ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - Gov. Tim Walz on Friday formally called a special legislative session to convene on Monday, and he urged lawmakers to work together to pass the police accountability and public works bills that they were unable to agree on last month.
“Our state had a trying few months, and we need the Legislature to rise to the occasion and get things done to help Minnesotans rebuild and recover,” Walz said in a statement.
Walz continues to support the sweeping policing measures proposed by the People of Color and Indigenous Caucus following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. The slate passed the Democratic-controlled House in last month’s special session but met with resistance in the Republican-controlled Senate, which supported some but not all of those proposals.
Lawmakers were also unable to finish work last month on a $1.35 billion public works borrowing package known as a bonding bill. That bill was the main unfinished business of the 2020 regular session, which ended May 18.
Walz was required by law to call the special session so he could extend the state’s COVID-19 peacetime emergency by 30 days and retain the emergency powers that he has used to respond to the pandemic.
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