Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

It doesn’t matter who you talk to — everyone on both sides of the aisle can agree that the recent special session at the Minnesota Legislature was a letdown.

While it’s true that legislators had several big issues to tackle, it was sad to see that almost all of them remain unresolved.

Especially critical was the COVID-19 relief funding for counties and cities across the state that was designated to Minnesota through the federal government. From what has been stated from many legislators, both sides agreed on the disbursement of these funds until additional spending was tacked on at the end. This spending would have been better voted on separately.

Many people also expected at least a start to police accountability reform, and while we know this is a large, sensitive issue to tackle and it needs to be done right, we think it would have been prudent to pass the issues both parties agreed on and then plan to pick up the rest in the near future.

The last major issue was the bonding bill, which seems to have gotten pushed back, not only during the regular session but into the special session as well.

There could not be a better time to pass a bonding bill to help boost the state economy in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and there are many projects — both locally and throughout the state — that are time-sensitive. Many of these projects need the support of the state to become a reality.

While legislators on both sides of the aisle are holding strong to their ideals, there must be better compromise if we expect any success to come out of this session.

We heard it in our interviews with District 27A Rep. Peggy Bennett and District 27 Sen. Dan Sparks that there seemed to be an all-or-nothing mentality, and that must change if any positive movement is expected to be made on these issues. 

Until that is realized, we don’t anticipate much success during the next special session in July.