Gov. Tim Walz has issued a proclamation calling for a special legislative session to begin at 10 a.m. Friday after reaching an agreement with House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) and Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-Nisswa).
The agreement calls for a one-day special session to pass the remaining budget bills needed to fund the state government during the upcoming biennium. The session is to adjourn before 7 a.m. Saturday, under the terms of arrangement.
“I am proud that we came together across party lines to build a budget that will improve the lives of Minnesotans,” Walz said in a release. “Now it’s our responsibility to take that budget across the finish line.”
[MORE Read the agreement]
The agreement confines legislative activity during the session to the remaining budget bills and says legislative leaders will not support amendments to the bills except where agreed upon by the leaders and the governor.
It also requires both bodies to “declare an urgency” which would allow suspension of the rules that call for a bill to be given three readings on three separate days, “and any other rules that would prevent passage of the bills” before the Saturday morning deadline.