(UPDATED) Dayton Agrees To End Shutdown - With Conditions

(UPDATE) 5:22 p.m. — Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch and Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers just joined Gov. Mark Dayton outside of his office to announce that a "framework agreement" is in place and that a special session to end the state shutdown will be coming soon. Updates to come.

11:17 a.m. — Gov. Mark Dayton has “reluctantly" agreed to the last Republican budget offer made on June 30 with conditions—a move that could end the state shutdown if Republicans agree.

“During the past two weeks, I have been listening carefully to people throughout Minnesota," Dayton told a crowd at the University of Minnesota today. "They want this budget dispute resolved. While they strongly prefer my proposed solution to that of the Republican legislature (…) they want this government shutdown to end. Now.”

That offer generates $700 million dollars through further school aid shifts, and issues $700 million in “tobacco bonds” to cover the rest of the $1.4 billion gap between the governor and state Republicans.

The governor sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch and Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers on Thursday that said that while he doesn't necessarily agree with the method of resolving the budget impasse, he does think it's necessary to end the shutdown as soon as possible.

"I am willing to agree to something I do not agree with—your proposal—to spare our citizens and our state from further damage," Dayton wrote.

However, Dayton added three conditions to his agreement that will ultimately determine if the shutdown ends.

First, he said Republicans must abide by their public statements that they will take all policy issues off the table at this time. Second, they must drop a 15 percent, across-the-board reduction to employees in all agencies, regardless of their funding source. Third, that after all the budget issues have been resolved in a special session, Republicans must support and pass a bonding bill of at least $500 million next session.

If Republicans agree to Dayton's conditions, a special session to pass a budget—and end the state shutdown—could begin within three days.

At the time of writing, there was no response from GOP leaders.

“I’ve had no response for two weeks and no other proposals (from the GOP). This is the only viable option to get the state government operating again (...) a lot of Minnesotans just want (the shutdown) resolved and frankly don’t care how,” Dayton told the crowd.  

“In my 36 years of government I’ve never seen intractability and unwillingness to compromise be used as a strength," the Governor said. "When you’re negotiating with a position that is intractable, you cannot negotiate. I’m disappointed that we can’t do it better but there is still time for Republicans to make it better.”