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Legislative Committee Deadline Dates in the Minnesota Legislature

Compiled by the Secretary of the Senate and the Legislative Reference Library

History of Deadlines
Current deadlines

Convened 1st Deadline Interval 2nd Deadline Interval 3rd Deadline Interval Adjournment Resolution
2/12/2024 March 22 - Friday 0 days March 22 - Friday 28 days April 19 - Friday Signed letter from leadership
1/3/2023 March 10 - Friday 14 days March 24 - Friday 11 days April 4 - Tuesday 48 days May 22 - Monday Senate Concurrent Resolution 3
1/31/2022 March 25 - Friday 7 days April 1 - Friday 7 days April 8 - Friday 45 days May 23 - Monday House Concurrent Resolution 4
1/5/2021 March 12 - Friday 7 days March 19 - Friday 21 days April 9 - Friday 38 days May 17 - Monday House Concurrent Resolution 4
2/11/2020 March 20 - Friday 7 days March 27 - Friday 7 days April 3 - Friday 44 days May 17 - Sunday Senate Concurrent Resolution 6
1/8/2019 March 15 - Friday 14 days March 29 - Friday 14 days April 12 - Friday 39 days May 20 - Monday House Concurrent Resolution 1
2/20/2018 March 22 - Thursday 7 days March 29 - Thursday 22 days April 20 - Friday 30 days May 20 - Sunday Senate Concurrent Resolution 9
1/3/2017 March 10 - Friday 7 days March 17 - Friday 14 days March 31 - Friday 52 days May 22 - Monday Senate Concurrent Resolution 4
3/8/2016 April 1 - Friday 7 days April 8 - Friday 13 days April 21 - Thursday 32 days May 23 - Monday Senate Concurrent Resolution 8
1/6/2015 March 20 - Friday 7 days March 27 - Friday 28 days April 24 - Friday 24 days May 18 - Monday Senate Concurrent Resolution 4
2/25/2014 March 21 - Friday 7 days March 28 - Friday 7 days April 4 - Friday 42 days May 16 - Friday Senate Concurrent Resolution 8
1/8/2013 March 15 - Friday 7 days March 22 - Friday 28 days April 19 - Friday 31 days May 20 - Monday Senate Concurrent Resolution 4
1/24/2012 March 16 - Friday 7 days March 23 - Friday 7 days March 30 - Friday 41 days May 10 - Thursday House Concurrent Resolution 5
1/4/2011 April 29 - Friday1 See Note1 May 6 - Friday1 See Note1 March 25 - Friday1 See Note1 May 23 - Monday House Concurrent Resolution 1
2/4/2010 March 12 - Friday 7 days March 19 - Friday 10 days March 29 - Monday 49 days May 16 - Sunday House Concurrent Resolution 3

1The deadline dates were not set in chronological order, bills were required to be out of the finance committees first (3rd deadline). Interval days were not calculated since the deadlines don't correlate with other years.

Convened 1st Deadline Interval 2nd Deadline Interval 3rd Deadline Interval 4th Deadline Interval 5th Deadline Interval Adjournment Resolution
1/3/2009 March 27 - Friday 11 days April 7 - Tuesday 9 days April 16 - Thursday 6 days April 22 - Wednesday 15 days May 7 - Thursday2 11 days May 18 - Monday Senate Concurrent Resolution 5

2The 5th deadline was repealed by House Concurrent Resolution 1, Details.

