Daily Digest (part 2) for May 18, 2020 Posted at 7:35 a.m. by Cody Nelson
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Here is a bonus edition of your Capitol View as the Minnesota Legislature tumbles toward a special session after adjourning early Monday with few of the year’s big issues resolved.
MPR News' Brian Bakst has the latest: Sunday’s finale for votes was defined more by inability to advance a construction projects bill, reach agreement on how to designate $1.8 billion of federal aid and fully resolve a standoff over state employee contracts.
As time ran out, lawmakers resigned themselves to yet another year of overtime work. House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said the finish shouldn’t obscure the bipartisan work done at the start of the COVID-19 onset.
“This is the pandemic session,” she said, adding that it stymied other work the Legislature had planned to do.
Gov. Tim Walz has the sole power to schedule a special session, and he could announce his plans during a late-morning call with Democratic lawmakers. Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake, said he spoke with Walz on Sunday night.
“The governor said June 12 that there would be a special session. So we’ll figure out that,” Gazelka told his colleagues. “Unfortunately we still need to have our sleeves still rolled up to get some work done.”
Senate Minority Leader Susan Kent, DFL-Woodbury, said Republicans waited too long to get key bills moving in the session.
“Unfortunately, political posturing and stalling from our Republican colleagues stood in the way of legislation that is at the core of caring for Minnesotans,” she said in a statement issued after adjournment.
House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Zimmerman, said the extra time will “give us further clarity on our state's financial situation, time to evaluate our response to the pandemic, and time to make better decisions.” FULL STORY
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