Good Question: How Often Are There Special Sessions?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - On Tuesday, Gov. Mark Dayton sent a veto letter to House Speaker Kurt Daudt for what the governor called an "insufficient" $17 billion education budget bill.
That means legislators will have to reconvene sometime this summer for a special session. The state's constitution allows the governor order this extra time "on extraordinary occasions."
So, how often do we have special sessions? Good Question.
Over the past 20 years, Minnesota has had 14 special sessions. Six were for flood relief, six for budget issues that weren't resolved during the regular session, one was for a fraud recovery bill and another was for funding for a new Twins stadium when the team was threatening to leave.
"They had to get it done, and they didn't want to do it in the regular session because that takes over," WCCO political reporter Pat Kessler said. "That was an interesting one."
The sessions usually last a day, but the legislature met for seven weeks in summer 2005 over budget bills. During special sessions, the legislature uses expedited procedures to quickly pass legislation and lawmakers generally meet beforehand to hammer out the details of a deal.
"Nowadays, because people don't trust each other, they have to agree on some sort of plan of action before they meet," Kessler said.
While special sessions for flood or natural disaster relief are generally unavoidable, sessions due to ideological differences can often irk the public.
"I wish they would get their job done in the time frame allotted to them," Chris Parks of Shoreview said. "If you're in school, you have a certain amount of time to finish your homework, and when you work for corporate America, you have a certain amount of time you need to finish your work."
Kessler said legislators have been holding special sessions for more than 150 years simply because they don't get their work done in time. In the first 50 years of statehood (1857-1906), governors called three special sessions. In the most recent 50 years, there have been 31, including six from 1981-82.
"Politics have become a lot more harsh in recent years and ideologies are further apart," said Kessler. "You've got people going to their corners on the extreme. You don't see a lot of compromise now."
Estimates are the special sessions cost $51,000 per day, with the extra money going toward things like extra security, copying and per diems, if legislators choose to take them.
