The Senate adjourned from special session early Saturday morning, after a week of negotiations on how to distribute federal COVD assistance, assemble a bonding bill, and pass police accountability changes ultimately collapsed over stalemates with the House and the Governor.

“Every Senator and Representative must choose the type of legislator they want to be: the type that gets things done, or the type that plays games,” said Sen. Carla Nelson (R-Rochester). “Rather than partisan point-scoring, we should focus on areas of agreement and get things done, which is what the Senate did. We passed an education policy bill, a broadband bill, COVID assistance for local governments, innovative literacy training for teachers, bipartisan police accountability measures, and much more. The House, disappointingly, chose the other course of action. They broke agreements on those popular bills and tacked on amendments that had no hope of passing.”

“But I remain optimistic,” said Sen. Nelson. “As my dad often told me, where there’s a will there’s a way. Nobody will get everything they want, but we can still do those things we agree on. I am committed to continuing to talk about how we can bridge those gaps and deliver results for Minnesotans.”

On Friday the Senate took up a number of bipartisan bills, including Sen. Nelson’s comprehensive education policy bill, a bill to expand broadband access in unserved areas, and a bill to clear out the state’s backlog of driver’s license tests – all of which passed unanimously.

But despite those bipartisan successes, negotiations stalled on other larger pieces of legislation:

• Earlier in special session, House and Senate leaders from both parties reached an agreement on how to distribute federal COVID assistance to local governments. One day after that bill passed the Senate by a vote of 62-4, the House broke the agreement and added millions of dollars in new spending to the bill, effectively ending the bill’s chances of passing during the special session.
• The Senate’s police accountability bills included many agreed-upon ideas like banning chokeholds and requiring officers to intervene if they see excessive force. House Democrats agreed with those provisions, but talks broke down when they were unwilling to remove controversial policies that lack support, like dismantling police departments.
• The state’s constitution stipulates a bonding bill must originate in the House, but a bonding bill was not brought up for a vote in the House before the Senate adjourned. In the regular session, the Senate brought up a comprehensive infrastructure bonding bill, but there weren’t enough votes from Senate Democrats to pass it. That bill included a number of projects for the Rochester area, including Sen. Nelson’s bill for reconstruction and runway improvements at the Rochester International Airport. The Airport project was a priority in bonding proposals presented by the Senate, House, and Gov. Walz.