Library News

“Operating budget,” "capital budget," "bonding bill." What do those phrases mean and how do they fit into the overall state budget process?

In January of the first year of a biennial legislative session, the governor is required to submit a budget message and a proposed budget to the Legislature (Minnesota Statutes 16A.11).  Much of the work in the first year of a session revolves around creating an "operating budget" that will fund state government for the next two fiscal years. But that statute also requires the governor to submit a "capital" budget in January of the second year of the biennial session. However, a bonding bill was not passed during the 2024 legislation session and Governor Walz has proposed a  $887 million "infrastructure plan" for the 2025 legislative session, in addition to the FY 2024-25 Operating Budget.

Minnesota's capital budget finances the acquisition, construction, and maintenance of public lands, state buildings, and infrastructure such as highways. Minnesota’s Constitution (Article 11, section 5) details the specific types of projects that may be considered. The projects can be financed with direct appropriations or through borrowing mechanisms such as state bonds. A recent House Research Information Brief, Capital Investment and State Bonding, sheds light on this somewhat complex issue.

The Legislative Library has many original budget documents as well as information and data about the state's current and historical budgets. Our State Budget guide highlights some of those materials, including:

• Minnesota Governor's Proposed Capital Budget
• Minnesota Governor's Proposed Biennial Operating Budget
• Major Appropriation and Finance Bills and Laws, 1995-present
• Major Capital Investment and Bonding Bills and Laws, 1963-present

The Minnesota Legislature Digital Accessibility Policy was adopted by the Legislative Coordinating Committee on October 15, 2024. This policy helps guide Minnesota legislative employees’ understanding of how digital accessibility impacts their work. Please visit Accessibility Services to learn more about the legislature’s commitment to accessibility. The Legislature also hosts a Frequently Asked Questions on Accessibility.

To support the efforts of the Legislature, the Library recently added two books on accessibility. Dark and Silent Office: A Digital Accessibility Guidebook for Inclusive Communication in the Workplace, focuses on changes you can bring to your organization to make it more accessible. The author offers several accessibility tool and technologies such as screen readers, braille displays, magnification software, captioning and transcription services, and visual and vibrating alert systems. The book contains tips and checklists on how to make physical and digital meetings and communications more inclusive. Dark and Silent Office is written for everyone from community members to human resources managers.

The second addition to the Library’s collection, Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally, is a real-world guide book on speaking about disabilities and good disability etiquette. “This book is a 101 on certain aspects of disability for anyone seeking to deepen their understanding and be a stronger ally, regardless of whether they identify as disabled. Use it as a reference, a resource, a jumping-off point, or a conversation starter.” The book starts with a table of 'say this' and 'not this' phrases and terms in conversing on disabilities and ends with a list of resources for additional information.

Learn the names of the brand new legislators and refresh your memory on the returning members by taking the Minnesota Legislator Quiz! Can you get a perfect score?

It took ten days for the Senate to organize in 1971. The days were filled with parliamentary maneuvering, the chief justice refusing to administer the oath, legislators storming out of the chamber, two secretaries of the Senate, two versions of the Journal, and a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling. What caused this turmoil in the Senate at the start of the 1971 session?

The election

In 1971, there were no party designations, but legislators chose to caucus with either the conservatives or the liberals. Conservatives had controlled the Senate chamber since at least 1913, the year legislators began being elected on a nonpartisan basis.

The results of the 1970 general election indicated that there would be 33 conservatives, 33 liberals, and one independent in the Senate. Prior to the election, the one independent, Richard Palmer, had said he would caucus with the majority, but the election results left the Senate without a clear majority party. Despite attempts by both caucuses to woo Palmer to their side, he eventually announced he would side with the conservative caucus when the legislature convened.

Then, more complications arose when Palmer’s opponent in the general election, Francis LaBrosse, filed an unfair campaign practices charge against him. This stirred up discussion before session convened over whether or not Palmer would be seated and, if seated, whether he could participate in the organization of the Senate.

On December 31, 1970, the Attorney General issued an opinion that explained that the oath of office may be administered to anyone who has an election certificate and that the Senate would need to consider the question of the eligibility of its members. The opinion also indicated that all senators could vote on organizational matters.

