Minnesota Legislature | |
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93rd Minnesota Legislature | |
Type | |
Type | |
Houses | Senate House of Representatives |
Leadership | |
Structure | |
Seats | 201 (67 senators, 134 representatives) |
Senate political groups |
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House of Representatives political groups |
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Elections | |
Last Senate election | November 8, 2022 |
Last House of Representatives election | November 8, 2022 |
Meeting place | |
Minnesota State Capitol Saint Paul | |
Website | |
www |
Constitution |
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The Minnesota Legislature is the bicameral legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota consisting of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Senators are elected from 67 single-member districts. In order to account for decennial redistricting, members run for one two-year term and two four-year terms each decade. They are elected for four-year terms in years ending in 2 and 6, and for two-year terms in years ending in 0. Representatives are elected for two-year terms from 134 single-member districts formed by dividing the 67 senate districts in half (ie. Senate District 1 Contains House Districts 1A and 1B).
Both houses of the Legislature meet between January and the first Monday following the third Saturday in May each year, not to exceed 120 legislative days per biennium. Floor sessions are held in the Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul.
Early on in Minnesota's history, the Legislature had direct control over the city charters that set the groundwork for governments in municipalities across the state. In the early period, many laws were written for specific cities. The practice was outlawed in 1881, though attempts were still made. [1] For instance, the long-standing Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and the city's now defunct Library Board were both created by the Legislature in the next several years. [2] [3] The Minnesota Constitution was amended in 1896 to give cities direct control over their own charters. [1]
Following the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920, women began to be elected to the Minnesota Legislature. In 1922, Mabeth Hurd Paige, Hannah Kempfer, Sue Metzger Dickey Hough and Myrtle Cain were elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives. [4]
In 1984, the Legislature ordered that all gender-specific pronouns be removed from the state laws. After two years of work, the rewritten laws were adopted. [5] Only 301 of 20,000 pronouns were feminine. "His" was changed 10,000 times and "he" was changed 6,000 times. [6]
In 1913, Minnesota legislators began to be elected on nonpartisan ballots. This was a historical accident that occurred when a bill to provide for no-party elections of judges, city, and county officers was amended to include the Legislature in the belief that it would kill the bill. [7] While Minnesota legislators were elected on a nonpartisan ballot, they caucused as "Liberals" or "Conservatives," roughly the equivalent in most years to Democratic or Farmer–Labor (later Democratic–Farmer–Labor) and Republican, respectively. [8] In 1974, House members again ran with party designation. In 1976, Senate members again ran with party designation. [9]
Governor Jesse Ventura advocated the idea of changing the Legislature to be unicameral while he was in office, but the concept did not obtain widespread support. [10]
In 2004, the Legislature ended its regular session without acting on a majority of the planned legislation, largely due to political divisiveness on a variety of issues ranging from education to same-sex marriage (See same-sex marriage in the United States for related events during the year). A proper budget failed to pass, and major anticipated projects such as the Northstar Corridor commuter rail line were not approved. [11] Governor Tim Pawlenty, an opponent turned advocate of the line, was expected to request a special session but ended up helping the coordination of other funds to continue the development of the line. [12] The lack of action in the 2004 session is said to be one reason why a number of Republican House members lost their seats in the November election. The Democratic–Farmer–Labor (DFL) minority grew from 53 to 66 and the Republican majority was reduced from 81 to 68. [13]
The Senate was not up for election in 2004 so the DFL was able to maintain its five-seat majority in the upper house. One state senator, Sheila Kiscaden of Rochester, was an Independence Party member until December 2005 when she began caucusing with the DFL, although she had been an elected Republican in the past. The DFL majority increased to six senators when Kiscaden announced her re-affiliation with the DFL in preparation to run for lieutenant governor on a ticket with DFLer Kelly Doran. [14]
There is a mandatory adjournment date specified in the state constitution: "The legislature shall not meet in regular session, nor in any adjournment thereof, after the first Monday following the third Saturday in May of any year." In 2005, the regular session ended without passage of an overall budget and a special session was subsequently called by Governor Pawlenty. [15] No overall budget passed by the end of the fiscal year on June 30, and much of the government shut down for the first time in the state's history. However, some essential services remained in operation and some departments received funding in legislation. [16] A compromise budget was approved and signed into law two weeks later. [17]
The November 2022 General Election saw the DFL maintain the Governorship and the State House, while regaining control of the State Senate. This produced the first DFL Legislative Trifecta since 2014.
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When the Legislature is in session, proceedings of both houses are broadcast on television via the Minnesota Channel and also online via the Legislature's website. The Minnesota House YouTube channel is “MNHouseInfo.” The Minnesota Senate YouTube Channel is “Minnesota Senate Media Services.”
Timothy James Pawlenty is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 39th governor of Minnesota from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party, Pawlenty served in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1993 to 2003, and as House Majority Leader from 1999 to 2003. He unsuccessfully ran for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2012 presidential election.
The Minnesota House of Representatives is the lower house of the U.S. state of Minnesota's legislature. It operates in conjunction with the Minnesota Senate, the state's upper house, to craft and pass legislation, which is then subject to approval by the governor of Minnesota.
