Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt today again urged Gov. Mark Dayton to call a special session of the Legisalture to deal with budget bills and leave the issue with the State Auditor’s office until next year.
Dayton has declined so far to call the special session because of language that was passed at the very end of the session which changes the scope of the auditor’s job by allowing counties to use private auditors.
But Daudt said in a letter to the governor that those contested provisions in the bill don’t take effect until next summer and can be dealt with in the next legislative session.
Daudt said most other issues have been resolved and the Legislature is ready to finish its work.
Without a special session, he wrote: “other important pieces of legislation cannot become law, including emergency funding for the avian flu crisis, unemployment benefits for turkey farm workers and steelworkers, and disaster relief funds for communities affected by flooding. What’s more, until you call a special session, 9,400 state employees are left with uncertainty about their future.”
The Republican speaker concludes the letter with: “The time has come to put Minnesotans first.”
Motion Seconded
It is an interesting game of chicken that Dayton is playing. And for who’s benefit?