Text: This has been a frustrating close to the 2015 session for all of us. Continued delays and refusals to compromise have, at the time of this writing, led to at least one veto and a special session will be required to finish our work. This is in light of the fact that Minnesota has a projected budget surplus of more than $2 billion.The session ended in a flurry of chaos as the House majority declined to take up a bonding bill and in the final minutes pushed through a horrible Jobs and Energy bill without debate and without giving any member a chance to see what was in the bill.This was supposed to be the 'Transportation Session" but despite both sides of the aisle acknowledging the urgency of this issue, the legislature was unable to pass a transportation bill that addressed our long-term needs. Accepting this, we merely passed a "lights on" bill that essentially continues the status quo. This is largely because ideas on how to fund the nearly $10 billion in needed investment over the next decade were too far apart. House Majority Republicans insisted on shifting funding from the area of the budget that is generally reserved for education and nursing homes. Democrats wanted a stable funding source where users paid more through increasing the gas tax and metro folks paying for metro transit. I voted against a standalone gas tax increase proposed by Republicans, which none of them voted for because it did not reflect the Governor's comprehensive plan but recognize that some new funding sources are necessary to fix our crumbling infrastructure. I have received numerous calls from Township supervisors with concerns about local bridges.Like the transportation bill, there was no tax bill this year. Again, it was due to insurmountable philosophical differences between the two parties. It's unfortunate because the people of our district deserve property tax relief and tax credits to help offset costs of childcare and education.The biggest disappointment was the failure to negotiate a compromise on an education bill. After numerous attempts and capitulations on the part of the governor, the majority in the House refused to invest an additional $25 million, which represents 0.0006 percent of the budget. Gov. Dayton originally proposed $800 million in new education investments, dropped that to $550 million and then went even further by giving up his top priority, voluntary universal Pre-K. In the end, neither the Senate nor the governor could get the House Republicans to accept investing $25 million more on education, forcing a special session.I'm disappointed that we were unable to reach a compromise where we could invest in the 5 percent campaign to help those taking care of our loved ones, fix our transportation system, provide tax relief, and adequately fund education. We now have the opportunity to start over and correct some of the errors of the session.