Gov. Mark Dayton has called a special election to fill Rep. Ryan Winkler’s seat in House District 46A. Winkler is resigning due to his family relocating to Belgium.

The special primary election will be August 11, 2015, and the special general election will be November 3, 2015.

Both elections coincide with already-scheduled local elections.

Photo of the Minnesota State Capitol dome by Mulad on Wikimedia Commons.

The Legislature adjourned a one-day special session after meeting for more than 15 hours on Friday, June 12, 2015.

After taking several votes to pass the environment and agriculture bill, lawmakers completed the nearly $42 billion budget Gov. Mark Dayton has pledged to sign.

Photo of the Minnesota State Capitol by Jonathunder on Wikimedia Commons.

The Minnesota Legislature will likely convene a special session after Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed the state’s education budget. Unless law makers can come to an agreement on an education budget before July 1, the state Department of Education will shut down.

The special session will likely convene in the coming weeks, but due to renovations at the Capitol, legislators will meet outside of their chambers. Minnesota law requires the Legislature to convene inside the city limits of St. Paul.

Dayton has until Saturday, May 23, 2015, to sign or veto any other budget bills, or let them become law without his signature.

Photo of the Minnesota State Capitol dome by Mulad on Wikimedia Commons.

The Minnesota Legislature adjourned on May 18, 2015. Legislators scrambled to pass legislation minutes before the rigid midnight deadline. Gov. Mark Dayton has three days to accept or reject budget bills.

Dayton has stated on several occasions he plans to veto the education budget bill due to its lack of funding for half-day kindergarten. Should the governor veto that bill, a special session will be very likely.

According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk considers the special session “inevitable”. However, the Capitol building is undergoing renovation and therefore will not be a feasible location for a special session, should the governor convene one.

Dayton suggested the potential special session be held in a tent on the lawn of the Capitol, while area hotels offered their facilities as an alternative.

Photo of the Minnesota State Capitol by Jonathunder on Wikimedia Commons.

Welcome back to the statehouse where we will be exploring the Minnesota Capitol.

When its white dome first swims into view there is a shock of surprise, then a rapidly growing delight in its pure beauty, and as one studies the building, inside and out, the surprise and delight increase. One leaves it with regret and with the hope of return.
-Kenyon Cox, Architectural Record, August 1905

The Minnesota statehouse, completed in 1905, is located in the capital of St. Paul. The building looks very similar to St. Peter’s basilica in Rome. In fact, St. Peter’s has the largest unsupported marble dome in the world, and the marble dome of the Minnesota statehouse is the second largest. A golden sculpture called The Progress of the State sits at the base of the dome. It depicts a chariot pulled by four horses with two women and a man in the chariot. The statue symbolizes civilization and prosperity being driven by the classical elements of earth, air, fire, and water. When the weather permits, visitors can go on the roof to get a close-up view of the statue. Take a look at the Minnesota Historical Society to find out more about the artwork and history of the building.

There are also monuments for Women’s Suffrage and Christopher Columbus on the grounds of the statehouse. Many of the original fixtures are still in use. When the building was being constructed, electric lighting and telephones were state-of-the-art. The Ohio architect, Cass Gilbert, insisted on the best technology for the statehouse. Since then, the building has always had the latest in technology. Gilbert’s conscientious style resulted in many ornate carvings and statues around the building and hundreds of specially designed pieces of furniture.

Thank you for staying with us on our journey through the statehouses!

Photo of the Minnesota State Capitol by Jonathunder on Wikimedia Commons.

A renovation of the Capitol Building planned for next year may shorten the Minnesota Legislature’s session. Currently, the session is slated to span 2015 and 2016.

However, with the planned renovation, many lawmakers are considering completing the entire session this year.

Thus far, no official proposals have been made; only discussions among the House and Senate leadership have taken place.

Photo of the Minnesota Capitol dome by Mulad on Wikimedia Commons.

A provision in Minnesota’s campaign finance law known as the “special sources limit” will no longer be enforced as applied to individual large donors. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank issued a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the law with respect to individual large donors in response to a challenge by the Institute for Justice on First Amendment grounds.

Under section 10A.27(11) of the Minnesota Statutes, the special sources limit prohibits a campaign from raising more than 20 percent of its total contributions from lobbyists, political committees, and large donors contributing more than one half of the individual contribution limit.

Donovan issued the injunction in light of the precedent set by McCutcheon v. FEC.

The defendants have the opportunity to appeal to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If they choose not to appeal, the case will proceed to a final ruling at the district court level later this year.

The Minnesota Legislature adjourned sine die on Friday, May 16, 2014.

The Legislature passed a $1 billion public works construction package in addition to voting to legalize medical marijuana in a session described by some as one of the most productive sessions in years.

A lawsuit has been filed by the Institute for Justice, joined by several donors and candidates, challenging a Minnesota campaign finance law. Under section 10A.27(11) of the Minnesota Statutes, the “special sources limit” prohibits a campaign from raising more than 20 percent of its total contributions from lobbyists, political action committees, and large donors.

The Institute for Justice is arguing this law is unconstitutional under the First Amendment, stating “The first people to speak have full rights, but subsequent speakers have half rights.”

The case, Seaton v. Weiner, was filed in federal court on April 8.

Governor Mark Dayton and legislative leaders have agreed to a special session in September.

The one-day session, scheduled for September 9, 2013, will address financial relief for damages caused by June storms.

Gov. Mark Dayton has been talking about a special session for about two weeks and it seems like that thought is now close to becoming a reality. Going against what he has been saying for those two weeks, Governor Dayton said he was open to expanding the agenda of the special session. Until Thursday, Dayton has been maintaining the special session be limited to providing relief to those areas of the state hit hard by severe storms in June.

Republicans have been asking for a repeal of the warehouse tax and both parties have wanted to fix a tax on repairs to farming equipment. On Thursday, Dayton called the farm equipment tax “the biggest mistake” of this past year’s session and it needed to be addressed in a special session. He still has no plans to address the warehouse tax, which will not go into effect until April 2014.

Dayton has maintained the Legislature can deal with the issue when it comes back to St. Paul in February. The date for the special session has been tentatively set for September 9. However, Dayton wants assurances from the Republicans the session will be limited to one day.

Even though Democrats control both houses of the Legislature, they need Republican support to suspend rules and limit the session to just one day. Without that support, the session could last a few days and could feature debate on any topic.

Governor Mark Dayton has set special election dates for two house seats after the incumbents turned in their resignations on January 7.

The special elections for the house seats in districts 14A and 19A will take place on February 12.

The special primary, if necessary, will take place on January 29. Both districts are home to large college student populations, so the governor decided to ensure that as many students as possible would be back for the election.

The state legislature will convene a special session Friday afternoon to approve a flood relief package for parts of the state which were devastated by summer flooding. The session will convene at 2:00 p.m. and must end by 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning.

The legislature will vote on a $167.5 million relief package, but it is expected to pass without issue. Governor Mark Dayton and the legislative leaders have already agreed on the package and the deal restricts any other legislators from making changes to the bill.

Governor Mark Dayton and the leaders of the state legislature have tentatively agreed on August 24 for a special session date. The legislature will convene in order to appropriate monies to disaster relief for counties that were ravaged by flooding earlier this year.

The date is still tentative as the final damage numbers are still being totaled. The federal government will supply 75% of the funding if the state picks up the last 25% of the cost.

Once the final numbers are set, Governor Dayton will have to officially call the legislature back to work.