Watching the Minnesota House floor session late Sunday night, I stepped away from the livestream into my back porch, to check on the progress of a mighty and lovely prairie thunderstorm.
When I returned to my living room, the Minnesota House Infromation Services live stream camera kept steady on the podium, but the sound was a cluttered shouting.
As I said, I'd stepped out on my back porch to see a thunderstorm & came back to watch this. Sounded much louder on @mnhouseinfo livestreaming. Glad to learn the impetus. #mnleg https://t.co/KIY5Cv6Chf
— Sally Jo Sorensen (@sallyjos) May 20, 2024
What had happened?
A digest of coverage
Turns out, a similar scenario was playing out in the Minnesota Senate. At the Star Tribune, Ryan Faircloth, Rochelle Olson and Josie Albertson-Grove report in Minnesota Legislature's 2024 session ends in anger and acrimony:
Republicans complained of being shut out of negotiations and shouting matches erupted on the floors as Democrats passed their final bills.
The Legislature's 2024 session ended in chaos late Sunday night, as Democrats loaded a tax bill with a panoply of proposals, turning it into a massive vessel of more than 1,400 pages with provisions involving higher education, energy, transportation and gun safety.
At 11 p.m., with an hour to go until the midnight deadline, House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, suspended debate and called for a vote on the mammoth bill. GOP legislators tried to stop her, shouting "tyranny" and "communism!"
"This is a horrible way to govern," Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, shouted. She was still fuming after the session and said she'd filed an ethics complaint against Hortman, alleging the speaker quashed legitimate motions.
Thirty minutes later with the House in recess, the same scene played out in the Senate. "My ears are still ringing," Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul, said at a news conference an hour after adjournment.
Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, was angry, saying, "I just feel gross coming off of that Senate floor."
For the final 30 minutes of the Senate floor session, a dozen Republicans shouted into their microphones in anger. Sen. Eric Lucero, R-St. Michael, chanted "U.S.A."
The yelling made it impossible to hear Senate President Bobby Joe Champion, DFL-Minneapolis, as he called for a vote on the giant bill. That bill included a provision setting minimum pay standards for Uber and Lyft drivers, an attempt to prevent the companies from leaving parts of the state. The bill survived the angry cacophony, passing with DFL support and heading to Gov. Tim Walz's desk.
At back-to-back news conferences after the session, Demuth and Johnson angrily blamed the Democrats and their trifecta of control at the Capitol. The DFL leaders said their actions were a response to Republican filibustering in recent weeks, saying the minority prolonged debates for hours with extraneous personal stories. . . .
Read the rest at the Star Tribune.
Here are the news conferences:
And the Republicans:
Reporting for Minnesota Public Radio, Dana Ferguson and Clay Masters in In chaotic close, Minnesota lawmakers fail to pass projects bill, equal rights amendment:
The Minnesota Legislature stumbled toward a tumultuous end late Sunday night in a chorus of shouting and snap votes in a final day sure to damage the ability of the parties to work in concert in the future.
Lawmakers wrapped up their last day of voting without approving a substantial borrowing plan to pay for construction projects or one to put an equal rights amendment before voters. The House will reconvene Monday for retirement speeches and other formalities before breaking for the year.
In an unprecedented display of discord, shouting rang through both chambers for much of the last hour – “point of order!” “follow the rules!” “you are out of line!” “this is not Russia!” ”absolutely shameful!” – with Democrats trying to speed up votes over the vociferous objections of Republicans. The presiding officers were shouted down but ignored the calls to stop the votes. . . .
There's more at MPR. From the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Alex Derosier reports in MN legislative session comes to chaotic close as DFL passes giant last-minute bill with Uber/Lyft wage deal, gun control provisions:
Minnesota’s legislative session ended in complete chaos late Sunday night as Democratic-Farmer-Labor majorities introduced and pushed through a more than 1,000-page package bill less than an hour before midnight adjournment, prompting uproar from Republican lawmakers who wanted to continue debate.
The package was the combination of nine separate bills that included a minimum wage deal for ride-hailing drivers that ended Uber and Lyft’s threats to leave the state, increased penalties for buying guns for people ineligible to own them, and changes to the state paid leave program that will increase payroll taxes by about $300 million a year.