The Michigan Senate is the upper house of the Michigan Legislature. Along with the Michigan House of Representatives, it composes the state legislature, which has powers, roles and duties defined by Article IV of the Michigan Constitution, adopted in 1963. The primary purpose of the Legislature is to enact new laws and amend or repeal existing laws.
Steven A. Sviggum is a Minnesota politician, a member of the University of Minnesota Board of Regents, and an executive assistant to and communications director for the Republican caucus in the Minnesota Senate. A former Speaker and member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, Sviggum represented District 28B in the southeastern part of the state. The area was known as District 25A until the 1982 legislative redistricting, and then as District 26A until the 1992 redistricting, and has included all or portions of Dakota, Dodge, Goodhue, Olmsted, Steele, Wabasha, Waseca and Winona counties.
Paul Thissen is an American politician and jurist serving as an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court. He previously served as the Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives and DFL Minority Leader. Thissen was the longest-serving leader of the Minnesota House Democrats since Martin Olav Sabo in the 1970s. A member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), he represented District 61B in south Minneapolis. First elected in 2002, Thissen was reelected every two years through 2016. On April 17, 2018, Governor Mark Dayton appointed Thissen to the Minnesota Supreme Court. He was sworn in on May 14, 2018. He is the first person to have served both as Minnesota House Speaker and on the Minnesota Supreme Court.
Melissa Hortman is an American politician and the Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Hortman represents District 34B in the northern Twin Cities metropolitan area, which includes the cities of Brooklyn Park, Champlin and Coon Rapids and parts of Anoka and Hennepin Counties.
Satveer Singh Chaudhary is an American criminal defense and immigration lawyer. He is also a politician and a former member of the Minnesota State Senate and the Minnesota House of Representatives serving from 1996 to 2010.
The eighty-second Minnesota Legislature first convened on January 3, 2001. The 67 members of the Minnesota Senate and the 134 members of the Minnesota House of Representatives were elected during the General Election on November 7, 2000.
Steve Drazkowski is an American politician serving as a member of the Minnesota Senate from District 20, representing all of Wabasha County, large parts of Olmsted County, Goodhue County, and Winona County, and a smaller part of Dakota County. He previously served in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Ron Erhardt is a politician from the U.S. state of Minnesota and former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. He represented District 49A, which included most of Edina in Hennepin County.
The following table indicates the party of elected officials in the U.S. state of Minnesota:
Michelle Louise Helene Fischbach is an American attorney and politician who is the U.S. representative from Minnesota's 7th congressional district. The district, which is very rural, is Minnesota's largest congressional district and includes most of the western area of the state. A Republican, Fischbach served as the 49th lieutenant governor of Minnesota from 2018 until 2019. As of 2024, she is the most recent Republican to have held statewide office in Minnesota.
Edward Arthur Burdick was a nonpartisan former chief clerk and parliamentarian of the Minnesota House of Representatives and the past national president of the American Society of Legislative Clerks and Secretaries (ASLCS).
Melissa Halvorson Wiklund is a Minnesota politician and member of the Minnesota Senate. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), she represents District 51 in the southern Twin Cities metropolitan area, which includes the cities of Bloomington and Richfield. Wiklund's legislative priorities include education, health care, and job creation.
The eighty-first Minnesota Legislature first convened on January 5, 1999. The 67 members of the Minnesota Senate were elected during the general election of November 5, 1996, and the 134 members of the Minnesota House of Representatives were elected during the general election of November 3, 1998.
The seventy-fourth Minnesota Legislature first convened on January 8, 1985. The 67 members of the Minnesota Senate were elected during the General Election of November 2, 1982, and the 134 members of the Minnesota House of Representatives were elected during the General Election of November 6, 1984.
The Ninetieth Minnesota Legislature was the legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota from January 3, 2017 to January 7, 2019. It was composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives, based on the results of the 2016 Senate election and the 2016 House election. It first convened and held its regular session in Saint Paul from January 3 to May 22, 2017, and from February 20 to May 20, 2018. A special session to complete unfinished business was held from May 23 to 26, 2017.
The Ninety-first Minnesota Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota from January 8, 2019 to January 4, 2021. It is composed of the Senate and House of Representatives, based on the results of the 2016 Senate election and 2018 House election. It first convened and held its regular session in Saint Paul from January 8 to May 20, 2019, and from February 11 to May 18, 2020. A special session was held from May 24 to 25, 2019, to pass bills enacting the state budget following an agreement between the governor and legislative leaders during the final weekend of the regular session in 2019.
The sixty-ninth Minnesota Legislature first convened on January 7, 1975. The 67 members of the Minnesota Senate were elected during the General Election of November 7, 1972, while the 134 members of the Minnesota House of Representatives were elected during the General Election of November 5, 1974. The sixty-ninth Legislature was the first Minnesota Legislature to sit after the repeal of the requirement that Minnesota legislators be chosen in legally nonpartisan elections.
The Ninety-second Minnesota Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota from January 5, 2021, to January 3, 2023. It is composed of the Senate and House of Representatives, based on the results of the 2020 Senate election and 2020 House election.
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