The Minnesota Legislature has started its second special session of the year, but lawmakers plan to recess for a week to try to get what’s been an elusive deal on police reforms and other issues. There appears to be a tentative agreement on a 1.35-billion-dollar bonding bill for state public works projects — including business tax relief to attract Republican votes — but the governor’s COVID emergency powers remain a sticking-point.
House Republican Minority Leader Kurt Daudt still reportedly wants the governor’s emergency powers scaled back before allowing a bonding bill to pass. House Democratic Majority Leader Ryan Winkler says, “We cannot afford to have a vote to surrender to the coronavirus as a precondition for having a bonding bill.”