to raise the income tax to address the $5 billion projected budget deficit for the 2012-2013 biennium. On the other hand, the Republicans took control of the Minnesota House and the Minnesota Senate, in large part based on their pledges not to raise taxes.