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Legislative Time Capsule - 80th Legislature (1997-1998)

Session Dates (All Sessions)

  Convened Adjourned Calendar Days Legislative Days - House Legislative Days - Senate
1997
1/7/1997 5/19/1997 133 63 63
1997 1st Special Session
K-12 education appropriations, DWI (also considered government data practices).
6/26/1997 6/26/1997 1 1 1
1997 2nd Special Session
Flood relief (also considered commissioners' pay, minimum wage).
8/19/1997 8/19/1997 1 1 1
1997 3rd Special Session
Funding for baseball stadium. House adjourned 11/13/1997.
10/23/1997 11/14/1997 23 3 4
1998
1/20/1998 4/9/1998 80 46 46
1998 1st Special Session
Clarify intent to allow recovery for fraud pursuant to Minn. Stat. 604.10; issues relating to economic development and Early Childhood and Family Education. Senate adjourned on 4/20/1998.
4/20/1998 4/22/1998 3 3 1

Legislation (All Sessions)

  House - Bills Introduced Senate - Bills Introduced Laws Resolutions
1997 2255 Search 2003 Search 235   Search 4
1997 1st Special Session 1 Search 9 Search 5   Search 0
1997 2nd Special Session 5 Search 9 Search 3   Search 0
1997 3rd Special Session 36 Search 26 Search 3   Search 1
1998 1629 Search 1422 Search 145   Search 4
1998 1st Special Session 6 Search 8 Search 3   Search 0

Vetoes (All Sessions)

  Full Bills Vetoed
(including pockets)
Pocket Vetoes Bills with Line Item Vetoes [# of lines vetoed] TOTAL
Full Bills Vetoed + Lines Vetoed
TOTAL
Full Bills Vetoed + Bills with Lines Vetoed
1997 15 0 4   [8] 23 19
1997 1st Special Session 0 0 0   [0] 0 0
1997 2nd Special Session 0 0 0   [0] 0 0
1997 3rd Special Session 0 0 0   [0] 0 0
1998 11 0 4   [11] 22 15
1998 1st Special Session 0 0 0   [0] 0 0

Leadership         

Speaker of the House Philip C. Carruthers  (Democratic-Farmer-Labor)
House Majority Leader Theodore Winter  (Democratic-Farmer-Labor)
House Minority Leader Steven A. Sviggum  (Republican)
President of the Senate Allan H. Spear  (Democratic-Farmer-Labor)
Senate Majority Leader Roger D. Moe  (Democratic-Farmer-Labor)
Senate Minority Leader Richard Day  (Republican)
Dean Elton Johnson  (Republican)

Officers

Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives Edward A. Burdick
House Sergeant-at-Arms Ronald G. LeBlanc
Secretary of the Senate Patrick E. Flahaven
Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Sven K. Lindquist

Election Results

- Selected election results are available at this page.

Party Control of the House of Representatives (All Sessions)

Date Event Note Total Seats C/R/IR L/DFL Other Margin
1/7/1997 Convenes [Total seats possible = 134] 134 64 70 0 6
9/4/1997 Death Rep. Ken Otremba (DFL, 11B) 133 64 69 0 5
11/13/1997 Special election Mary Ellen Otremba (DFL) won the special election for a House seat in District 11B on November 4, 1997. She was sworn in on November 13, 1997. 134 64 70 0 6
12/7/1997 Resignation Rep. LeRoy Koppendrayer (R, 17A) resigned to take an appointment as Commissioner of Public Utilities. He was named on December 5, 1997 and began serving in the PUC on December 8, 1997. 133 63 70 0 7
12/22/1997 Death Rep. Barb Vickerman (R, 23A) 132 62 70 0 8
1/15/1998 Resignation Rep. Doug Swenson (R, 51B) resigned to take an appointment to 10th District Court. He was named on December 19, 1997 and resigned effective on January 15, 1998.. 131 61 70 0 9
1/20/1998 Special election Sondra Erickson (R) won the special election for a House seat in District 17A on January 6, 1998. He was sworn in on January 20, 1998. 132 62 70 0 8
1/20/1998 Convenes Districts 23A and 51B were vacant at the convening of the legislature. [Total seats possible = 134] 132 62 70 0 8
1/29/1998 Special election James Clark (R) won the special election for a House seat in District 23A on January 20, 1998. He was sworn in on January 29, 1998. 133 63 70 0 7
2/5/1998 Special election Ray Vandeveer (R) won the special election for a House seat in District 51B on January 27, 1998. He was sworn in on February 5, 1998. 134 64 70 0 6
C=Conservative  R=Republican  IR=Independent Republican  L=Liberal  DFL=Democratic-Farmer-Labor

Party Control of the Senate (All Sessions)

Date Event Note Total Seats C/R/IR L/DFL Other Margin
1/7/1997 Convenes [Total seats possible = 67] 67 24 42 1 18
* During this time, Senator Charlie Berg did not caucus with the Republicans or the Democrats. He is not included in the calculation of the margin.
1/20/1998 Convenes [Total seats possible = 67] 67 24 42 1 18
* During this time, Senator Charlie Berg did not caucus with the Republicans or the Democrats. He is not included in the calculation of the margin.
C=Conservative  R=Republican  IR=Independent Republican  L=Liberal  DFL=Democratic-Farmer-Labor

House Committees

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Senate Committees

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