By Tom Prichard
I suspect there will be one. The constitutional deadline for ending work is midnight on Monday, May 21st. The legislature has yet to agree on spending targets for the K-12 education bill, and the major budget bills vetoed by Governor Pawlenty haven't been reworked. With all of the still unfinished work, I wouldn't be surprised to see the already vetoed major bills be re-passed and sent to the governor shortly before the deadline.
If the legislature takes that approach, their actions would force the governor to either accept the bills or veto them and call for a special session to begin immediately thereafter. In my opinion, it appears that liberal legislators are almost wishing for the Governor to call for a special session. If that happens, they’ll have a great chance to demonstrate their support on behalf of the interest groups that support them and for more government spending.
Interestingly though, if the special session does occur and drags out into the summer, with re-elections next year, the House legislators are putting themselves in a situation to loose more than the Governor possibly would from a special session.
