Minnesota Legislature - Recent History

Recent History

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, currently 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 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. She caucuses with the DFL today, although she had been an elected Republican in the past. The DFL majority increased to six Senators when Sen. 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 state 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.