Title: Minnesota Legislature - Wikipedia
Headings: Minnesota Legislature
Minnesota Legislature
Contents
History
The non-partisan era
Recent history
Television broadcasts
Gallery
See also
References
External links

Content: This was a historical accident that occurred when a bill to provide for no-party elections of judges, city, and county officers was amended to include the Legislature in the belief that it would kill the bill. While Minnesota legislators were elected on a nonpartisan ballot, they caucused as "Liberals" or "Conservatives," roughly the equivalent in most years to Democratic or Farmer–Labor (later Democratic–Farmer–Labor) and Republican, respectively. In 1974, House members again ran with party designation. In 1976, Senate members again ran with party designation. Recent history
Governor Jesse Ventura advocated the idea of changing the Legislature to be unicameral while he was in office, but the concept did not obtain widespread support. In 2004, the Legislature ended its regular session without acting on a majority of the planned legislation, largely due to political divisiveness on a variety of issues ranging from education to same-sex marriage (See same-sex marriage in the United States for related events during the year). A proper budget failed to pass, and major anticipated projects such as the Northstar Corridor commuter rail line were not approved. Governor Tim Pawlenty, an advocate of the line (formerly an opponent), was expected to request a special session, but ended up helping the coordination of other funds to continue development of the line. The lack of action in the 2004 session is said to be one reason why a number of Republican House members lost their seats in the November election. The Democratic–Farmer–Labor (DFL) minority grew from 53 to 66 and the Republican majority was reduced from 81 to 68.