Amid screaming and shouting by Republican lawmakers, the package passed both the Senate and House about 30 minutes after its first introduction as the midnight deadline to finish voting loomed. The final minutes of the Senate’s floor session were marked by a cacophony of screams, simultaneous speeches by GOP senators and chants of “U-S-A.” . . .
In Legislature adjourns with mega-omnibus, loud finger-pointing as DFL leaders shut down GOP delays to meet deadline, Peter Callaghan reports:
Lawmakers either ran out of time or couldn’t reach agreement on sports betting, an infrastructure bill and an Equal Rights Amendment before midnight Sunday.
An already contentious session of the Minnesota Legislature managed to become even more contentious — perhaps historically so — on the last evening that bills could be passed.
DFL leaders, claiming to be fed up with GOP delay tactics, placed many of the remaining bills into one massive bill — 2,860 pages worth — and passed it in less than 10 minutes in the House and 15 in the Senate. Ignoring shouts of objections from Republicans, as well as attempts to be recognized for debate or motions, House Speaker Melissa Hortman and Senate President Bobby Joe Champion moved both bills to passage before the midnight deadline for regular session actions.
The massive bill — itself a combination of bills that are themselves hundreds of pages long — now moves to Gov. Tim Walz for his signature. While it is hard to summarize something that big, it contained issues of substance:
- Permitting reforms to speed up energy projects
- The settlement to the pay dispute between Uber and Lyft and ride-share drivers
- A plan to help low-income families collect the child tax credit throughout the year rather than just at tax time
- Reforms to how medical debt is collected
- Updates to last year’s paid family and medical leave program
- Increased penalties for people who buy guns on behalf of those who cannot legally own them
While Democrats praised the work of the session, calling the last-hour maneuver necessary to complete their work, Republicans called it an unprecedented abuse of legislative rules, even “a crying shame.”
Read about the whole hot mess at MinnPost.
UPDATE, May 20, 8:45: At the Minnesota Reformer, Michelle Griffith reports in Chaotic end leaves Democratic Legislature with a few wins:
Democratic lawmakers in the final hour of the 2024 legislative session passed a 1,400 page bill that includes a lengthy list of policy items, from minimum pay rates for Uber and Lyft drivers to increased penalties for straw gun purchases and changes to the state’s paid leave law that will result in a higher payroll tax.
Republicans cried foul, shouting at the rostrum in both the House and Senate as the clock ticked toward the midnight deadline.
For 30 minutes they shouted “Shame!” and “Follow the rules!” as Democrats — nursing a one-vote majority in the Senate — shut down debate and forced a vote on the bill while ignoring Republican yelling.
Even with the legislative hijinks, Democrats failed to take action on some key items: They’d hope to place the Equal Rights Amendment to the state constitution on the 2026 ballot, while supporters of legalized sports betting again went home disappointed, as Minnesota will remain one of the few states in the Midwest without it.
Democrats ended the session without achieving their signature goal: A roughly $900 million infrastructure bill, which required a supermajority — i.e., Republican votes — because it would be financed with borrowed money. Unable to win Republican support, lawmakers will head home without new funding for water treatment plants, roads, bridges, university buildings and other public works projects.
In the final seconds of the session, Senate Democrats attempted to pass a $71 million all-cash infrastructure bill that would not require Republican votes, but failed to finish voting by 12 a.m.
Especially in light of the failure to pass an infrastructure bill — known around the Capitol as the bonding bill and typically passed in the even years — the session will be mostly known for inaction on major issues, even considering the Democrats’ modest goals following the legislative frenzy of 2023. . . .
Check out the rest of the article at the Minnesota Reformer. [end update]
Session Daily's Rob Hubbard has the links to the bills rolled into one in After nine bills are combined and passed amidst chaos, 2024 session is all over but the shouting:
Minnesota’s legislative sessions have had some chaotic conclusions, but nothing quite like Sunday night’s final hour.
While the tax bill is quite often the final bill off the floor at the end of a session, the 2024 edition was something else entirely.
