Dayton said on Wednesday that if legislative leaders agree to fix the error-an “and” rather than an “or”- in the measure they sent him in a special session this summer, he would sign the tax measure by his midnight Monday deadline.
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The governor said Tuesday he hopes to call a special session by the end of the month.
The governor told reporters Tuesday morning that he wanted the Legislature to come back to St. Paul and finish its work. A $1 billion-plus package of public works projects and a major transportation funding bill – a top priority for the last two years – both failed to pass this year.
Dayton and Bauerly say the only fix is the Legislature passing a revised bill.
The IRRRB provision would return the agency’s board to advisory to the commissioner and governor, which Bakk, who authored the bill, said would correct a problem cited by a recent Legislative Auditor’s report.
Dayton said he has dealt with Republicans leading up to special sessions before, such as a year ago and 2011, and that has not gone well.
Dayton insists that he would have signed the tax bill without the $101 million error.
The final $35 million was very close to the original proposal in the House. It also included help to rebuild downtown Madelia, devastated by a fire in February, and property tax relief for a new soccer stadium in St. Paul’s Midway.
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Chuck Schulte of Caledonia, a small business owner, points to a chart Monday, June 6, 2016, showing that most Minnesota legislators voted for a bill to cut taxes. The bill expands the number of Minnesotans eligible for the state’s dependent care tax credit and increases the maximum credits allowed. The governor let a bill expire that would have provided about 260-million dollars worth of tax cuts to working families, farmers, veterans, and those with student loans. The governor’s list includes extra money for the state’s public universities and for a pair of state investment programs. “The speaker and his members will be back in their districts and they will hear from people about how much they want these things”. Republicans accused Dayton of holding the tax bill “hostage” until he got things he wanted out of the transportation and bonding bill.
