On
The committee met three times on this issue during the 2008 legislative session:
The committee continued its meetings after adjournment of the 2008 legislature:
At its final hearing, on
Contents
COMMITTEE
STRUCTURE AND PROCEDURES
Cooperation
between House and Senate Committees
Number of committees; membership and jurisdiction of
committees
Bill Introductions
Referral/Re-Referral of bills to committees
Committee schedules/agendas
Other issues relating to the work of committees
Consideration
of amendments
Consideration of bills
Other issues relating to floor sessions
CONFERENCE
COMMITTEES/END OF SESSION
Conference Committees
End of Session
Public access and participation
Schedules, organization, and other
issues
COMMITTEE STRUCTURE AND PROCEDURES
|
#C1 |
The names and jurisdiction of House and Senate committees should be more closely aligned, including the accounts assigned to budget divisions. |
|
#C2 |
House and Senate committees should cooperate more, by establishing more joint House/Senate committees, or by having more joint committee meetings. The Pension Commission is a good example. Having joint committees or joint hearings would be particularly useful for finance committees. |
|
#C3 |
House and Senate committees with similar jurisdictions should facilitate joint hearings. These committees could be scheduled to meet at the same time, to facilitate joint hearings. However, if this is done, committee chairs and staff would need to coordinate to make sure members of the public can participate in the meetings of committees in both the House and Senate when they don’t meet jointly. |
|
#C4 |
Each House member should serve on fewer committees, which should be accomplished by reducing the number of committees and by reducing the number of members serving on each committee. |
|
#C5 |
Subcommittees should consist entirely of members of the parent committee. |
|
#C6 |
The minority caucus should have proportional representation on all committees and divisions. 6.02
COMMITTEE AND DIVISION MEMBERSHIP. At least 30 days before the
start of a regular session of the Legislature, the Speaker-designate must
provide the minority political party caucuses with a list of the standing
committees and divisions proposed for the session. The
|
|
#C7 |
The jurisdiction of each House committee and division should be described in detail (including the chapters of Minnesota Statutes within the jurisdiction of each group) and this information should be available on the House website. |
|
#C8 |
All committees should have jurisdiction over both policy and finance matters. |
|
#C9 |
The number of bills each member can introduce (as chief author) each session should be limited, with possible exceptions for local or individual bills, executive branch bills, or as otherwise authorized by the House. |
|
#C10 |
Allow an unlimited number of authors on a bill. 1.12 AUTHORS OF BILLS AND
RESOLUTIONS. A
member may not be the chief author of more than 25 bills in any annual
regular session. A bill that the chief
author designates as a local or individual bill or that the author introduces
at the request of an executive branch agency does not count for purposes of
the limit in this paragraph. Upon motion of a member, the House may excuse
compliance with the limit in this paragraph. |
|
#C11 |
Establish an annual deadline for bill introduction for bills to be considered that year. 1.10
INTRODUCTION OF BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS. A bill or resolution must
be submitted to the Speaker at least 24 hours before the convening of the
daily session at which it is to be introduced. A bill or resolution must
be introduced in triplicate and each copy must bear the signature of the
member or the name of the committee or division introducing it. In regular session, a bill
prepared by a department or agency of state government must be introduced and
given its first reading at least ten days before the date of the first committee
deadline. A
committee may not act on a House file during an annual regular session unless
that House file is introduced at least 20 days before the date of the first
committee deadline that year. |
|
#C12 |
The House should devise a mechanism under which bills, or parts of bills, could be considered simultaneously by multiple committees. |
|
#C13 |
When a bill is re-referred to a committee with limited jurisdiction over certain parts of the bill, the secondary committee should limit its consideration of the bill to matters within the jurisdiction of the committee 1.11 FIRST After its first reading, the Speaker
must refer a bill or resolution to the appropriate standing committee or
division, except as provided in Rule 1.15 and Rule 1.13. The Speaker may refer a bill or
resolution simultaneously to more than one standing committee or
division. If this occurs, the Speaker
may provide that a committee or division has jurisdiction only over a
specified portion of the bill, and may specify the sequence in which the committees
or divisions are to report the bill back to the House. |
|
#C14 |
The House should reduce re-referral of bills. |
|
#C15 |
The House should have clearer standards (in addition to those in current rule for some committees) for when re-referrals of bills to certain committees is required. |
|
#C16 |
The House should consider more carefully, or perhaps develop a formal mechanism for determining, the sequence of re-referrals for bills that need to be referred to multiple committees. 1.11 FIRST After its first reading, the Speaker
must refer a bill or resolution to the appropriate standing committee or
division, except as provided in Rule 1.15 and Rule 1.13. At the time of the initial referral, the
Speaker may designate subsequent committees to which the bill must be
referred, and may specify the sequence of these referrals. |
|
#C17 |
The House should develop a mechanism under which a secondary committee would formally be assigned jurisdiction only over limited parts of a bill. 6.30 COMMITTEE
REPORTS. Except as provided in this rule, the House must
adopt or reject a committee report on a bill or resolution without amendment.
