Minnesota Legislature
| Minnesota Legislature | |
|---|---|
| 88th Minnesota Legislature | |
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| Type | |
| Type | Bicameral |
| Houses | Senate House of Representatives |
| Leadership | |
| President of the Senate | Sandy Pappas, (DFL) Since January 8, 2013 |
| Speaker of the House of Representatives | Paul Thissen, (DFL) Since January 8, 2013 |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 201 67 Senators 134 Representatives |
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| Senate Political groups | DFL (39) Republican (28) |
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| House of Representatives Political groups | DFL (73) Republican (61) |
| Elections | |
| Senate Last election | November 6, 2012 |
| House of Representatives Last election | November 6, 2012 |
| Meeting place | |
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| Minnesota State Capitol Saint Paul, Minnesota |
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| Website | |
| www.leg.state.mn.us | |
The Minnesota Legislature is the bicameral legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota consisting of two houses: the lower Minnesota House of Representatives and the upper Minnesota Senate. The Legislature meets in the Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul.
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History [edit]
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| This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Minnesota |
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Constitution
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Legislature
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Divisions
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Federal relations
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Early on in the state'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. 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. The Minnesota Constitution was amended in 1896 to give cities direct control over their own charters.
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. Legislators ran and caucused as "Liberals" or "Conservatives," roughly the equivalent in most years to Democratic or Farmer–Labor (later Democratic–Farmer–Labor) and Republican, respectively. In 1974, House members again ran with party designation. In 1976, Senate members again ran with party designation.
Following the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, women were eligible for election 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.[1]
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. Only 301 of 20,000 pronouns were feminine. "His" was changed 10,000 times and "he" was changed 6,000 times. The Legislature oversees the funding for the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) systems.
Recent history [edit]
Governor Jesse Ventura advocated the idea of changing the Legislature to a unicameral system while he was in office, but the concept did not obtain widespread support.
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. Governor Tim Pawlenty, an advocate of the line (formerly an opponent), was expected to request a special session, but ended up helping the coordination of other funds to continue development of the line. 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.
The Senate was not up for election in 2004 so the DFL was able to maintain its 5 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.
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 opened. 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. A compromise budget was approved and signed into law two weeks later, but state offices remained closed over a highly publicized and strongly criticized Fourth of July weekend.
Television broadcasts [edit]
When the Legislature is in session, proceedings of both houses are broadcast on television via the Minnesota Channel (tpt MN) and also online via the Legislature's website.
Gallery [edit]
Previous sessions [edit]
- 86th Minnesota Legislature (2009–2010)
- 85th Minnesota Legislature (2007–2008)
- 84th Minnesota Legislature (2005–2006)
- 83rd Minnesota Legislature (2003–2004)
- 82nd Minnesota Legislature (2001–2002)
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ "Women Wielding Power: Pioneer Female State Legislators". National Women's History Museum. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
External links [edit]
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