Special Session Update
Special session ended early on Saturday morning, after round-the-clock negotiations that ultimately failed. All four caucuses agreed to a bill that would have allocated $841 million in federal CARES Act funding to local governments to help them deal with ongoing effects from the COVID-19 crisis. However, once the governor got involved in negotiations, he worked with House Democrats to add millions in unrelated spending to the bill, even though we already have a $2.5 billion deficit in our state budget. When all was said and done, Democrats chose instead to delay giving any funding to local governments rather than pass a bill without millions in extra deficit spending.
Under the CARES Act compromise bill agreed to by the House and Senate, our communities would have received the following amounts:
Wright County: $16,555,611
Buffalo City: $1,242,532
Buffalo Township: $47,575
Maple Lake City : $163,036
Maple Lake Township: $54,475
Monticello City: $1,038,339
Monticello Township: $82,575
Silver Creek Township: $62,750
The governor now has the authority to distribute the CARES Act funds unilaterally, and I hope he will abide by the agreement struck by all sides when distributing those funds.
No police reforms were passed into law during special session. I attended a negotiating meeting on Friday afternoon where staff from the governor's office began the meeting by saying they would not agree to any other bills during special session until all sides came to an agreement on police reform. The Senate made an offer late Friday night to change arbitration for police and the parts of the House and Senate bills that overlapped, but unfortunately, the House majority and the governor decided passing nothing was preferable to passing the bipartisan proposals supported by the Senate.
I am very disappointed that we could not get the things that had bipartisan agreement done during special session. I hope those who are negotiating these issues continue working toward a compromise that we can all support next time we are in session.
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