A committee report
recommending that a bill be re-referred to another committee may recommend
that the subsequent committee have jurisdiction only over limited parts of
the bill. The House may amend the portion of the committee report that
recommends limited jurisdiction for a subsequent committee… |
|
#C18 |
The House should allow each member to designate one or more bills as priority bills, and require that committees hear and vote on these bills, assuming there is a Senate companion. 6.19 HEARINGS ON PRIORITY BILLS. Each House member may designate one bill,
for which the member is the chief author, as a priority bill each annual
legislative session. The chair of each
committee to which a priority bill is referred must schedule the bill for a
hearing if there is a Senate companion bill. |
|
#C19 |
Committees should give better notice of their agendas, including notice of major amendments to be considered. 6.20 COMMITTEE
MEETING SCHEDULE; DEADLINES. The Speaker must prepare and publish
a schedule of committee meetings, fixing as far as practicable the regular
meeting day and time of each committee. ….As far as practicable,
amendments to be offered in committee must be filed with the chair of the
committee at least 24 hours in advance of the committee hearing. The chair of
a committee must make the amendment
available to the public as soon as practical after the amendment is filed
with the chair. |
|
#C20 |
Committee
chairs should attempt to give notice of the next week’s agenda by Thursday of
the preceding week. 6.20 COMMITTEE
MEETING SCHEDULE; DEADLINES. … As far as practicable, the
chair of a committee must: (1) give three days notice of the date,
time, place and agenda for each meeting; and (2) give notice of the date,
time, place and agenda for the next week’s meetings by Thursday of the
preceding week. |
|
#C21 |
Committee meetings should begin at the scheduled time. 6.20 COMMITTEE
MEETING SCHEDULE; DEADLINES. The Speaker must prepare and publish
a schedule of committee meetings, fixing as far as practicable the regular
meeting day and time of each committee. The chair of the committee must
convene the meeting at the scheduled time. |
|
#C22 |
An amendment in a committee should be in order only if it is made available to the public in advance, with possible exceptions for author amendments, technical amendments, or amendments authorized by specific vote of a committee (or perhaps a supermajority of the committee) 6.20 COMMITTEE
MEETING SCHEDULE; DEADLINES. The Speaker must prepare and publish
a schedule of committee meetings, fixing as far as practicable the regular
meeting day and time of each committee. …. …..An amendment may not be offered in
a committee unless the amendment has been filed with the chair at least 24
hours before the scheduled start of the committee meeting. A committee may waive compliance with this
requirement by a vote of -----members of the committee. The chair of a
committee must make an amendment available to the public as soon as practical
after the amendment is filed with the chair. |
|
#C23 |
Committees should more closely follow the order of bills listed on committee agendas. 6.20. COMMITTEE
MEETING SCHEDULE; DEADLINES. ……….As far as practicable, the chair
of a committee must give three days notice of the date, time, place and
agenda for each meeting. The committee must take up items in the order
listed on the agenda, unless otherwise provided by vote of the committee. |
|
#C24 |
Committees should not schedule a bill for hearing until the bill is introduced and available to the public. 6.20. COMMITTEE MEETING SCHEDULE;
DEADLINES. ……….As far as practicable, the chair of a committee
must give three days notice of the date, time, place and agenda for each
meeting. A bill must not be listed on the agenda for a committee meeting
until the bill has been introduced, and the committee may not report the bill
until at least two days after the bill has been introduced. |
|
#C25 |
Committees should be expected to do most of the work on bills. The House should use standing committees and subcommittees to hear testimony, build expertise, and take action on bills, and not rely on working groups, or leave detailed work for the House Floor. Committees should take the time necessary to do this work, even if it means holding bills over for multiple hearings, or having bills sent back from the floor to committee. Committee schedules, member schedules, and committee deadlines should be designed to facilitate this role. |
|
#C26 |
Omnibus budget bills should contain only budget-related material. Language items should relate to budget decisions made in the bill or to general matters with a fiscal impact within the jurisdiction of the bill. 4.03 WAYS AND
MEANS COMMITTEE; BUDGET RESOLUTION; EFFECT ON EXPENDITURE AND REVENUE
BILLS. …. ….(e) Major finance and
revenue bills are: the higher education and
workforce development finance bill; the K-12 education finance
