Dear Neighbors,
Friday marked the end of the second week of the legislative standoff between Democrats and Republicans in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Central to the debate has been over the question of what constitutes a quorum necessary for the House to become organized to do business.
To recap, on January 14th, Secretary of State Steve Simon convened the first meeting of the House of Representatives for the 25-26 session (as required by law); took the roll (which showed 67 Republicans and no Democrats present); and adjourned the meeting for lack of a quorum (having previously notified both caucuses that he considered the number of members present required to establish a quorum to be 68 members). The Republican members present promptly pushed him aside, installed their eldest member at the speaker's podium; conducted a sham election and installed Lisa Demuth as “Speaker”; and proceeded to operate as if they were a properly constituted body. They prevented Secretary Simon from reentering the House chamber to reconvene the body on subsequent days.
In response, both Secretary Simon and the House DFL Caucus brought separate challenges to the state Supreme Court to address the quorum question. On Friday, the court – ruling only on Secretary Simon's lawsuit – determined that he was correct in his legal interpretation that 68 members were required to establish a quorum, meaning that he was right to adjourn the opening meeting for the lack of a quorum. This, in turn, means that everything that House Republicans have done since that adjournment is null and void. Thus, we are back to square one and two weeks have been wasted because House Republicans refuse to come back to the table to negotiate an equitable power-sharing agreement like the one that has been implemented in the Senate.
Instead, they continue to insist on the right to oust Shakopee Representative Brad Tabke from his 54B seat (even though the court has ruled unequivocally that he won his election) in an effort to cement a one seat majority in the House even after a special election in the district 40B election that is likely to otherwise bring the House back into the 67-67 tie that existed after the November election. Their rationale appears to be that their temporary 67-66 plurality (pending that special election) should be enough for them to win control of the House for the entire two-year session.
Voters elected a split legislature in November (there were slightly more votes for DFL House candidates than for Republican House candidates) and we’re not willing to throw either a lawfully elected colleague or the people who voted for us under the bus because of one person’s mistake. That’s not going to happen.
The offer that’s on the table to the House Republican Caucus is essentially the same as the bipartisan arrangement that Senators have implemented:
During periods where one side has a plurality/majority of the members in the House, that party will have:
- The Speaker’s gavel
- The Chairmanship of all committees
- A one vote majority on all committees
During periods when the House is tied 67-67:
- The Speaker’s gavel will rotate between the leaders of both parties
- Committee Chairmanships will rotate between the co-Chairs of both parties
- Both parties will enjoy equal voting memberships on each committee
The committee structures and memberships would be as earlier agreed upon by leaders Hortman and Demuth. (I would be on Commerce, Health and Taxes.)
Both parties would honor the judgments of the courts on election contests (i.e., Democrats will honor the Court decision in the 40B race and Republicans will honor the Court decision in the 54B (Tabke) election).
This would mean that House Republicans would enjoy a period of control during the vacancy in the 40B seat.
Personally, I had been looking forward to working in a tied legislature and was already working with Republican legislators on non-partisan legislation. All that suddenly stopped when House Republicans mounted their unsuccessful powerplay. I’m still confident that we could get the session back on track quickly if House Republicans would come back to the table and negotiate in good faith. I’m ready and eager to be at the Capitol on Monday!
Keep in Touch
Don’t hesitate to reach out if I can provide any assistance. Please follow me on my Facebook page for further updates and invite your friends and family to do so as well.
Thanks for the honor of representing you at the Capitol.
Sincerely,
Steve Elkins
Representative, District 50B
Minnesota House of Representatives
rep.steve.elkins@house.mn.gov