By Rachel E. Stassen-Berger

St. Paul Pioneer Press

ST. PAUL — DFL Gov. Mark Dayton on Tuesday said that he had given up hope for a special session this year.

“With great regret, I’m announcing today that I will not be able to call a special session of the Legislature,” Dayton said.

The governor and DFL lawmakers had pushed for months for a quick, early legislative meeting to grant unemployment benefits to laid-off Iron Range workers, grapple with federal Real ID requirements and begin to deal with the state’s long-running racial disparities. Republicans in the House and Senate resisted that push.

Dayton has the power to unilaterally force lawmakers to meet in session before their planned March 8 convening but has declined to do so without pre-agreement from legislative leaders.

Republicans have long maintained that while the issues may be worthy, they can wait until later this year.

“Republicans are solely responsible for our failure to come together and take the necessary steps to provide that assistance,” Dayton said.

But GOP leaders have said their agreement is not needed and that if Dayton wanted to call a special session, he could and should do so.

“If you choose to exercise your constitutional authority to call the Legislature into special session, I will work with you, Senate Majority Leader (Tom) Bakk, and Speaker of the House (Kurt) Daudt to process the bills in a fair and timely manner,” Senate Minority Leader David Hann wrote to Dayton on Monday, adding that he would not sign any pre-agreement.

Hann’s spokesman reacted quickly to Dayton’s remarks on Tuesday:

Once again here’s the lesson for Mark Dayton on special sessions: First step is to run it by the leaders privately, not the press. #mnleg