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2023 Minnesota legislative session

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2023 Minnesota legislative session
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General information
Session start:    January 3, 2023

Session end:    May 22, 2023

Leadership
Senate President
Bobby Joe Champion (R)

House Speaker
Melissa Hortman (D)
Majority Leader
Senate: Kari Dziedzic (R)
House: Jamie Long (D)
Minority Leader
Senate: Mark Johnson (D)
House: Lisa Demuth (R)

Elections
Next Election:    November 5, 2024

Last Election:    November 8, 2022

Previous legislative sessions
2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018
Other 2023 legislative sessions


In 2023, the Minnesota State Legislature was scheduled to convene on January 3, 2023, and adjourn on May 22, 2023.

The legislators serving in this session took office following the 2022 elections. Democrats won a 34-33 majority in the Senate and a 70-64 majority in the House. Democrats controlled the governorship, creating a Democratic state government trifecta. At the start of the 2023 session, Minnesota was one of 23 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.

At the beginning of the 2023 legislative session:
  • Democrats held a majority in the Minnesota state House and state Senate.
  • Minnesota was one of 17 Democratic state government trifectas.
  • Minnesota governor was Democrat Tim Walz

    • Leadership in 2023

    Minnesota State Senate

    Minnesota House of Representatives

    Partisan control in 2023

    See also: State government trifectas

    Minnesota was one of 17 Democratic state government trifectas at the start of 2023 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 23 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 2023 legislative session.

    Minnesota State Senate

    Party As of January 2023
         Democratic Party 34
         Republican Party 33
    Total 67

    Minnesota House of Representatives

    Party As of January 2023
         Democratic Party 70
         Republican Party 64
    Total 134

    Regular session

    The list below shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2023 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 2023. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

    Standing legislative committees

    See also: Standing committee and List of committees in Minnesota state government


    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 2023 legislative session, there were 61 standing committees in Minnesota's state government, including 2 joint committees, 30 state Senate committees, and 29 state House committees.

    Joint committees

    • Driver and Vehicle Systems Oversight Committee
    • MNsure Legislative Oversight Committee

    Senate committees

    • Aging and Long-Term Care Policy Committee
    • Agriculture and Rural Development Finance and Policy Committee
    • Civil Law and Data Practices Policy Committee
    • E-12 Finance and Policy Committee
    • Education Finance and Policy Committee
    • Energy and Utilities Finance and Policy Committee
    • Environment and Natural Resources Finance Committee
    • Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Legacy Finance Committee
    • Family Care and Aging Committee
    • Finance Committee
    • Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee
    • Human Services Licensing Policy Committee
    • Human Services Reform Finance and Policy 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
    • Local Government Policy Committee
    • Mining and Forestry Policy 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 Housing Finance and Policy Committee
    • Senate Redistricting Committee
    • Senate Taxes Committee
    • Senate Transportation Finance and Policy Committee
    • State Government Finance and Policy and Elections Committee
    • Technology and Reform Policy Committee
    • Veterans and Military Affairs Finance and Policy Committee

    House committees

    • Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee
    • Climate and Energy Finance and Policy Committee
    • Commerce Finance and Policy Committee
    • Early Childhood Finance and Policy Committee
    • . Education Finance Committee
    • Education Policy Committee
    • Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee
    • Ethics Committee
    • Health Finance and Policy Committee
    • House Capital Investment Committee
    • House Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee
    • House Housing Finance and Policy Committee
    • House Redistricting Committee
    • House Taxes Committee
    • House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee
    • Human Services Finance and Policy Committee
    • Industrial Education and Economic Development Finance and Policy Committee
    • Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee
    • Labor, Industry, Veterans and Military Affairs Finance and Policy Committee
    • Legacy Finance Committee
    • Legacy Funding Committee
    • Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform Finance and Policy Committee
    • Public Safety and Security Committee
    • Rules and Legislative Administration Committee
    • State Government Committee
    • State Government Finance and Elections 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:

    See also: Article IX of the Minnesota Constitution and Laws governing ballot measures in Minnesota

    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.[1]

    Legislature

    See also: Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

    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

    See also: Convention-referred constitutional amendment

    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 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

    Historical Senate control

    Between 1992 and 2010, the Minnesota State Senate was controlled by Democrats. Partisan control of the chamber fluctuated between the Democratic and Republican parties between 2010 and 2016. Democrats won control of the chamber in 2022. The table below shows the partisan history of the Minnesota State Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2022. 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: 1992-2022

    Party 92 96 00 02 06 10 12 16 20 22
    Democrats 45 42 39 35 44 30 39 33 31 34
    Republicans 22 25 27 31 23 37 28 34 34 33
    Other 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 0

    Between 1992 and 2022, majority control of the state Senate changed four times. Democrats controlled the chamber from 1973 until the 2010 elections.[2] 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. Democrats won control again in 2022.

    Democrats went from having a 23-seat advantage following the 1992 elections to being at a one-seat advantage after the 2022 elections. The last time that Democrats or Republicans held 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.[2]

    Historical House control

    Between 1992 and 2022, partisan control of the Minnesota House of Representatives fluctuated 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 2020. 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: 1992-2022

    Year '92 '94 '96 '98 '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18 '20 '22
    Democrats 87 71 70 63 65 52 66 85 87 62 73 62 57 75 70 70
    Republicans 47 63 64 71 69 82 68 49 47 72 61 72 77 59 64 64

    Between 1992 and 2022, majority control of the state House changed seven times. Democrats controlled the chamber from 1987 until the 1998 election.[3] 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 control.

    Democrats went from having a 40-seat advantage following the 1992 elections to holding a 6-seat advantage after the 2020 elections. From 1992 to 2022, neither Democrats nor Republicans held more than the 90 seats required to override a gubernatorial veto.

    Ballotpedia's Election Administration Legislation Tracker

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    See also

    Elections Minnesota State Government State Legislatures State Politics
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    State Courts-Tile image.png

    External links

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ The Pink Ballot Statute, 204D.15
    2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Minnesota State Legislature, "Party Control of the Minnesota Senate, 1951-present," accessed February 15, 2021
    3. ↑ Minnesota State Legislature, "Party Control of the Minnesota House of Representatives, 1951-present," accessed February 12, 2021
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