Special Session (Number One) Comes and Goes.  It was a week that really flew by and in the end, major issues fell by the wayside.  The Special Session convened on Friday, June 12, and ran through the early morning hours of Saturday, June 20.  

This special session did not resemble recent special sessions in any way, shape, or form.  It has been the practice of gubernatorial administrations and legislative leadership over the past two decades to have all legislation pre-agreed to prior to a special session being called.  The nature of this session was bound to be different given the on-going debate over how to best address the medical and economic effects of the COVID-19 virus and that certainly turned out to be the case.

The Legislature came in with a healthy to-do list, first of which was to make a determination as to whether to extend Governor Walz' emergency powers that were first invoked with the Executive Orders in reaction to COVID-19.  There was no vote whether to restrict those powers during the regular session, but since the adjournment of the regular session, the Governor must call a special session every 30 days to provide the Legislature with an opportunity to restrict those powers.  That means there will likely be several special sessions between now and the start of the 2021 legislative session next January.  The Senate did vote to cancel the Governor's authority, but that bill did not pass in the House, meaning the Governor's authority remains in place.

StarTribune: Minnesota House blocks bid to end Walz's emergency powers

The political reaction surrounding the killing of George Floyd was unforeseen when the Legislature adjourned in May, but that has certainly taken center stage, even upstaging the bonding bill and COVID-19-related initiatives during the week-long special session.  Both the House and Senate passed comprehensive packages aimed at police reform, but the House proposal was broader and much more aggressive in its initiatives aimed at modifying police behavior.  The House proposal also addressed a number of underlying issues that many believe have contributed to disparities in law enforcement practices.  While hopes ran high that a meaningful compromise could be reached, the reluctance to remain in session by the Senate majority along with the multi-faceted nature of the issues involved, prevented an agreement from being reached.

Star Tribune: Police reform efforts collapse in divided Minnesota Legislature

The bonding bill also fell by the wayside.  There was hope late in the regular session that a compromise on the aggregate size of the bill could be reached and that there would be an accord on the last day of the session, but with a super-majority required to pass the bonding bill and neither minority caucus willing to provide votes for that to happen, the fruits of the serious negotiations being undertaken by the majority caucuses and the Governor never surfaced.

There was also legislation proposed to distribute the Federal dollars being delivered to the state that will be passed through to local units of government that also died.  Both the House and Senate passed legislation that would have accomplished that, but the bills were not identical which would have required a conference committee to work out a final compromise package and there did not seem to be the appetite for that to transpire.  Legislators in both parties are urging Governor Walz to distribute the revenue without legislative approval, which may well happen with the blessing of the Legislative Advisory Commission.  "What is the Legislative Advisory Commission?" you might ask.  Here is a descriptive link:

Minnesota Legislative Advisory Commission

Here is a StarTribune story on the issue:  City, county leaders press Gov. Tim Walz on $841M in COVID-19 aid

Given the inability to find common ground on the larger issues addressed during the special session, it was somewhat surprising that the omnibus education policy bill passed.  The bill was a scaled-down set of proposals that all were agreed upon during the regular session, but time ran out before the bill could pass both bodies.  The bill passed 67-0 in the Senate and 117-9 in the House.  Kudos to both Education Policy chairs, Representative Cheryl Youakim and Senator Carla Nelson for getting this one over the finish line during tense times on other issues.

Here is a link to the bill language:  HF 33--2020 1st Special Session Law Chapter 8

Bill Summary:  HF 33 Bill Summary.  This is the bill summary that went to the House floor.  An amendment was added (Article 1, Section 4) on the House floor last Friday providing the Ogilvie school district with a fund transfer.  That was the only change to the bill.

Stay Tuned.  I am sure many of you are wondering the state's next steps when it comes to how schools will open this fall.  Right now, the Minnesota Department of Education is preparing for three approaches:  (1) school as normal, (2) a continuation of the distance learning model adopted last spring, or (3) a hybrid model that would incorporate both distance and in-person instruction.  Many districts are trying a hybrid model for summer school and it will be interesting to see the results of those trials.  It is interesting that Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers is, at least at this point, leaving the decision on whether to open in a traditional sense up to local school districts.  Wisconsin and Minnesota have taken different approaches to dealing with a variety of issues related to COVID-19 and this may be another instance of that.