bill; the early childhood
learning finance bill; the agriculture, rural
economies, and veterans affairs finance bill; the environment and
natural resources finance bill; the health care and human
services finance bill; the state government
finance bill; the transportation finance
bill; the public safety finance
bill; the the energy finance bill; the housing and public
health finance bill; the capital investment
bill; and the tax bill…….. …….(j) A major finance
and revenue bill may contain only material that is related to the finance and
revenue decisions made in that bill. OR ……(j) A major finance and revenue
bill may contain only material that affects present or future financial
obligations, budget policy, or revenue of the state. |
|
#C27 |
Policy language should not be included in finance bills unless the appropriate policy committee has considered and recommended approval of the language. 4.03 WAYS AND MEANS…. …(j) A major finance
and revenue bill may contain only material that affects present or future
financial obligations, budget policy, or revenue of the state unless the
appropriate policy committee has recommended approval of a bill containing other language. |
|
#C28 |
Amendments offered in committees should be germane to the jurisdiction of the committee, especially for secondary committees that should be considering only parts of a bill. 6.21
COMMITTEE PROCEDURES….. ….An amendment offered in
committee must be on a subject that is within the jurisdiction of the committee.
A member of a committee may raise a point of order objecting to an
amendment that the member believes is not on a subject within the
jurisdiction of the committee. Whether an amendment is on a subject that
is within the jurisdiction of the committee is a question to be decided by
the person chairing the meeting, who may put the question to the committee. |
|
#C29 |
Finance and Tax Committees and divisions should not act on a bill before receiving applicable fiscal and revenue notes for the correct version of the bill. 4.10 BILLS
AFFECTING STATE REVENUES AND EXPENDITURES. (a) Except as provided
in Rule 1.15, a House or Senate bill that directly, substantially, and
specifically affects any present or future financial obligation, budget
policy, or revenue of the State must be referred as provided in paragraphs
(b) and (c) to the appropriate Finance or Tax Committee before the bill
receives its second reading. … … (b) A bill subject to
paragraph (a)… must, if recommended to pass, be subsequently referred to the
Finance Committee… … (c) A bill with a
substantial impact on the tax revenues or tax policies of the State must be
referred to the Committee on Taxes…. …. (e) To the extent
practicable, a committee or division must not report a bill subject to this
rule until the committee or division has received an executive branch fiscal
note or revenue analysis, as applicable, for the version of the bill the
committee or division is considering. |
|
#F1 |
The House rule governing germaneness of amendments should be made more specific, either by codifying current custom and usage or by making the germaneness standard more restrictive. |
|
#F2 |
A floor amendment should not be in order if it annexes another bill. 3.31 AMENDMENT NOT TO ANNEX ANOTHER BILL. Except
in a committee or division, no bill or resolution shall be amended by
annexing or incorporating any other bill or resolution. |
|
#F3a |
A floor amendment should not be in order if the amendment has previously been offered and rejected either in committee or on the floor. 3.32. AMENDMENT MAY NOT BE OFFERED MULTIPLE TIMES. An
amendment to a bill is out of order if the amendment has previously been
offered and not adopted, either in a committee or division or by the House. |
|
#F3b |
A floor amendment should be in order only if it has previously been offered and rejected in committee. 3.32. FLOOR
AMENDMENT NOT ALLOWED UNLESS OFFERED IN COMMITTEE. An amendment to a [major finance or
revenue] bill on the House floor is out of order unless the amendment has
previously been offered in a committee or division, unless the amendment is
purely of a technical nature. |
|
#F4 |
Amendments to be offered on
the floor should be pre-filed, and made available to the public, including on
the Internet, before the House considers the bill being amended. 3.33.
AMENDMENTS MUST BE PRE-FILED. An amendment offered to the House is
out of order unless the amendment has been filed with the Speaker at least 24
hours before being offered. When an
amendment is filed with the Speaker, the Speaker must have the amendment
posted on the House website as soon as practical. |
|
#F5 |
The House should establish a process for controlling what amendments can be offered, at least for certain bills. 3.34. LIMITS ON AMENDMENTS. The Committee on Rules and Legislative
Administration may designate amendments that may be offered to a bill on the
Calendar for the Day or the Fiscal Calendar.
