ST. PAUL (AP) -- Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota's top two legislative leaders have agreed on deadlines that they say will avert a high-stakes poker game at the end of the session and avoid a government shutdown.

Walz, Democratic House Speaker Melissa Hortman and Republican Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka announced a series of deadlines for the committee and floor actions Monday that they say will bring the session to an orderly conclusion by the May 20 deadline.

They told reporters it also means that debates will take place in public rather than behind closed doors in the final days of the session.

If the agreement sticks, it would be a contrast with the chaotic 2018 session, when many major proposals were folded at the end into one enormous bill that then-Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed.

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