MN House Republicans complain about partisan conference committees. No precedent?

Update May 9: since first publishing this post, I found a couple more examples of Republican whining about conference committee composition. 

On May 2, Hank Long reported for conservative Alpha News in House and Senate Republicans shut out of key legislative conference committees:

 . . .House Republicans expressed frustration in both of those instances, which they say breaks with past precedent of the majority party appointing at least one member from the minority party to a conference committee.

Specifically, House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth said Democrats are “shutting out” Republican voices in the environment, climate and energy bill by only appointing House DFLers to that conference committee who live within 20 miles of the State Capitol. . . .

Apparently, neither Demuth nor Long bothered to look review past years' conference committee appointments, as Bluestem did--we did and discovered that during recent Republican control of the House, DFLers were left off conference committees for omnibus and other bills.

In a Session Daily article published today, Aim is to finish session by end of next week, House majority leader says, Mike Cook reports:

. . .Rep. Kristin Robbins (R-Maple Grove) was critical of the conference committee process, saying three conference committees have zero House Republicans and that, in other cases, Republicans have been left out of “meaningful conversations” about the final product. . . . 

Perhaps Republicans will create a rule about bipartisan conference committees the next time they hold power in the House--or simply not forget their own past completely partisan conference committee appointments. 

At least, they should remember that the Legislative Reference Library maintains a readily accessible database  of conference committees from 2017 and 2018, aka the 90th Legislature, the last time the Republican caucuses held both upper and lower chambers. 

Or maybe look up the meaning of the words "precedent." [end update]

In recent legislative update emails, two first term Republican state representatives are complaining about conference committees in which none of their caucus members are taking part.

This lament comes from a May 6, 2023 Legislative Update from Dassel Republican Dawn Gillman:

Conference committees have been in full swing this week which signals that this legislative session is almost to the end. While I am not serving on any of these joint committees they provide one last opportunity for our Republican members to influence the final bills that will head to the governor’s desk. Unfortunately, House Republicans have been shut out of three of these conference committees in Democrat’s continued abuse of trifecta control of state government. I believe it is a terrible precedent to set not having all of the perspectives gathered to provide input on these finalized pieces of legislation.

The same language shows up in first term Lake Shore Republican Krista Knudson's May 5 Legislative Update:

Conference committees have been in full swing this week which signals that this legislative session is almost to the end. While I am not serving on any of these joint committees they provide one last opportunity for our Republican members to influence the final bills that will head to the governor’s desk. Unfortunately, House Republicans have been shut out of three of these conference committees in Democrat’s continued abuse of trifecta control of state government. I believe it is a terrible precedent to set not having all of the perspectives gathered to provide input on these finalized pieces of legislation.

Is the absence of the minority caucus members on conference committees without precedent, part of the Evil Metro DFL Cult "continued abuse of trifecta control of state government"?

No.

Bluestem looked at conference committees assembled during 2017 and 2018, aka the 90th Legislature, the last time the Republican caucuses held both upper and lower chambers. (No easily accessed records for the 2011-2012 session are available).

We found a number of historical examples from the 89th session, when Republicans controlled the House. 

Gillman and Knudsen are new to the Minnesota House, so perhaps they don't know that there's no rule dictating bipartisan appointees on conference committee--and that the custom and usage of such appointments includes single-party conferee appointments.

Indeed, their own caucus has shut out DFL members from conference committees in the past. Here are the conference committees in which the House was served only by Republican members:

2017

HF0399/SF0603 (CHAPTER 100) Senate and house of representatives funding provided, transfers required, and money appropriated.

House conferees: Anderson, S.; O'Driscoll; Fenton; Nash; Dettmer

HF0859/SF1059 Koochiching County; Transportation Department unused or divided land conveyance provided, highways on the trunk highway system removed or modified, and state-owned land conveyance authorized.

Huse conferees: Torkelson; Runbeck; Petersburg; Howe; Koznick

HF0861/SF1060 Omnibus transportation finance bill.

House conferees: Torkelson; Runbeck; Petersburg; Koznick; Howe

SF0605/HF069z Omnibus state government appropriations bill; omnibus veterans and military affairs appropriations bill

Anderson, S.; O'Driscoll; Dettmer; Fenton; Nash

 

2018

 

HF3232/SF2696 (CHAPTER 193) Solar energy incentive program modified.

O'Neill; West; Bahr, C.

SF2809/HF3273 Metropolitan council governance modification and transportation advisory board elimination; transportation technical advisory committee establishment

Albright; Koznick; Uglem

SF3310/HF3403 (CHAPTER 200) Child care licensing provisions modifications

Peterson; Franson; Quam

And what of the conference committee appoints in years when the Republican Party controlled the House, though not the Senate? Here's 2015:

HF0004/SF1904 Omnibus transportation policy and finance bill

Kelly; Petersburg; Sanders; Howe; Erhardt (the senate appointees were all DFLers)

SF0455/HF0840 (CHAPTER 70) Omnibus elections bill

Sanders; O'Driscoll; Nash (the senate appointees were all DFLers)

SF1458/HF1638  (CHAPTER 71) Omnibus health and human services appropriations bill

Dean, M.; Mack; Schomacker; McDonald; Zerwas

And 2016 (names of House appointees for several conference committees are missing)

HF2749/SF2356 (CHAPTER 189) Omnibus supplemental budget bill

Knoblach; Loon; Garofalo; Dean, M.; McNamara 

SF3368/HF3723 (CHAPTER 168) Temporary use of certain rights-of-way permit requirements modification

Drazkowski; Fabian; Hertaus

As for the 2023 conference committees with only DFL members in the House serving:

HF2310/SF2438 Omnibus environment, natural resources, climate, and energy finance and policy bill

Hansen, R.; Acomb; Hollins; Jordan; Kraft

SF2909/HF2890 Omnibus Judiciary and Public Safety appropriations

Moller; Feist; Becker-Finn; Frazier; Curran (only DFL senators are serving on this committee as well: Latz; Oumou Verbeten; Pappas; Seeberger; Westlin) 

SF3035/HF3028 Omnibus Jobs, Economic Development, Labor, and Industry appropriations

Hassan; Xiong; Nelson, M.; Berg; Olson, L. (only DFL senators are serving on this committee as well: Champion; McEwen; Mohamed; Hauschild; Gustafson)

According to Roll Call votes, two of the three companion bills received Republican votes in the Senate

 

No House Republican voted for HF2310. In the Senate, Chanhassen Republican Julia Coleman voted for the bill--and is serving on the committee. Senator Duckworth

 

No Republican in either chamber voted for SF2909.

 

No House Republicans voted for the amended version of SF3035, while Anoka County Republican senator Jim Abeler cast the single yes vote in his caucus.

 

Perhaps Gillman and Knudsen could spend some time with the helpful and professional Legislative Reference Library staff learning about the wonderful resources available.

 

And maybe they might want to write their copy for their legislative updates--or give their staff a byline--once they've mastered those resources.

 

Related posts

• Strib: conference committee votes for moratorium on new deer farms to fight CWD
• Commerce omnibus conference committee makes agreement, strikes “Minnesota Age-Appropriate Desi

Photo: Magnolias bloomed on the grounds of the State Capitol this week. (Photo by Andrew VonBank/Session Daily/Minnesota House Information Services)

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