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Politics and Government News
Brian Bakst
St. Paul

Special session, Part 2, planned for Monday

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks with reporters
Gov. Tim Walz speaks with reporters on June 20, 2020, at the state Capitol in St. Paul, on the day state lawmakers ended a special session without reaching agreement on a police accountability package and other major agenda items. Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is at right.
Mark Zdechlik | MPR News file

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Updated: 5:07 p.m.

Minnesota lawmakers will be back in St. Paul next week for another special session,which begins on Monday and will include debates over policing, construction projects and coronavirus prevention strategies.

Gov. Tim Walz issued the special session proclamation on Friday. It’s the second special session in the past two months.

State law required Walz to bring the Legislature back if he extended an emergency peacetime order by another month. He’s used that executive authority to manage the COVID-19 pandemic and said the order would be stretched out another 30 days.

But the session will be about much more.

“Our state had a trying few months, and we need the Legislature to rise to the occasion and get things done to help Minnesotans rebuild and recover,” Walz said in a written statement. “Give me a bill to sign on police accountability and reform and let’s work together to build a stronger, more equitable economy by investing in local jobs and projects across the state.”

A June special session ended without many of those items getting accomplished. But negotiations have occurred since, raising hopes of solutions on those matters.

Sen. David Senjem, R-Rochester, has been working on the construction borrowing plan. He said Friday that he hopes to finalize that legislation and the other outstanding matters.

“People want them short and sweet, and get to the point and let’s move out,” Senjem said

Democrats who control the Minnesota House said they would focus on issues they say will improve the lives of Minnesotans, including police accountability, a public works plan and rebuilding areas that were damaged by civil unrest.

“There has never been a more difficult time for our state,” said House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park. “House DFLers are hard at work with our colleagues in the Senate and the executive branch to find solutions to the myriad challenges we face.”