Minn House Reaches Agreement to End Historical Standoff

ST. PAUL, Minn. – For the first time this legislative session, the Minnesota House of Representatives saw chairs fill up on both sides of the aisle.

The historic standoff between the DFL and Republican caucuses came to an end, after party leaders reached a power sharing agreement earlier today. When the session began three weeks ago, a vacancy in the House gave a temporary 67 to 66 majority to Republicans.

Without a power-sharing agreement in place the DFL boycotted the session, while Republicans attempted to push forward in their absence.

Republicans were forced to the negotiating table after the state Supreme Court ruled that 68 members must be present in the House, to constitute a quorum.

The final agreement brought both parties back to the Capitol today, and the first order of business that was addressed, was the election of a House Speaker.

Republican representative, Lisa Demuth was handed the speaker’s gavel after a 67 to 65 vote along party lines. While Demuth’s victory is a big win for Republicans, she will have to navigate a power sharing agreement that demands equal representation on most committees. Representatives from local districts, such as 08A Representative Pete Johnson, said that despite the bumps in the road, he’s excited for both parties to be back to work. “It is getting back to that nuts and bolts,” Representative Johnson said, “You know, the general governance piece, making sure that people can afford to stay in their homes, making sure that education is, the highest quality we can make it and making sure we’re taking care of, you know, the folks in these different professions.”

We spoke with 03B Representative Zeleznikar as she was on her way to the House chambers this afternoon.  “You can’t get a bill through a committee, you can’t host a committee, you can’t get the work done for the people until we’re all here,” Representative Zeleznikar said, “So today that begins.”

While most committees will have equal representation from both parties, according to the agreement, Republicans will have a five to three majority on the Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee. The agreement’s terms will be in effect at any point in the session when the House finds itself in a 67 to 67 tie.

View the power-sharing agreement here.