If the Committee designates amendments for a bill, any proposed
amendment to the bill that has not been designated by the Committee is out of
order. The
Committee on Rules and Legislative Administration must give notice of intent
to designate amendments under this rule at least ---- days before the
Committee meets to designate amendments to be considered. A member intending to offer an amendment
must file the proposed amendment with the Committee at least ---hours before
the meeting at which the Committee will designate amendments. |
|
#F6 |
The House should establish a process under which aggregate time limits can be established for debate on all amendments to a bill. 2.42. TIME LIMIT FOR DEBATE. The Committee on Rules and Legislative
Administration may designate an aggregate time limit for debate on all
amendments offered to a bill on the Calendar for the Day or the Fiscal
Calendar. |
|
#F7 |
The House should relax or repeal rules that restrict the ability to offer amendments that are not consistent with the budget resolution. 4.03 WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE; BUDGET
RESOLUTION; EFFECT ON EXPENDITURE AND REVENUE BILLS….. …(g) After the adoption of
a resolution by the Committee on Ways and Means, the Committee on Ways and
Means must reconcile finance and revenue bills with the resolution. When
reporting a bill, the chair of the Committee must certify to the House that
the Committee has reconciled the bill with the resolution.
|
|
#F8 |
The number of delete-all amendments and other major substantive amendments offered on the House floor should be reduced, with bills being referred back to committee, where public testimony can occur, if major amendments are needed. |
|
#F9 |
A floor amendment proposing a constitutional amendment should be out of order, unless it is amending a constitutional amendment already proposed in the bill being considered. 3.34. AMENDMENT MAY NOT PROPOSE A NEW CONSTITUTIONAL
AMENDMENT. An amendment offered to the House is out of order if the
amendment proposes a constitutional amendment. However, an amendment may propose a change
to the text of a constitutional amendment already being proposed in the bill
under consideration. |
|
#F10 |
The House should use a general orders calendar. 1.03 ORDER OF
BUSINESS. After the Journal is read, the order of business of the
day is: (1)
Presentation of petitions or other communications (2)
Reports of standing committees and divisions (3)
Second reading of House bills (4)
Second reading of Senate bills (5)
Reports of select committees (6)
Introduction and first reading of House bills (7)
Consideration of messages from the Senate (8)
First reading of Senate bills (9)
Consent Calendar (10)
Calendar for the day (11) General Orders
1.05 COMMITTEE OF THE
WHOLE. The Committee of the Whole is a committee of the
entire membership of the House. The
Speaker may appoint another member as chair to preside over the Committee of
the Whole. When the House arrives
at the General Orders of the Day, it shall resolve itself into a Committee of
the Whole to consider bills on General Orders. The Rules of the House
shall be observed in the Committee of the Whole so far as applicable, except
that the previous question shall not be forced or speaking limited. A roll call must be ordered if 15 members
demand it. A roll call must be ordered
on a amendment increasing the amount of an appropriation. A motion that the
Committee arise shall always be in order and shall be decided without debate. 1.07 GENERAL ORDERS OF THE
DAY. The chief clerk, at the
direction of the Speaker, shall prepare the General Orders of the Day, which
is a list of all bills that have been given their second reading that have
been not been placed on another calendar.
Bills on General Orders must be numbered according to their order at
second reading. Unless otherwise
ordered by a majority of the Committee, items on General Orders shall be
taken up in numerical order.
