Legislative Updates
Legislative chaos & confusion
The Legislature was scheduled to commence this year’s session on January 14, and almost three weeks into the legislative session, it’s like it hasn’t even started. In the Senate, the untimely death of Senator Kari Dziedzic (DFL-Minneapolis) in late December meant that the body was split 50-50 on opening day. The leaders of both parties announced a power-sharing agreement until one party had a majority. This meant that for the first few weeks of the session, the Senate had two majority leaders, and all committees had two chairs and equal numbers of members from both parties. These committees have been meeting, and some have even advanced a few bills. Earlier this week, however, a special election was held in Sen. Dziedzic’s District 60, where the DFL candidate Doran Clark won by a significant margin. It is anticipated that once he is sworn in, the power-sharing agreement will end.
The House is not meeting or moving forward at this moment. At the end of December, a judge declared that DFL Representative-Elect Curtis Johnson could not assume the seat he won in Roseville because he did not live in that district. The GOP announced they would no longer abide by the power-sharing agreement they had reached with the DFL when the power balance was 67-67. They also threatened not to seat Brad Tabke, a legislator from Shakopee. As a result, the DFL decided they would not return to the Capitol until an agreement was reached regarding the Tabke seat and power-sharing duties. All House GOP members showed up on January 14 and elected Rep. Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring) as Speaker. For the next two weeks, the GOP held committee meetings with only GOP members, but on January 24, the Supreme Court ruled that the quorum requirement—the number of people that must be present for a vote to occur—had not been met on January 14. Thus, all work that had been done to that point is invalid. No House committees are meeting at the moment, and all bills that had been introduced are now considered withdrawn.
We do not know when the House will come back together. Legislative leaders are engaged in a power struggle game of chicken in which Minnesotans are the likely losers.
To learn more about what is happening at the Legislature, join us for our next legislative forum on February 14 at 2:00pm. Click here to register.
As a reminder, please join us for our Legislative Action Day on February 25. Click here to register.
For any questions regarding our legislative work, please reach out to GMPT Lobbyist Elizabeth Wefel at eawefel@flaherty-hood.com.
RECAP: Legislative Update Forum offers insight into evolving session dynamics
On January 10, GMPT Lobbyist Elizabeth Wefel hosted our first legislative forum of 2025. At the forum, she explained what we knew heading into the legislative session about who controlled each chamber and how things might proceed. She also provided tips on reaching out to your legislators and explained GMPT’s legislative agenda for 2025. If you want to learn more, click the links below to watch the forum recording, view the presentation slides, or read an AI-generated summary.
If you have any questions on these developments or our legislative work, you can reach out to GMPT Lobbyist Elizabeth Wefel at eawefel@flaherty-hood.com.
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