Convened 1st Deadline Interval 2nd Deadline 3rd Deadline Adjournment Resolution
2/12/2008 March 14 - Friday 5 days March 19 - Wednesday March 28 - Friday May 18 - Sunday Senate Concurrent Resolution 8
Body Convened 1st Deadline Interval 2nd Deadline 3rd Deadline 4th Deadline Adjournment Resolution
Senate 1/03/2007 April 14 - Saturday 0 days April 14 - Saturday April 2 - Monday April 27 - Friday May 21 - Monday House Concurrent Resolution 1
House 1/03/2007 Mar 23 - Friday 0 days March 23 - Friday April 2 - Monday April 27 - Friday May 21 - Monday House Concurrent Resolution 1
Convened 1st Deadline Interval 2nd Deadline 3rd Deadline Adjournment Resolution
3/01/2006 March 28 - Tuesday 7 days April 4 - Tuesday April 11 - Tuesday May 21 - Sunday Senate Concurrent Resolution 8
1/04/2005 April 5 - Tuesday 7 days April 12 - Tuesday April 22 - Friday May 23 - Monday Senate Concurrent Resolution 4
Body Convened 1st Deadline Interval 2nd Deadline 3rd Deadline Adjournment Resolution
Senate 2/02/2004 March 19 - Friday (informal) 7 days March 26 - Friday not set May 15 - Saturday Details
House 2/02/2004 March 12 - Friday 7 days March 19 - Friday March 26 - Friday May 16 - Sunday Details
Convened 1st Deadline Interval 2nd Deadline 3rd Deadline Adjournment Resolution
1/07/2003 April 4 - Friday 7 days April 11 - Friday April 29 - Tuesday May 19 - Monday Senate Concurrent Resolution 4
1/29/2002 February 22 - Friday 7 days March 1 - Friday March 8 - Friday May 20 - Monday There was no Senate Concurrent Resolution in 2002.
1/03/2001 March 30 - Friday 12 days April 11 - Wednesday April 25- Wednesday May 21 - Monday Senate Concurrent Resolution 5
2/03/2000 March 3 - Friday 7 days March 10- Friday March 17- Friday May 18 - Thursday Senate Concurrent Resolution 10
1/05/1999 March 19 - Friday 12 days March 31 - Wednesday April 16- Friday May 17 - Monday Senate Concurrent Resolution 6

1999: Committee Deadlines Are Set by Concurrent Resolution.

Convened 1st Deadline Interval 2nd Deadline 3rd Deadline Adjournment
1/20/1998 February 13 - Friday 7 days February 20 - Friday Feb. 27 - Friday April 9 - Thursday
1/07/1997 March 26 - Wednesday 14 days April 9 - Wednesday April 18 - Friday May 19 - Monday
1/16/1996 February 9 - Friday 7 days February 16 - Friday February 23 - Friday April 3 - Wednesday
1/03/1995 March 31 - Friday 7 Days April 7 - Friday April 21 - Friday May 22 - Monday
2/22/1994 March 25 - Friday 6 Days March 31 - Thursday April 18 - Monday May 6 - Friday

1994: A Third Committee Deadline is Added as Part of the Permanent Joint Rules.

Convened 1st Deadline Interval 2nd Deadline Interval Adjournment
1/05/1993 April 2 - Friday 14 Days April 16 - Friday 31 Days May 17 - Monday
2/18/1992 March 13 - Friday 7 Days March 20 - Friday 27 Days April 16 - Thursday
1/08/1991 April 12 - Friday 12 Days April 24 - Wednesday 26 Days May 20 - Monday
2/12/1990 March 9 - Friday 7 Days March 16 - Friday 40 Days April 25 - Wednesday
1/03/1989 April 14 - Friday 12 Days April 26 - Wednesday 26 Days May 22 - Monday
2/09/1988 March 10 - Thursday 8 Days March 18 - Friday 38 Days April 25 - Monday
1/06/1987 April 10 - Friday 18 Days April 28 - Tuesday 20 Days May 18 - Monday
2/03/1986 February 28 - Friday 8 Days March 8 - Saturday 13 Days March 21 - Friday
1/08/1985 April 4 - Friday 15 Days April 19 - Friday 31 Days May 20 - Monday
3/06/1984 March 30 - Friday 10 Days April 9 - Monday 15 Days April 24 - Tuesday
1/04/1983 April 8 - Friday 17 Days April 25 - Monday 28 Days May 23 - Monday
1/12/1982 February 22 - Monday 9 Days March 3 - Wednesday 16 Days March 19 - Friday
1/06/1981 April 10 - Friday 14 Days April 24 - Friday 24 Days May 18 - Monday
1/22/1980 March 10 - Monday 7 Days March 17 - Monday 26 Days April 12 - Saturday
1/03/1979 April 13 - Friday 21 Days May 4 - Friday 17 Days May 21 - Monday
1/17/1978 March 3 - Friday 7 Days March 10 - Friday 14 Days March 24 - Friday
1/04/1977 April 22 - Friday 14 Days May 6 - Friday 17 Days May 23 - Monday
1/27/1976 March 9 - Tuesday 7 Days March 16 - Tuesday 22 Days April 7 - Wednesday
1/07/1975 April 19 - Saturday 18 Days May 7 - Wednesday 12 Days May 19 - Monday
1/15/1974 March 2 - Saturday 14 Days March 16 - Saturday 13 Days March 29 - Friday
1/02/1973 April 28 - Saturday 14 Days May 12 - Saturday 9 Days May 21 - Monday
1/05/1971 April 30 - Friday 14 Days May 14 - Friday 10 Days May 24 - Monday

1971: Committee Deadlines Begin as Part of the Permanent Joint Rules.


