Minnesota Legislature gavels in with House DFL lawmakers absent

[MUSIC PLAYING] NINA MOINI: It's our top story this afternoon. It's now about six minutes past the official start of the legislature's 2025 session.

[GAVEL BANGING]

STEVE SIMON: The hour of 12 o'clock having arrived, and in obedience to the laws of the State of Minnesota, including Minnesota Statute 5.05, it becomes my duty as your Secretary of State to call the members of the Minnesota House of Representatives to order.

NINA MOINI: There you have it. But it's a strange start, to say the least. Already today, a judge ruled in favor of the DFL lawmakers narrow win, although it might not be the end of a dispute about seating him. The tied Senate came in under a power sharing deal. But the State House's kickoff has been tinged with friction, threats, and great uncertainty. Our Peter Cox is up at the Capitol helping out our politics team on this already busy day one. He joins us now. Hi, Peter.

PETER COX: Hi, Nina.

NINA MOINI: A lot's already going on. The House began just minutes ago. And it's looking pretty striking images coming in. It's half empty, Peter. What are you seeing?

PETER COX: Yeah, right. It's just a very strange scene. You have all the Republicans on one side. Then there's the aisle and nobody on the other side. Secretary of State Steve Simon, who you just heard, walked into the chambers to applause from Republicans. He shook hands with them, went down the aisle. And then, as you just heard here, he gaveled in the session. He welcomed House members. And then there was an opening prayer from a chaplain who called for unity despite trying times.

Now, this is not a complete surprise. Democrats have been warning for more than a week that they could stage a boycott. Their goal is to deprive Republicans of 68 members being present today in the 134-lawmaker chamber. That's one more than half, or what's known as a quorum. Now, Republicans say the true number is 67, which is their ranks now. And that they'll resist rulings from the temporary presiding officer to stop them from electing a speaker or taking other actions. Now, that presiding officer is DFL Secretary of State Steve Simon, who's indicated he's not about to be bullied. So this could all be headed to court.

NINA MOINI: Wow. How did we get here, Peter?

PETER COX: So if we rewind to November, voters elected 67 Democrats and 67 Republicans. And for a while, the party leaders were working on a power sharing agreement. But then a DFL-elected member was disqualified for failing to properly meet residency requirements in his district. So Republicans came away with a one-vote advantage, until the seat can get filled in a special election. And the GOP said that empowers them to organize the House as they see fit.

Now, Democrats have fumed over that possibility of a few-week Republican edge and say it could result in a power structure stacked against them for the next two years. They say they don't have any other options other than to boycott to prevent it. But Republicans have hammered the DFL colleagues for shirking their duties while getting paid and suggesting they'll initiate recall actions. Now, those recall petitions will take months to sort out, so it's not an immediate solution either.

NINA MOINI: Sounds messy, but what does this mean for the session or what it'll go on as for the next five or so months?

PETER COX: Nina, it could get ugly. We're no strangers to sessions that result in gridlock, go into overtime, or even flirt with government shutdowns. But those things usually happen at the end of session, not the beginning. Given the close margins, if the parties have trouble working together right now, it's hard to see how they can pass any legislation or make other key decisions when tax dollars or key government programs are on the line.

NINA MOINI: Let's move on to the important court ruling today about one of the DFL lawmakers who had a 14-vote victory, but it had been in legal jeopardy.

PETER COX: Right. So this was a much anticipated ruling. DFL Representative Brad Tabke won by a slim 14 votes out of nearly 22,000 votes cast in November. There was a recount and a court case over 20 ballots that election officials could not find. A judge ruled today that voter testimony, along with other details presented at trial, convinced her that Tabke's win was valid. She refused to order that the seat be vacated and a new election be held.

But here's the catch. The legislature gets to decide its membership, and Republicans have not ruled out challenging Tabke's seating. If there is a vote to remove him, it could happen on a party-line vote. Democrats say that kind of action would be an unprecedented abuse of power. Those are the words of DFL Melissa Hortman. That's why they said they would not show up and give the House a quorum until after an upcoming special election that could again bring the chamber to a 67-67 tie.

NINA MOINI: And the Senate, even though it's tied 33 seats between the parties, seemed to start on a more harmonious note, right?

PETER COX: Yeah. Nina, it looks a lot more normal over there. All 66 members are on the floor, I believe, including one who has a court date on a criminal matter later this afternoon. But Senate leaders avoided the troubles we've seen in the House by making a power deal over the weekend. It basically splits duties of running the Senate right down the middle as long as they're in this tie. That includes trading off who runs floor sessions, putting even representation on committees, as well as rotating the chairperson duties.

Now, the Senate will be tied until after a special election on January 28 to fill a Minneapolis seat. Democrats are favored there. The prior senator, Kerry Dziedzic, died last month after a long illness. The Senate plans to pay tribute to her during the opening day.

NINA MOINI: So much happening, Peter, and it can be easy, though, to overlook what lawmakers are actually there to do and what they have to do this year. Could you maybe tick down a list a bit to remind us what's on the table, what's standing out this session?

PETER COX: Yeah, so right at the top of the list is the new state budget. Lawmakers will write a nearly $70 billion two-year plan during the session that spells out everything, from how much schools get, what public health programs look like, and what's available to run prisons, state parks, and the State Patrol.

The other thing is, legislators from both parties say they want to pass bills to beef up oversight of government spending in response to multiple reports of fraud or abuse involving tens of millions of dollars. There's also a new paid family and medical leave program that could be revisited. It's due to launch this next year. And there also might be revisiting of the marijuana legalization, which has been slow to reach full retail sales.

There have been some leftover items from last year, such as no construction finance package that got passed, or it did not get passed. And supporters of an equal rights amendment to the state constitution rallied in the rotunda this morning to ask that their issue remain on the agenda.

[AUDIO PLAYBACK]

- When do we want it?

- Now.

- What do we want?

- Equal rights.

- When do we want it?

- Now.

- What do we want?

- Equal rights.

- When do we want it?

- Now.

[END PLAYBACK]

PETER COX: Now, those looking to pass that equal rights amendment are not giving up, despite a new political environment that will make their proposal much harder to get on the ballot.

NINA MOINI: So today is just the first day. Remind us how long lawmakers have, or should use, to wrap all of this up in a session.

PETER COX: So, Nina, the required deadline for adjournment is May 19. Will they have everything done by then? We don't know yet. That budget we talked about earlier has to be in place by June 30 or government agencies could close and services could be interrupted. So there's always a chance that lawmakers would have to return for a late May or June special session if they remain deadlocked at the end of the regular session.

NINA MOINI: All right, Peter, thank you so much for wrapping all of that up for us. And it's just getting started. And we know you'll stay off it. Thank you.

PETER COX: You're welcome, Nina.

NINA MOINI: That's Peter Cox reporting live from NPR's Bureau at the Capitol.