Special legislative sessions in Minnesota are becoming so common they should be called “extra sessions” – there’s not much special about them.

Since they have become so common, you’d think our state leaders would get better at holding them.

Minnesota’s latest special session ended late Friday night, and Gov. Mark Dayton signed the bills legislators passed, setting up the budget for the coming two years and putting an end to the prospect of a partial government shutdown that would have come on July 1.

But it didn’t end without a final standoff over the agriculture and environment bill, which Senate Democrats opposed because it eliminates the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Citizen Advisory Board, and it eases solid waste regulations for copper and nickel mining. The Senate eventually passed the bill, but expect these issues to come up again next year.

The education bill contains good news for E-12 education, with $525 million in new money over two years for state schools. It does not include the governor’s top priority of universal pre-school. In fact, it looks a lot like the deal that could have been passed in the final minutes of the legislative session.

Republicans are happy that they were able to hold the line on state spending, keeping it to the third lowest percentage increase in general fund spending in 50 years, according to House Speaker Kurt Daudt.

Legislators still have plenty to do next session, including the major investment in transportation that they neglected to do this year.