Once-dead Minnesota special session may not be so dead
UPDATED 3:30 p.m. with Daudt comments
This might sound familiar: Gov. Mark Dayton is in preliminary discussions with top state lawmakers about a special session to approve an array of tax cuts and construction projects that got tripped up this spring.
The on-again, off-again consideration of a quick meeting of the Legislature has a new gasp of life. Gov. Mark Dayton says he'll talk about it Friday with Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt.
They are set to discuss what remains in the way of a campaign-season special session now that a major stumbling block -- funding for the Southwest Corridor light-rail project -- has been removed.
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"I don't know if there's a willingness to proceed. And given now that we're in the last two months of a political year and the differences still remain, whether it's achievable or not," Dayton told reporters Thursday. "I'm certainly willing to call a special session if the legislative leaders agree, but that hasn't been the case for the last three months."
Daudt said the meeting with Dayton will be one-on-one, with no staff involved. Daudt isn't anticipating a final resolution, but he said hopes it will lead to additional discussions because he wants a special session.
Dayton, who said he has had initial conversations with leading Democrats, said there are still a few nagging areas of dispute.
One big one is how transportation money attached to a nearly $1 billion bonding bill gets doled out. The plan in play during the final night of the regular session designated some specific road and bridge projects for swift completion instead of leaving that to the experts and vetting procedures at the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
Dayton said that won't fly with him.
"That really undercuts the professional and nonpolitical way we've allocated funds for transportation in the past," Dayton told reporters Thursday, adding, "It's blatant politics in terms of these members who are running for re-election and being able to say, 'Well, I got money for my particular project.' But it excludes a number of projects all over the state that actually rate higher."
Daudt said the projects involved would address key safety and congestion concerns.
"We didn't put those projects in for political reasons," Daudt said. "We put them in because they are projects people have talked about for a really long time and we would like to see them make some headway on those projects."
Dayton said there are also differences over how much money to devote to upgrades at Fort Snelling and at the Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter.
The tax-cut plan is largely resolved. That bill would deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in new credits, exemptions and deductions for farmers, businesses and college graduates.
The plan also included a property tax write-off sought by the developers of a new professional soccer stadium in St. Paul. Dayton vetoed it in June after his staff caught a potential expensive wording error.
Some minor tweaks need to be made to the original version to change some enactment dates, but Dayton doesn't consider those controversial.
Talk of a special session has been swirling since lawmakers adjourned their session on May 23 without completing their agenda. There were points of promise in July that faded into an August stare down, causing Dayton to proclaim the session hopes dashed.
Only a governor can call a special session, but they typically seek a pre-negotiated agenda because it's up to Legislature to decide when to gavel out.