The first day of session

On January 5, 1971, the 67^th Legislature convened. Lieutenant Governor Rudy Perpich, a former senator and DFL party member, called the session to order as President of the Senate, which was the custom at the time. Despite being the presiding officer of the body, he was not a member of the body and, therefore, it was presumed that he could not vote as a member.

Much parliamentary maneuvering ensued to attempt to keep Palmer from being seated. Perpich surprised the chamber by presenting only 66 names to be sworn in that session, blocking Palmer from being seated. Chief Justice Oscar Knutson insisted that all 67 senators-elect who hold an election certificate be sworn in. When Perpich refused, Justice Knutson left the chamber without swearing in any senators at all.

The Senate then called on Mr. Patrick O’Neil, a notary public, to administer the oath, with the hopes that he would swear in all members except Palmer. He refused, but then rushed forward to administer the oath individually to Palmer. (Some media reports at the time credit Palmer as being the first senator sworn in that session.) Rep. Jack Fena, a DFL House member who was standing in the back of the chamber, was then called forward to administer the oath to all except Palmer, but Palmer stood anyway and took the oath a second time with the rest of the chamber.

After this tumultuous swearing in process, Perpich further surprised the body by continuing to deny Palmer’s presence or recognize his vote when members were deciding who would serve as Secretary of the Senate. The conservatives’ nominee was George Goodwin, whose election included Palmer’s vote. Instead of the vote going in the conservatives’ favor, in an unprecedented move Perpich ruled that he could vote to break what he deemed a 33-33 tie in order to vote in the liberals’ choice for Secretary of the Senate, Pat Flahaven. Goodwin and Flahaven were each given the oath of office. However, as Flahaven was given the oath, the conservatives left the chamber with promises to file a lawsuit. It was reported that Goodwin then received the oath of office in the corridor outside the Senate chamber.

The Senate is organized

For the next few days, there were two versions of the Journal of the Senate, with the liberal’s Journal ignoring the presence of Palmer. The unofficial transcripts, the Journal, and the alternative journal text show how the question of Palmer’s seating and the question of how many votes were counted for each motion were debated at each daily session.

On January 13^th, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that the Senate had the responsibility to determine Palmer’s eligibility, and that the Lieutenant Governor does not have the authority to break a tie and could not exclude Palmer.

The January 14^th session opened with continued quibbling about whether there were 66 or 67 senators in the body as Senators discussed points raised by the court ruling. Eventually, the body successfully voted to amend the Journal of the Senate of the preceding days to acknowledge that Palmer had been seated. The Senate commenced further organization and was ready to proceed with legislative business.

For further reading:

Sources listed in chronological order. If you would like to request any of these sources, please email the library at library@lrl.mn.gov.

• Op.Atty.Gen., 280E, Dec. 31, 1970. - This Attorney General opinion concerns the seating of a Senate member.
• "Editorials: Seating of Legislators.” The Minneapolis Star, January 1, 1971, p. 8.
• Oath of Office Controversy, Minnesota Journal of the Senate, January 5, 1971, p. 5-11.
• “Legislature in Lengthy Debate Over Palmer.” The Duluth Herald, January 5, 1971, p. 1.
• “Senator-elect Palmer Vows to Take His Seat.” The Austin Daily Herald, January 5, 1971, p. 1.
• “Palmer Hassle Rocks Senate.” The Duluth News Tribune, January 6, 1971, p. 1 & 3.
• “DFL takes Senate Control: Conservatives Vow Court Fight.” Star Tribune, January 6, 1971, p. 1.
• “Battle of Journals Shapes Up.” St. Cloud Times, January 6, 1971.
• Senate Journal, January 5-8, 12-14, 1971
  • January 5, 1971
  • January 6, 1971
  • January 7, 1971
  • January 8, 1971
  • January 12, 1971
  • January 13, 1971
  • January 14, 1971
• Alternative Senate Journal, as written by the liberal caucus's Secretary of the Senate, Pat Flahaven, January 5-8, 12-14, 1971.
• Unofficial Transcripts from the Senate Floor Session, January 5-8, 12-14, 1971.
• State Ex Rel. Palmer v. Perpich, 1971, 289 Minn. 149, 182 n.W.2d 182. - Decision dated January 13, 1971.
• “Coleman Says Court Didn’t Resolve Dispute.” Saint Paul Dispatch, January 14, 1971.
• Pahl, T. L. “Minnesota.” Midwest Review of Public Administration, Vol. 5, no. 1, February 1971.
• Dornfeld, Steven. "Legislature's Opening Day 20 Years Ago Hard to Top for Political Chaos." St. Paul Pioneer Press, January 6, 1991.
• “Two Secretaries of the Senate – in 1971,” Memo by the Legislative Reference Library, January 2009.

