Gov. Mark Dayton previously hoped to call a special session of the Legislature during the third week of August.

Lawmakers have been unable to agree on key issues, including a controversial light rail bill, so no special session is currently scheduled for this week.

Dayton will meet again with leadership from the Legislature on Thursday, in what he has said may be the last meeting to discuss a special session.

Gov. Mark Dayton has reappointed Emma Greenman and Peggy Leppik to the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.

Both women have previously served as members of the board, but due to the appointment and confirmation process in Minnesota, both were required to step down from their positions when they were not confirmed by the Senate before the end of the 2016 legislative session.

After the governor’s appointment, board members are allowed to serve pending confirmation by the Legislature, so Dayton has effectively restored both to their positions, and the confirmation process will begin again during the next regular session of the Legislature.

A special session is now unlikely until after the primary elections, due to lawmakers’ increasingly busy schedules.

Lawmakers have sought a special session to pass tax and bonding bills since adjourning the regular session in May, but Gov. Mark Dayton required agreement on several issues before he was willing to call the session.

To date, Dayton and lawmakers have been unable to reach an agreement on those issues.

Gov. Mark Dayton has outlined several conditions legislators must meet before he will call a special legislative session.

In a letter sent to House and Senate leaders, Dayton indicates they must agree on several points in the priority subjects of transportation, taxes, and numerous omissions in supplemental budget and bonding bills before he will call the session.

Several lawmakers have requested a special session after the Legislature recessed last month without passing an important bonding bill, but only Dayton has the authority to call the session.

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.