History of Deadlines

Peter S. Wattson
Secretary of the Senate (Legislative)
January 20, 2010

The first committee deadlines were adopted in 1971 as part of the Permanent Joint Rules. There were two deadlines, one for bills in the house of origin and one for bills in the other house.

The third committee deadline was added in 1994. It applied to appropriation bills acted upon by a policy committee and was intended to get appropriation bills into the Finance and Ways and Means Committees by that time so they could assemble their omnibus bills.

1999

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 6 established deadlines. The Joint Rules were amended to take the deadlines out, since it had been ten years since the last Permanent Joint Rules had been adopted in 1989 and the leadership thought it would be easier to adopt deadline dates if they were not tied into adoption of Permanent Joint Rules.

2000

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 10 established deadlines for the 2000 session.

2001
Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 5 adopted deadline dates. But faced again with inability to adopt Permanent Joint Rules, the Senate agreed to a House concurrent resolution to establish a Task Force on Joint Rules. The Task Force, chaired by Representative Mark Olson and Senator Hottinger, met in the fall and winter of 2001 and recommended, among other things, that the structure of the deadlines, but not the dates, be added back to Joint Rule 2.03. The structure included in their report was the structure as it had been in effect under the Temporary Joint Rules of 2001. The recommendations of the Task Force were introduced in both houses in the 2002 session as a concurrent resolution adopting Joint Rules but were not acted on by either house.

2003

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 4 changed the meaning of the third deadline so that, rather than being a deadline for policy committees to report appropriation bills to the Finance and Ways and Means Committees, it was a deadline for Finance and Ways and Means to report the omnibus appropriation bills to the floor. The resolution applied only for calendar year 2003.

2004

In 2004, there was no agreement on a deadline resolution. The Speaker and the Chair of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration each issued a memorandum setting deadlines for their respective bodies. The Senate had only the first two deadlines. The House had a third deadline for committees to act favorably on omnibus appropriation bills. The deadline did not apply to the Committee on Ways and Means, so it had the same effect as the deadlines in effect from 1994 to 2002.

2005

The Temporary Joint Rules for the 84th Legislature, adopted in 2005, amended Joint Rule 2.03 to insert the structure of the deadline rule as recommended by the Task Force on Joint Rules. That structure was based on the deadlines used in the 2001 session, not the deadlines used in the 2003 session. The third deadline was for committees to act favorably on "major appropriation and finance bills." But the deadlines did not apply to the Committees on Finance or Ways and Means, so they operated as deadlines for the House finance committees to get their bills to Ways and Means, (as was the case from 1994 to 2002 and again in 2004) not a deadline for Ways and Means and the Senate Finance Committee to report their bills to the floor (as was the case in 2003, the last time both bodies agreed to a deadline resolution).

In 2005, Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 4, adopted by both bodies on February 28, set three deadline dates for the 2005 session and named the 15 different "major appropriation and finance bills" that were subject to the third deadline.

2006

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 8, adopted by the Senate on opening day (March 1) and by the House the next day, set three deadline dates but did not list the major appropriation and finance bills.

2007

House Concurrent Resolution No. 1 , adopted by the Senate February 19, set the first and second deadlines on different days in the Senate and House: March 23 for the House and April 14 for the Senate. The third deadline was for the divisions of the Senate and House Finance Committees to act favorably on omnibus appropriation bills by April 2. A fourth deadline was created for the Majority Leader of the Senate and Speaker of the House to set conference committee budget targets by April 27.

2008

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 8, adopted by the Senate February 12 and by the House February 18, set three deadline dates.

2009

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 5, as amended by the House, was adopted by the Senate February 9. It added a fourth deadline - for the Finance, Ways and Means, and Tax Committees to act favorably on omnibus appropriation and tax bills - and a fifth deadline - for conference committees on omnibus appropriation and tax bills to report bills to the floor. The fifth deadline was deleted by House Concurrent Resolution No. 1 on May 7. Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 6 adopted Permanent Joint Rules for the first time since 1999. It amended Joint Rule 2.03 to establish a new deadline for state agency bills necessary to implement the governor's budget. It said they must be made available for introduction within 15 calendar days after the governor's budget was submitted.