State constitutions are amended much more often than the U.S. Constitution, and Minnesota’s is no exception. Since 1858, Minnesotans have considered 217 constitutional amendments, with 121 approved by voters. The most recent amendment "to extend the dedication of lottery proceeds to the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund” passed with overwhelming support in November 2024. The Library’s State Constitutional Amendments Considered web page provides more detail on all Minnesota's constitutional amendments and provides links to related publications, such as this collection from the House Research Department: Constitutional Amendments.

The State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School debuted an incredibly useful resource in 2023: 50constitutions.org. Their goal is to aid the work of academics, judges, legal practitioners, policymakers, and journalists by providing easy access to the text of all 50 state constitutions in readable form and allowing users to search within and across states.

Last week, the Initiative launched new features for the Minnesota Constitution. Users can now view the Minnesota Constitution as it stood on any date in its history, compare different versions of amended provisions, and read about significant amendments and historical moments. This feature is also available for nine other states, and additional features will be added for more states on a rolling basis.

Selected Resources from the Library's Collection

Minnesota Constitutional History:

• A History of the Constitution of Minnesota: With the First Verified Text (1921)
• Constitutional Commission of Minnesota (1947-1948)
  • Report of the Constitutional Commission of Minnesota (1948)
• Constitutional Study Commission (1971-1973)
  • Minutes: Minnesota Constitutional Study Commission (1971-1972)
  • Final Report and Committee Reports: Minnesota Constitutional Study Commission (1973)
• The Minnesota State Constitution: A Reference Guide (2002) 

Constitutional Law:

• State Constitutional Law in a Nutshell (2003)
• Hidden Laws: How State Constitutions Stabilize American Politics (2021)
• Who Decides: States as Laboratories of Constitutional Experimentation (2022)
• The Law of American State Constitutions (2023)

Please contact us with questions or for research assistance: library@lrl.mn.gov or 651-296-8338.

If you're the parent of a teen or young adult, you may know firsthand the challenges of scheduling a driver's exam. Over the last several years, Minnesota's driver's licensing system has been congested due to more people seeking licenses and staff shortages at Driver and Vehicle Services (DVS). This summer, the Star Tribune reported on how this problem persists.

The ongoing issues faced by driver examination stations across the state were also documented by the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) in their Driver Examination Stations: 2021 Evaluation Report, followed by updates in 2022 and 2023.

In 2023, the legislature mandated a report from the Department of Public Safety, Driver and Vehicle Services, to review recommendations from both the OLA and a 2022 independent review. DVS reported that all recommendations were implemented with the exception of a required pre-application.

A related new report in the library this month is the Legislative Report on Exam Scheduling. According to this latest report from DVS, there were 188,444 Class D and commercial driver's license appointments scheduled with DVS, and 146,794 road tests taken in fiscal year 2024. DVS received an appropriation to hire additional examiners, which will open up over 140,000 exam slots per year in an effort to alleviate the difficulty many Minnesotans have when scheduling their class D road test.

When was this particular phrase added to the criminal code, and why? Why did the Legislature remove this word from statute, only to reinstate it the next year? When was the first time the Legislature introduced a bill to legalize sports betting, and what happened that year?

The Legislative Reference Library regularly receives these kinds of questions, and legislative history research can help answer them. But this research process can be time consuming and complex.

Last January, the Office of the Revisor of Statutes hosted a CLE that was presented by reference librarians from the Legislative Reference Library on this topic, breaking down the process with real-life examples, and outlining how research methods and tools vary across years.

