Special Session: Signed, Sealed and Delivered

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The illusive Special Session lived up to its hype. Despite the close proximity of the two temporary chambers in the State Office Building, the bodies were far apart in their desired outcome for the session.

After endless hours of deal making and debate among legislators within the same party, across party lines, and between chambers in an attempt to pass a controversial Agriculture/Environment budget bill, the Minnesota Legislature passed the three reworked vetoed budget bills (Education, Ag/Environment, and Jobs/Energy) as well as the Legacy, Capital Bonding and Revisers’ bills and adjourned Sine Die in the wee hours on Saturday, June 13. Governor Mark Dayton signed the bills Saturday morning as soon as they landed on his desk.

The first time the Senate voted on the Agriculture/Environment bill it fell one vote short of the 34 necessary to pass. Eventually the Senate voted to alter the bill and reinstate the Minnesota Pollution Control Citizens’ Board and remove a provision that allows copper nickel mining waste to be exempt from solid waste permitting, even though Governor Dayton had an agreement from legislative leaders not to adopt any amendments to the bills as introduced.

The Senate then passed the bill and sent it to the House, which promptly reinstated the changes the Senate had made and sent the bill back to the Senate. Despite opposition from Sen. Scott Dibble (DFL-Minneapolis) and other metro area legislators, the bill’s sponsor, Senator David Tomassoni (DFL-Chisholm) said overall, with requirements for buffer strips between cropland and water supported by the Governor, and money to help turkey farmers struggling with avian flu, the measure was worth supporting.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook) and Senate Republicans were able to scramble and find 5 more votes to pass the bill.  Republican Senate Minority Leader David Hann (R-Eden Prairie) said all but one of his members voted for the bill because Bakk promised to pass significant tax cuts next year. Since then, Bakk has said he didn’t characterize the tax cuts as “significant.”

Lawmakers will reconvene at noon on March 8, 2016, and begin the work on how to allocate the approximately $800 million of the $1.9 billion surplus left unspent. Rest assured it won’t be an easy ride and election year politics are sure to feature prominently.

DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

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