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How an Idea Becomes a Law in Minnesota

How does the Minnesota Legislative Session Work?

Start and End of the Legislative Session

Governor Tim Pawlenty signs the Mercury Reduction Act of
2006. Sierra Club volunteers were instrumental in the pas-
sage of this landmark legislation.
Photo by Tom Erickson, Office of Governor Tim Pawlenty.

A “session” of the Minnesota legislature is composed of two segments of different lengths that are stretched out over a two-year period of time called a “biennium.

The legislature convenes on different dates according to the year of the biennium. In odd numbered years (the first year of the biennium), the session begins on the first Tuesday in January. This is generally referred to as the “long” session because the legislature will typically remain in session from January to May, a period of about five months.

In even numbered years, however, the session begins on a date agreed upon by both chambers, usually between early and mid-February. This is called the “short” session, because it will last only about four months.

Additionally, there are restrictions on how long the legislative session can last. The State Constitution limits the legislature to meeting 120 days in every two years. The legislature also must never meet after the first Monday after the third Saturday in the month of May of any year.

At the end of the first year of the biennium, the legislature will simply adjourn until the agreed-upon date and resume its business when it reconvenes the following year. As discussed below, bills that are still alive in the legislature during the first biennium will typically remain alive when the legislature reconvenes.

At the end of the second year of the biennium, however, the legislature will adjourn “sine die” (pronounced SIGH-KNEE DIE). This is a Latin term that means “without assigning a day for further meeting.” Hence, a legislative body adjourns sine die when it adjourns without appointing a day on which to assemble again.

Carry Over and Reintroduction

Bills left on the General Orders (in the Senate), the General Register (in the House), the Calendar, or the Consent Calendar at the end of the first year of a biennium, are returned to the last committee the bill went through after the legislature adjourns. This final committee must give the bill a favorable hearing before the bill can be returned to the floor in the following session.

In the second session of a biennium, however, all bills remaining on various calendars are considered dead, and must be reintroduced at the next legislative session.

Sierra Club volunteers participate in a lobbying training at the Minnesota Capitol

Interim Hearings

Committees may hold meetings when the legislature is not in session. These hearings, however, are only for informational (and sometimes political) purposes. Although a committee may take action on a bill during the interim, this rarely happens because the action can only be made official once it is reported to the legislature during the session.

Committees will often hold hearings between legislative sessions to gather information about a topic of particular legislative concern, or a complex bill. It is also common for committees to use interim hearings to hold Commissioners of state agencies accountable for actions they have or have not taken.

Special Sessions

Although the legislature is usually restricted to meeting a maximum of 120 days during a biennium, there exists one exception to this rule. If, at the end of a regular legislative session, the Governor feels that there is need for more time to work through bills or to address an issue of urgent importance, he may call a “special session” of the legislature. Although the Governor decides whether or not to hold a special session, the legislature determines the length of the session as well as the topics to be discussed and voted upon.