If you missed the presentation, or are interested in learning more about conducting this kind of research, you can view an archived version of the CLE presentation and access handouts from the presentation.

A few highlights of the Legislative History Research CLE include:

• The Library recently digitized House and Senate Journals from 1973-1996.
• All audio and video from 1991-present is available online.
• Senate videos in the Legislative Media Archive include searchable captions.
• Senate committees began submitting official minutes in a digital format to the Library in 2022.

Photo: This image from the 1980s, included in our photo collection, was scanned from the files of the Minnesota Senate Photographer with the generous help of the Minnesota Digital Library.

For the past few weeks, the Legislative Reference Library has been on the move - packing up and moving from our long-time space in the State Office Building in light of the building remodeling and expansion project. Our books, reports, and legislative committee minutes now have a new home!

Some parts of our collection - notably our reference materials, specialized resources on the history of the Legislature, and the Journals of the House and Senate - are now found in our temporary reading room space in 321 Capitol. Here you'll also find tables and chairs, a couple public computers, a rotating art collection, and plenty of sunshine. Librarians will be staffing the space, so it's a good place to stop in with any reference or research questions. You can continue to find library staff in our MSB Library location, too!

The rest of our collection is stored in basement rooms in the Capitol. While these rooms are only accessible by Library staff, we can quickly retrieve any item you may need. Notably, these basement rooms include our legislative committee minutes collection - an invaluable and rich resource of legislative history. 

While we continue to make more and more resources available digitally, if you need anything in print, just let us know and we'll head to the basement to get what you need!

Photo: Copyright Minnesota House of Representatives. Photo by Andrew VonBank.

You're invited to an open house reception to say goodbye to the Library's 6th floor reading room! Join us on Friday, April 5 from 3-4:30 for light refreshments, and to see the space one last time before we move on April 29. We'll also be recognizing Lisa Knoop's retirement after 39 years of service in the Library!

In May, come visit our temporary reading room in 321 Capitol. Staff offices will be located in the Centennial Office Building (1st floor). And you can still find us as usual in 3238 Minnesota Senate Building.

Since 1985, the Legislative Reference Library has made its home on the 6th floor of the State Office Building and leaving the 6th floor reading room is bittersweet!

From this hub, librarians have helped countless legislators and legislative staff with research, provided weekly tours to the House high school pages, and welcomed researchers, lobbyists, and citizen activists from across the state. The reading room has also served as a special event space over the years, hosting new member receptions, retirement parties, Minnesota’s presidential electors, NCSL conference sessions, and the UMN Regents.

The Library’s first home was the Capitol, and we’re looking forward to returning to our roots for a while. We'll have another new reading room space to look forward to when construction is complete on the State Office Building!

In 2023, the Legislature created many new state agencies, boards, task forces, working groups, and commissions, which the Library tracks in our Agency Database. Many of these groups are required to submit a report to the Legislature. This month’s issue of Just In will feature reports from some of these new groups: 

The PFAS Manufacturers Fee Work Group’s goal was to review options for collecting a fee from manufacturers of PFAS in the state. Their recent report, Fee Collection Options for PFAS manufacturers in Minnesota (February 2024), reviews environmental fee structures currently in place, and outlines ways fees might be assessed for PFAS manufacturers. 

Working groups do not always come to consensus, and when that happens a group might issue both a primary report and a minority report, reflecting those differences of opinion. The Clean Transportation Fuel Standard Working Group, tasked with studying and addressing issues related to a clean transportation fuel standard, issued two reports in February:  

• Clean Transportation Standard Work Group: Report to the Legislature (February 2024)  
• A Low Carbon Fuel Standard is Not a Climate Solution: Minority Report on the Clean Transportation Standard Work Group Report to the Legislature (February 2024)

The Task Force on Psychedelic Medicine published their first of two required reports this month, Psychedelic Medicine Task Force: Legislative Report (February 2024). This report provides an overview of the initial work performed by the task force, and describes their plan for the next year. Their second report is due in January 2025.

If you are searching for a specific report or waiting for a mandated report, let us know. We can set up an alert to send you the report as soon as it arrives. Please contact us with questions or for research assistance at: library@lrl.mn.gov or 651-296-8338.