|
|
#F11 |
The House should take up bills in the order stated on a published calendar. 1.51. ORDER OF CONSIDERATION OF BILLS. Unless
otherwise provided by the House, bills on the Calendar for the Day, Fiscal
Calendar, and Consent Calendar must be taken up in the order listed on the
calendar. |
|
#F12 |
The House should establish a limit of one hour for debate on most bills, and a limit of two hours for major budget bills or other major bills. Time available for speaking on bills should be allocated between the majority and minority caucus, based on the percent of House members in each caucus. 2.42. TIME LIMIT FOR DEBATE. Debate on a bill, including proposed
amendments, on the Calendar for the Day or the Fiscal Calendar is limited to one
hour. However, the limit is two hours for a major finance or revenue bill or
for another bill in which the Committee on Rules and Legislative
Administration specifies a two-hour limit |
|
#F13 |
Better notice should be given of when motions to concur/refuse to concur in Senate amendments to House files will be considered. There should be a waiting period, during which the text of Senate amendments to House files must be available to the public, before the House can vote to concur in Senate amendments. 1.16. MOTIONS FOR CONCURRENCE. The chief clerk must publish and make available on the House
website a list of House files passed by the Senate with Senate amendments,
for which House concurrence in the Senate amendments is requested. A motion
to concur in Senate amendments to a House file is not in order until 24 hours after the chief clerk
has published this list. |
|
#F14 |
The House should make greater use of motions “for the previous question” to cut off debate, provided the House develops a custom of being consistent about when the motion is regarded as appropriate. |
|
#F15 |
The number of days that a bill must be placed on the General Register before floor consideration should be increased, with limited exceptions. 1.20 GENERAL REGISTER. The
General Register consists of all bills that have received a second reading,
except those placed on the Consent Calendar under Rule 1.23. Bills must be
placed on the General Register in the order that they receive their second
reading. A bill must be on the General Register for at least two days,
be given to each member, and be available to the public before it may be
considered by the House on the Calendar for the Day or the Fiscal Calendar.
Each day that the House meets in session, the Chief Clerk must publish a list
of the bills on the General Register. |
Other issues relating to floor sessions
|
#F16 |
It should not be possible to waive the rule that forbids
the House from meeting after 1.50 ADJOURNING OF THE
HOUSE. The House may not meet during a legislative day after |
|
#F17 |
The House should consider the scheduled time of floor sessions in relation to scheduled committee meeting times, in particular with regard to potential inconvenience to the public and to House members if meetings/sessions run longer than expected. |
|
#F18 |
House rules should provide for floor votes specifically addressing the issue of whether the body believes that a bill is constitutional, and should specify consequences if a body believes that a bill is not constitutional. 3.05
CONSTITUTIONALITY. A motion as
to the constitutionality of a bill or amendment is in order, and must be put
before the body by the Speaker. The
question must be put as follows: “Is
the matter before the body deemed constitutional by the majority of members
voting?” If a majority of members do
not vote in favor of the constitutionality of a bill or amendment, that bill
or amendment is laid on the table. 3.10
PRECEDENCE OF MOTIONS. While a question is under consideration,
only the following motions may be received: (1)
To fix the time of adjournment (2)
To adjourn (3)
To lay on the table (4)
For the previous question (5) To question constitutionality (6)
To refer (7)
To postpone to a day certain (8)
To amend (9)
To postpone indefinitely (10)
To pass The first four motions
must be decided without debate. The motions have
precedence in the order listed, except that if the motion for the previous
question has been properly made, and if necessary seconded, and the main
question ordered, the motion to lay on the table is not in order |
|
#F19 |
The House should more strictly enforce the current rule providing that members must not speak more than twice on a subject, and not more than once until every other member wishing to speak has had an opportunity. |
|
#F20 |
The House should develop a custom of referring bills back to committees if extensive amendments are needed (perhaps granting exemptions from committee deadlines when this happens). |
|
#F21 |
The House should ensure that members of the minority caucus have a reasonable opportunity to have their bills heard in committee and on the House floor, in part because this likely will tend to limit the number of amendments offered on the House floor. |
|
#CC1 |
Joint rules should allow bills to be passed between the House and Senate more than once before requiring a conference committee. |
|
#CC2 |
Joint rules should further restrict the ability of conference committee members (even less than a quorum) to meet privately. |
|
#CC3 |
Conference committees should be scheduled at a time and with enough advance notice to facilitate public participation. |
|
#CC4 |
The House and Senate should reconsider rules governing what language is permissible to include in a conference committee report. |
|
#CC5 |
House and joint rules should require conference committees to meet and accept public testimony on final conference committee reports, particularly when there have been significant policy changes that weren’t in either the House or Senate bill. |
|
#CC6 |
Conference committee reports should always be available to members and the public for at least 12 hours before being considered for adoption by the House and Senate. |
|
#CC7 |
The House and Senate should reduce the need for conference committee by increasing use of joint House/Senate committees and/or establishing standing joint committees with an institutional role in negotiating major budget items at the end of session. |
