Chaotic Close to Minnesota Legislative Session

(Learfield News/St. Paul, MN) — Pandemonium in the Minnesota House and a likely unprecedented lapse of protocol in the Senate last night (Sun) in the closing minutes of the 2024 session.

The loud booing continued for 25 minutes after Senate President Bobby Joe Champion ignored Republican members so Democrats could pass a 14-hundred-page bill spanning topics from higher ed, agriculture, Uber/Lyft driver pay to human services, and items Republicans oppose including a gun binary trigger ban and paid family leave.

Also pandemonium in the House, where Speaker Melissa Hortman said the move was necessary because of repeated Republican filibusters. House Republican Leader Minority Lisa Demuth said, “We were asking to be recognized, we were asking for the bill… and the speaker chose to completely ignore what was going on.”

A bonding bill, sports betting, and an E-R-A (Equal Rights)/abortion constitutional amendment all didn’t make it through before the midnight deadline.