2020 Minnesota legislative session
For a full list of changes, visit: Changes to state legislative session dates in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020.
Minnesota: The Minnesota State Legislature suspended some legislative activity, effective March 17, 2020, through April 7, 2020. The legislature adjourned on May 17, 2020. A special session convened on June 12, 2020. The special session adjourned on June 19, 2020. Another special session convened on July 13, 2020, and adjourned on July 21, 2020. A third special session convened on August 12, 2020, and adjourned the same day.
Minnesota State Legislature | |
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General information | |
Type: | State legislature |
Term limits: | None |
Session start: | February 11, 2020 |
Website: | Official Legislature Website |
Leadership | |
Senate President: | Jeremy Miller (R) |
House Speaker: | Melissa Hortman (D) |
Majority Leader: | Senate: Paul Gazelka (R) House: Ryan Winkler (D) |
Minority Leader: | Senate: Thomas Bakk (D) House: Kurt Daudt (R) |
Structure | |
Members: | 67 (Senate), 134 (House) |
Length of term: | 4 years (Senate), 2 years (House) |
Authority: | Art IV, Minnesota Constitution |
Salary: | $31,141/year + per diem |
Elections | |
Last election: | November 6, 2018 |
Next election: | November 3, 2020 |
Redistricting: | Minnesota Legislature subcommittee has control |
In 2020, the Minnesota State Legislature was scheduled to convene on February 11 and adjourn on May 17.
Several state legislatures suspended their sessions or otherwise limited legislative activity in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The Minnesota State Legislature suspended some legislative activity, effective March 17, 2020, through April 7, 2020. Under the suspension, floor sessions and committee hearings were called only "when legislative leaders have agreed-upon legislation that needs to be acted upon." The legislature adjourned on May 17, 2020. A special session convened on June 12, 2020. The special session adjourned on June 19, 2020. Another special session convened on July 13, 2020, and adjourned on July 21, 2020. A third special session convened on August 12, 2020, and adjourned the same day.[1][2]
At the start of the 2020, Minnesota was one of 28 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Following the 2018 election, Republicans had a 34-33 majority in the Senate and Democrats had a 75-59 majority in the House. Democrats also controlled the governorship, meaning neither party held a state government trifecta.
Click the links to read more about the 2020 state Senate and state House elections.
Click the links to read more about the 2016 state Senate and 2018 state House elections.
Partisan control in 2020
- See also: State government trifectas
Minnesota was one of 14 states without a state government trifectas at the start of 2020 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.
Minnesota was also one of 28 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.
The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Minnesota State Legislature in the 2020 legislative session.
Minnesota State Senate
Party | As of January 2020 | |
---|---|---|
Democratic Party | 32 | |
Republican Party | 35 | |
Total | 67 |
Between 1992 and 2010, the Minnesota State Senate was controlled by Democrats. Partisan control of the chamber fluctuated, swinging back and forth between the Democratic and Republican parties between 2010 and 2012. Since the 2016 elections, Republicans have controlled the chamber. The table below shows the partisan history of the Minnesota State Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2016. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.
Minnesota State Senate election results: 1992-2016
Party | 92 | 96 | 00 | 02 | 06 | 10 | 12 | 16 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democrats | 45 | 42 | 39 | 35 | 44 | 30 | 39 | 33 |
Republicans | 22 | 25 | 27 | 31 | 23 | 37 | 28 | 34 |
Other | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Between 1992 and 2020, majority control of the state Senate changed four times. Democrats controlled the chamber from 1973 until the 2010 elections.[3] In the 2010 elections, Republicans picked up 16 seats and held a 37-30 majority. That Republican majority held until the 2012 elections, when Democrats gained nine seats. Democrats held that majority until the 2016 elections, when Republicans retook control of the chamber. In the 2016 elections, Democrats went from having a 39-28 majority to a 33-34 minority.
Democrats went from having a 23-seat advantage following the 1992 elections to being at a one-seat disadvantage after the 2016 elections. The last time that Democrats or Republicans held more than the 45 seats required to override a gubernatorial veto was after the 1992 elections. Democrats lost that veto-proof majority in a special election in December 1994.[3]
Minnesota House of Representatives
Party | As of January 2020 | |
---|---|---|
Democratic Party | 75 | |
Republican Party | 59 | |
Total | 134 |
Between 1992 and 2020, partisan control of the Minnesota House of Representatives fluctuated, swinging back and forth between the Democratic and Republican parties. Democrats regained control of the chamber after the 2018 elections. The table below shows the partisan history of the Minnesota House of Representatives following every general election from 1992 to 2018. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.
Minnesota House of Representatives election results: 1992-2018
Year | '92 | '94 | '96 | '98 | '00 | '02 | '04 | '06 | '08 | '10 | '12 | '14 | '16 | '18 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democrats | 87 | 71 | 70 | 63 | 65 | 52 | 66 | 85 | 87 | 62 | 73 | 62 | 57 | 75 |
Republicans | 47 | 63 | 64 | 71 | 69 | 82 | 68 | 49 | 47 | 72 | 61 | 72 | 77 | 59 |
Between 1992 and 2020, majority control of the state House changed seven times. Democrats controlled the chamber from 1987 until the 1998 election.[4] In 1998, Republicans picked up seven seats in the election. That Republican majority held until the 2006 elections, when Democrats gained 19 seats. The chamber returned to a Republican majority in 2010 after Republicans picked up 25 seats. Democrats regained control of the chamber in the 2012 elections when the party picked up 11 seats. Democrats held that majority until the 2014 elections when Republicans retook control of the chamber. In the 2014 elections, Democrats went from having a 73-61 majority to a 62-72 minority. Republicans increased their majority in the 2016 elections from 73-61 to 77-57 but lost their gains in the 2018 elections as a 75-59 Democratic majority regained power.
