MN House Dems Ready 'Parliamentary Tactics' In Dispute With GOP

ST. PAUL, MN — Minnesota House Democrats are gearing up to deploy "all parliamentary tactics available" if Republicans fail to honor a power-sharing agreement on the opening day of the legislative session, Speaker-designate Rep. Melissa Hortman warned.

The November elections initially left the state House evenly divided, with 67 Democrats and 67 Republicans. This rare deadlock forced the two parties to negotiate a power-sharing agreement for key leadership roles in the chamber.

However, in December, a court ruled that Democratic Rep.-elect Curtis Johnson had violated state residency requirements. Johnson subsequently stepped down, giving Republicans a 67-66 advantage.

Speaker-designate Republican Rep. Lisa Demuth stated that the power-sharing agreement is on hold until another tie is established.

"The power-sharing agreement that Speaker-Designate Hortman and I were working on, was in the event — or with the realization — that there was a tie," Demuth told KARE 11 in a Dec. 23 interview.

"If there is not a tie, then we will fully work as the majority caucus, as things continue to play out through the courts. If it would go back to a tie, then we're ready to go on that power-sharing agreement, but right now as it stands, the Republicans in the Minnesota House are in the majority."

But Hortman and Democrats disagree.

"Minnesotans voted for equal numbers of Democratic and Republican state representatives. Honoring the will of the voters means governing together under shared power," Hortman said in a statement Monday.

“Minnesotans want Republicans to honor the will of the voters. We would like to get to work on a bipartisan basis to tackle the challenges Minnesotans elected us to address. We have no interest in spending January locked in partisan warfare with House Republicans, but we do not intend to allow them to pretend that 67 votes is a majority and engage in an illegitimate power grab. Democrats are prepared to use all parliamentary tactics available to us in the absence of a power-sharing agreement on the first day of session."

The Minnesota Constitution states that "A majority of each house constitutes a quorum to transact business” and Minnesota state law 2.021 states that the Minnesota House is composed of 134 members. A majority of 134 members is 68 members, Hortman noted.

Republican Rep. Harry Niska disagreed with the premise, stating on social media; "Basic legal error here: The Minnesota Constitution does not set 68 as the quorum. It says '[a] majority of each house constitutes a quorum to transact business.' On January 14, there will be (at most) 133 members of the Minnesota House, so a quorum is 67 members."

The Minnesota Reformer reports that "House Democrats are mulling not showing up for the first two weeks of the legislative session to prevent the chamber from achieving a 68-member quorum." Read more from the Reformer's report here.

Complicating matters further, there's also a legal dispute over the special election needed to fill Johnson's vacancy.

Gov. Tim Walz issued a Writ of Special Election on Dec. 27, scheduling an election for Jan. 28.

But the Republican Party of Minnesota on Saturday filed a petition claiming that Walz violated Minnesota law regarding the timing and process for calling special elections after a successful election contest.

The Republicans' petition awaits a decision from the Minnesota Supreme Court.

In the mean time, one possible tactic for Democrats is opting not to attend the first two weeks of the legislative session, delaying proceedings until the special election in the Democratic stronghold of District 14B takes place.