HENDERSON, Minn. — The Minnesota Legislature will pass a massive infrastructure bill, wrap up its other business and adjourn the second special session of this summer on Monday or Tuesday. At…
HENDERSON, Minn. — The Minnesota Legislature will pass a massive infrastructure bill, wrap up its other business and adjourn the second special session of this summer on Monday or Tuesday.
At least, that’s what Gov. Tim Walz predicted Thursday during an appearance in this flood-prone community to promote his “local jobs and projects” legislation, also known as the bonding bill.
Walz also said he and his staff are “still talking about” mandating that all Minnesotans wear face masks in public to slow spread of the coronavirus. He’d like the Legislature to approve of such a mandate, but he said he would consider imposing it by executive order if more than 5 percent of Minnesotans test positive for the coronavirus. The current positivity rate is around 4.7 percent and has been creeping upward.
The governor and leaders of the House Democratic-Farmer-Labor and Senate Republican majorities have agreed to an $1.8 billion bonding bill. But it takes a 60-percent supermajority to pass legislation increasing the state’s debt, which means it must have votes from minority party lawmakers in both chambers to win approval.
So far, House Republicans have refused to vote for a bonding bill unless the DFL governor relinquishes some of the peacetime emergency powers he has used since March to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, said this week that Republicans want to pass a bonding bill, but the only leverage they have to persuade Walz to modify his emergency powers is to withhold support from the public construction measure.