Democrats went from having a 40-seat advantage following the 1992 elections to holding a 16-seat advantage after the 2018 elections. From 1992 to 2020, neither Democrats or Republicans held more than the 90 seats required to override a gubernatorial veto.
Leadership in 2020
Minnesota State Senate
- Senate president: Jeremy Miller (R)
- President Pro Tem: Mary Kiffmeyer (R)
- Majority leader: Paul Gazelka (R)
- Minority leader: Thomas Bakk (D)
Minnesota House of Representatives
- House speaker: Melissa Hortman (D)
- Majority leader: Ryan Winkler (D)
- Minority leader: Kurt Daudt (R)
Regular session
The following widget shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2020 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation met these criteria in 2020. This information is provided by BillTrack50.
Standing legislative committees
A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.
At the beginning of the 2020 legislative session, there were 37 standing committees in Minnesota's state government, including no joint legislative committees, 16 state Senate committees, and 21 state House committees.
Joint legislative committees
Senate committees
- Agriculture and Rural Development Finance and Policy Committee
- Education Finance Committee
- Education Policy Committee
- Elections Committee
- Energy and Utilities Finance and Policy Committee
- Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Legacy Finance Committee
- Finance Committee
- Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee
- Housing and Homelessness Prevention Committee
- Human Services Committee
- Jobs and Economic Growth Finance and Policy Committee
- Judiciary and Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee
- Labor and Industry Policy Committee
- Local Government Committee
- Rules and Administration Committee
- Senate Capital Investment Committee
- Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Finance and Policy Committee
- Senate Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee
- Senate Taxes Committee
- Senate Transportation Finance and Policy Committee
House committees
- Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee
- Children and Families Finance and Policy
- Climate and Energy Finance and Policy Committee
- Commerce Finance and Policy Committee
- Education Finance Committee
- Education Policy Committee
- Elections Finance and Policy
- Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee
- Ethics Committee
- Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee
- Health Finance and Policy Committee
- House Capital Investment Committee
- House Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee
- House Housing Finance and Policy Committee
- House Taxes Committee
- House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee
- Human Services Finance and Policy Committee
- Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee
- Labor, Industry, Veterans and Military Affairs Finance and Policy Committee
- Legacy Finance Committee
- Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform Finance and Policy Committee
- Rules and Legislative Administration Committee
- State Government Finance and Policy Committee
- Transportation Committee
- Ways and Means Committee
- Workforce and Business Development Finance and Policy Committee
Legislatively referred constitutional amendments
In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.
The methods by which the Minnesota Constitution can be amended:
The Minnesota Constitution provides two mechanisms for amending the state's constitution— a legislative process and a state constitutional convention. Ratification of amendments proposed by a convention require a 60% supermajority of those voting on the amendment question, while an amendment proposed by the legislature requires a simple majority (50%+1) of those voting in the election.[5]
Legislature
A simple majority vote is required during one legislative session for the Minnesota State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 68 votes in the Minnesota House of Representatives and 34 votes in the Minnesota State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.
Ratifying an amendment requires a 'Yes' vote from a simple majority of all voters casting a ballot in the election, rather than a simple majority of those voting on the question.
Convention
According to Section 3 of Article IX of the Minnesota Constitution, a two-thirds (66.67%) vote in each chamber during one legislative session is required to send a constitutional convention question to voters. A simple majority vote by the electorate is required to call the convention. Any proposed amendments approved by the convention require a 60% vote of the electorate to be ratified.
Historical context: Between 1996 and 2018, the following occurred:
- A total of 10 measures appeared on statewide ballots.
- An average of one measure appeared on even-year ballots.
- The number of measures appearing on statewide ballots ranged from zero to three.
- Voters approved 80.0 percent (8 of 10) of statewide ballot measures.
Legislatively referred constitutional amendments, 1996-2018 | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total number | Approved | Percent approved | Defeated | Percent defeated | Even-year average | Even-year median | Even-year minimum | Even-year maximum | |
10 | 8 | 80.0% | 2 | 20.0% | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0 | 3 |
Historical partisan control
The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Minnesota.
Minnesota Party Control: 1992-2024
Four years of Democratic trifectas • No Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
Year | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Governor | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | I | I | I | I | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D |
Senate | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D |
House | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | R | R | D | D | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D |
See also
Elections | Minnesota State Government | State Legislatures | State Politics |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Redwood Falls Gazette, "Minnesota state legislature suspends its business until April 14," March 22, 2020
- ↑ Post Bulletin, "Minnesota Legislature to return Thursday to take up COVID-19 response," March 25, 2020
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Minnesota State Legislature, "Party Control of the Minnesota Senate, 1951-present," accessed October 17, 2017
- ↑ Minnesota State Legislature, "Party Control of the Minnesota House of Representatives, 1951-present," accessed October 17, 2017
- ↑ The Pink Ballot Statute, 204D.15