Senate DFLers back session to help laid-off steelworkers

A proposed special legislative session to provide more money for laid-off steelworkers gained steam Tuesday when Senate Democrats backed Gov. Mark Dayton's request.

Dayton wants legislative action soon to make sure unemployment benefits don't dry up for hundreds of idled workers in northeastern Minnesota. House Republicans have not yet agreed.

In a letter to legislative leaders last week, Dayton warned that 74 laid-off steelworkers will exhaust their unemployment benefits this month, followed by 596 more in February and March. The 2016 Legislative session doesn't begin until March 8.

Dayton said during a news conference that those workers are facing financial hardships as well as emotional distress. He said a special session could address the urgent need.

"I believe it's imperative in this situation, with people going to be without any source of income and no prospect of re-employment sometime soon," he said.

The layoffs continue. Dayton noted the announcement earlier in the day that Cliffs Natural Resources will temporarily shut down its Northshore Mining plant.

"It's a very severe situation up there, and nobody knows when this industry is coming back," he said.

DFL Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk of Cook sent a letter to Dayton saying his caucus agrees with the need for a one-day special session. Bakk said the economy in northeastern Minnesota would take a significant hit without legislative action before the regular session.

"Once people start running out of unemployment, they face relocation situations," he said. "They pick up their family and they move. They get the kids enrolled in school somewhere. They find new friends. Then it gets pretty hard to move them back, even when things improve, assuming things are going to."

But Bakk is also suggesting that the special session agenda include a second issue. He wants to take action to bring Minnesota into compliance with the federal government's REAL ID requirements.

States are supposed to have tougher security standards for driver's licenses and identification cards in place by Jan. 1. But Minnesota lawmakers blocked implementation of the standards in 2009.

Bakk said the special session presents an opportunity to address the issue.

"I don't want to be in a situation where we bump into January and the federal government says if you're from Minnesota you can't get on an airplane with your driver's license, and if you don't have your passport you can't fly," he said.

Late last week, Gov. Dayton sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security requesting an extension to comply with the REAL ID requirements.

Dayton said an extension would allow legislators to take action on REAL ID during the regular session.

"It's not my belief that at this point that a special session is going to be necessary to handle that situation," he said. "I want to assure Minnesotans that we're going to make absolutely certain that they have the ability to board an airplane, they have the ability to enter a federal building, without any interruption in that."

Dayton said he has not heard back from Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt on the special session request. A spokesperson said Daudt received letters from the governor and Sen. Bakk but was not ready to comment.

On the REAL ID issue, Daudt sent his own letter last week to federal officials, also requesting the compliance extension. Dayton had proposed earlier that legislators hold a special session to address the early closing of walleye fishing on Lake Mille Lacs. But there was little interest among lawmakers, and the session never happened.