Following the November elections, the Minnesota legislature is nearly as divided as the numbers will allow. The current makeup of the Minnesota House of Representatives consists of 67 Republican members and 66 DFL members, with one vacancy that is to be filled with a January 28 special election. On the Senate side, each party currently holds 33 positions, also with one vacancy to be decided in a January 28 special election.
The Senate GOP and DFL leaders agreed to a temporary power-sharing agreement that will allow Senator to share gavels and have equal representation on committees until either side has 34 votes to undo the agreement.
The House chamber on the other hand began on a far bumpier path with the DFL members not showing for the first day and the GOP overriding Secretary of State Steve Simon (DFL) when the chamber was organizing. At the core of the debate is what constitutes a quorum.
The GOP elected Rep. Lisa Demuth (Cold Spring) as the Speaker of the House and Rep. Harry Niska (Ramsey) as the Majority Leader of the House. The House DFL caucus claims that none of the organizing that occurred after Secretary Simon declared a quorum was not present was legitimate.
“While the beginning days of session might be more complicated than in sessions prior, we’ve been meeting with legislators, coalition partners and municipal stakeholders frequently over the interim and are confident that 2025 is the year the legislature and Governor Walz say yes to more homes,” said Mark Foster, vice president of legislative and political affairs.
“Housing supply and affordability may be one of the very few policy areas that can garner the needed bipartisan support to make progress this year.”
Committee hearings are expected to begin in the coming days with zoning and land use discussions to be supported by the broad-based coalition that has only grown since last year.