Shortly after 10 p.m. — with a midnight deadline looming for completing the Legislature’s business — the taxes conference committee amended into its final bill, HF5247, the language of eight other bills that had been tabled over the course of the week. Many were supplemental budget and policy bills from other areas.
Approved 8-1 by conferees, it went to the floors of both chambers, where it would be a gross understatement to say the compendium of multiple bills was not well received by Republicans.
Amid a raucous cacophony of angry shouting, the amended bill passed the House by a 70-50 vote.
When the bill reached the floor, House Majority Leader Jamie Long (DFL-Mpls) almost immediately moved the previous question, effectively putting an end to all debate and bringing the House to a direct vote on the bill.
“Each of these bills has been vetted through the conference committee process,” Long said. “The minority has a right to be heard, but the majority also has a right to govern. This week, we saw in this chamber an eight-hour filibuster on a bill to limit junk fees. We saw an eight-hour debate on a technical fix on paid leave that stretched longer than the original debate on the program. We spent 14 hours going through the night on the equal rights amendment. … Given this, the majority has to use the tools it has to get its work done.”
Over the course of those words, Long became more and more difficult to hear, as shouts and howls of anger echoed off the marble walls of the House Chamber.
“We request a copy of this bill of 1,430 pages,” yelled House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring). “Not available on the website! Not available in this chamber! This is a horrible way to govern and do this to the state of Minnesota!”
Almost every bill that had been tabled by the House over the previous week became part of the mega-package. Technically, the bill is sponsored by Rep. Aisha Gomez (DFL-Mpls) and Sen. Ann Rest (DFL-New Hope), the respective tax committee chairs, but you could just as easily add 16 other sponsors in the co-chairs of each of the eight conference committees that produced the reports now incorporated in the final bill.
“The bill that we passed off last from the floor contains some of our highest priorities of the session,” Long said.
So, in addition to its tax provisions, the “tax bill” now contains the final versions of the conference committee reports for:
- transportation, housing and labor (HF5242);
- the health scope of practice bill (HF4247);
- higher education (HF4024);
- an increase in penalties for straw firearm purchases and a ban on binary triggers (HF2609);
- energy and agriculture (SF4942);
- human services appropriations (SF5335);
- health and human services appropriations (SF4699); and
- paid leave provisions (HF5363).
As for the bill’s tax provisions, they include the establishment of advance payments of the child tax credit, language that changes statute on tax forfeited property and creates a housing support account, and allocates $2 million in fiscal year 2025 to grants for tax credit outreach and taxpayer assistance. The bill also includes several provisions related to Iron Range accounts.
After adjournment, Demuth and Rep. Paul Torkelson (R-Hanska) filed an ethics complaint against House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park), saying that she “violated the norms of House behavior, betrayed the public trust, and brought the House into dishonor and disrepute.”
“I don’t expect it will be brought up,” Demuth said. “At least it puts it on record of what happened and how the voice of the minority was disrespected, as was done consistently.”
At an impromptu press briefing just outside the chamber doors, Demuth said the majority’s actions to present a huge bill at the last minute and shut down debate was “unprecedented” and a “complete distortion” of the democratic process.
“If the governor chooses to sign what was just done, this state will never be the same,” she said. “We cannot trust Democrats in the state of Minnesota.”
Added Torkelson: “I’ve never seen anything like this in my 16 years in the House of Representatives. It’s just not the way things are supposed to be done.”
“At 9:45 tonight, I met with [Minority] Leader Lisa Demuth,” Hortman said at a post-session news conference. “I told her exactly what we were doing. I told her exactly which bills would be in the conference committee report and indicated to her that we needed to put all these bills in the tax conference committee report, because, otherwise, we couldn’t be assured that we would get done, due to the unprecedented delays.”
— Session Daily writers Miranda Bryant and Tim Walker and editor Mike Cook contributed to this story.
I'll add more sources to this digest as more reporting is published. In the meantime, it's time to finish planting my late tilled vegetable garden.
Photo: House Majority Leader Jamie Long and House Speaker Melissa Hortman confer at the rostrum prior to the start of session May 19. (Photo by Andrew VonBank/via Session Daily).
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