Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Politics Blogs -> The Law and Politics Blog

Politics

: The Law and Politics Blog

Special Session Today to Address Flood Relief

By Jordan Deckenbach

Governor Tim Pawlenty has called for a special session to be held today at 5pm for the purpose of passing $150 to $160 million in relief funds aimed at easing the plight of flood victims in southeastern Minnesota.

Under the Minnesota constitution, the Governor alone holds the power to call a special session ?on extraordinary occasions.? Though the Governor is required to inform the legislature of the purpose for the meeting, once underway, the agenda and length of the special session is at the discretion of the legislature. The floods that ravished southeastern Minnesota three weeks ago seems to satisfy the ?extraordinary? element for the special session, as many Minnesota communities are reeling from the economic toll the floods damage inflicted. House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, told the Star Tribune,

?Folks have homes and businesses that are gutted to the studs. They don't have heating. They have issues with employment. We don't want to make that any worse.?

Past special sessions dealing with flood relief took months to be called after floods, leaving many Minnesotans upset with the lack of government response in the face of crisis. Governor Pawlenty recounted today,

?'I know there has been some concern about timing, but the fact of the matter is that those two other floods, the special session was three months later. We've moved this up for understandable and good reasons and it needs to be moved up.?

Though there is general agreement in St. Paul on the urgency and need for a special session aimed at providing flood relief, recent calls for special sessions to address transportation finance packages, a tax bill to grant local governments aid, and funding for the Interstate-35W bridge collapse recovery have gone unanswered by the Governor.

Though the DFL has been frustrated with Governor for saving these issues for the regular session, a compromise leading to today?s special session has made some room on the agenda for a few issues outside of flood relief. According to the Star Tribune, the agenda will include approval to release about $57 million in federal disaster money tied to the 35W bridge and appropriations from various state agencies, including money to repair state and local highways and bridges, property-tax abatements, grants to address anticipated drops in school enrollments in cities such as Rushford, and money for child care and nursing homes.

Though there is some disagreement of whether this emergency spending should come out of the state surplus or instead should be covered by long term loans, it is likely that the special session will be short and to the point with little fireworks. That said, the DFL controlled House and Senate get to decide when the party is over and will certainly have to deal with the temptation of delving deeper into some of the issues they have been clamoring to get a special session for.

Enjoy the Law and Politics Blog? Subscribe to our RSS Feed

Full post as published by The Law and Politics Blog on September 11, 2007 (boomark / email).