of disagreements between the governor and legislature, as she had done in several past sessions. The House commissioned a policy brief from its research department, published in December 2011, that looked into what such a bill would require. The brief noted that such ideas had been considered before, including after the 2005 shutdown, and had been abandoned. In the state elections of 2012, during which all members of the legislature (but not the governor) were up for election, the shutdown was a major campaign issue. The Republicans lost their majorities in both houses of the legislature, giving the DFL full control of the state government. Kurt Zellers and other Republican legislators said the shutdown probably was one reason for their electoral defeat. However, other national and state issues may have had more of an influence on the result. The presidential race was also on the ballot, as were the proposed Minnesota Marriage Amendment and Voter ID Amendment, which had been put on the ballot by the legislature in 2011. All of these ballot items increased the turnout of DFL-leaning voters. After winning control of the state legislature, the DFL passed a $38 billion budget containing the tax hikes on the wealthy that Dayton had wanted in 2011. The shutdown still was a political issue in the 2014 elections, when gubernatorial candidates Zellers and Dave A. Thompson were among the candidates for statewide office who had been Republican legislators during the shutdown. Zellers claimed having "balanced the budget without a tax increase" during the shutdown was his signature accomplishment as speaker, but he was criticised by Republican rivals and DFL leaders alike for the shutdown and for the means by which the budget was balanced. References External links Resources on past government shutdowns on the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library website Government of Minnesota State budgets of the United States 2011 in American politics 2011 in Minnesota Minnesota state government shutdown Government shutdowns in the United States