SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Majority in the Middle, an organization working to overcome the divisiveness in our political culture, recently released its “State of Bipartisanship” report. The report’s study on bill authorship shows 60% of bills chief authored by Rep. Dave Lislegard (DFL – Aurora) during the 2023 legislative session had co-authors from both political parties. This is the highest percentage in the entire House of Representatives among legislators introducing 10 or more bills.
“During a time of unprecedented division and partisanship, it’s still possible to put people before politics to deliver results for our state,” Rep. Lislegard said. “I’m grateful to the organization for putting together such a comprehensive report, and for their overall mission to improve civility and collaboration within all levels of government.”
As the report was assembled without prior knowledge of lawmakers – and therefore no ability to co-author bills to artificially increase their percentages – it provides a true snapshot of bipartisanship during the session. In addition to bill authorship, the “State of Bipartisanship” report outlined the partisan breakdown of all bills introduced, percentages of bipartisan legislation receiving committee hearings, and suggested best practices to foster bipartisanship in the Legislature.
Last Thursday, Rep. Lislegard attended a multi-partisan gathering in Chisholm hosted by the organization, one in a series of events aimed at beginning to heal divides in communities.
Rep. Dave Lislegard (DFL – Aurora), right, attends Majority in the Middle’s Multi-Partisan Social Thursday, Sept. 14 at Valentini’s in Chisholm. Also pictured is former Rep. Sandy Layman (R – Cohasset).