|
#CC8 |
The House and the Senate should establish better methods of communicating and coordinating between various conference committees at the end of session, so that language being agreed to in one conference committee can better be taken into account by other conference committees. |
|
#ES1 |
The House and Senate should establish a deadline for acting on bills and conference reports that is a prescribed period in advance of the constitutional deadline for adjournment. |
|
#ES2 |
The House and Senate should establish a period at the end of session during which the only permissible legislative action would be making corrections to legislation previously passed. |
|
#ES3 |
More key decisions at the end of session should made be in public meetings by more groups of legislators, rather than being negotiated in private meetings between the Governor and legislative leadership. Decisions on budget bills should be made in individual conference committees. |
|
#ES4 |
End of session agreements should be made far enough in advance so that legislative staff have adequate time to prepare final drafts of conference reports and other bills, and members, the executive branch, and the public have time to review these documents (and if necessary make suggestions to correct unintended results) before the legislature takes final action. |
|
#ES5 |
The House and the Senate should set deadlines for giving targets to key budget conference committees, or should submit these issues to the full House and the full Senate for votes. Joint Rule 2.06….(Several paragraphs dropped for space
reasons.)… If an agreement is reported, the house of origin shall
act first upon the report. A
Conference Committee report must be limited to provisions that are germane to
the bill and amendments that were referred to the Conference Committee. A provision is not germane if it relates to
a substantially different subject or is intended to accomplish a
substantially different purpose from that of the bill and amendment that were
referred to the Conference Committee. The Speaker of the House of Representatives
and the Majority Leader of the Senate shall agree upon budget targets and any
substantive limitations on the actions of the Conference Committees
[necessary to meet the constitutional requirement of a balanced budget] by a date no later than ten days prior to
the date of adjournment and shall communicate those to the chairs of the Conference
Committee. After this date, the
Speaker and Majority Leader shall submit the question of budget targets to
each floor and allow a vote of all members on the targets for budget
negotiations. A Conference
Committee report may not appropriate a larger sum of money than the larger of
the bill or the amendments that were referred to the Conference Committee
unless the additional appropriation is authorized by the Speaker of the House
of Representatives and the Majority Leader of the Senate…… |
|
#P1 |
In establishing House rules and procedures, a primary consideration should be making the legislative process easier for the public to participate in and to follow. To the extent possible, the process should be made more transparent to the public, including specifically allowing the public to track movement of language between bills. |
|
#P2 |
The House and the Senate should make it easier for the public to track bills, especially when bills from one chamber are substituted for companion bills from the other chamber, and when individual bills are rolled into omnibus bills. |
|
#P3 |
The house should hold more hearings away from the Capitol, including possibly mini-sessions in Greater Minnesota during the interim |
|
#P4 |
The legislature should attempt to create reasonable expectations for the media and for the public about what the legislature can accomplish and what process is necessary for the legislature to conduct its business. |
|
#P5 |
Legislative public information functions should be
centralized for the convenience of the public |
|
#B1 |
The state fiscal year should be changed to conform to the calendar year used by local governments. |
|
#B2 |
The state biennial budget cycle should be changed so that the biennium starts on July 1 of the even-numbered year. |
|
#B3 |
The House and the Senate should jointly agree on budget targets before the deadline for legislative committee work on major finance and revenue bills. |
|
#B4 |
The House should provide more time for members to review omnibus budget bills at each step in the process. |
|
#B5 |
Budget forecasts should occur earlier. |
|
#S1 |
The House should hold meetings after the general election and before the start of the legislative session for organizational purposes, and to begin overviews of issues. The legislature should propose a constitutional amendment as needed to implement this . |
|
#S2 |
The House should make legislative service more family friendly for House members by limiting evening meeting and limiting meetings on Friday afternoons and Monday mornings. |
|
#S3 |
At least 2 weeks notice should be given of all non-emergency meetings during interim. |
|
#S4 |
All interim meetings should be clustered during designated weeks and should occur from Tuesday to Thursday on these weeks. |
|
#S5 |
The majority leadership should meet early in the session with the minority leadership to agree on a structure and schedule for major parts of the legislative session. |
|
#S6 |
Legislative leadership and committee chairs should be more willing to say “no” at various points in the process, in part as a means of reducing time spent on matters that are not likely to advance. |
|
#S7 |
Deadlines for policy committees should be later in the session, to these committees have more time to work on legislation. |
|
#S8 |
In establishing meeting schedules, the House should take into account the time demands on members who have other jobs. |
|
#S9 |
The Minnesota Constitution should be amended to repeal the 120 legislative day limit, while maintaining the January to May time period during which the legislature can meet in regular session. |
|
#S10 |
Statutory deadlines for the executive branch to submit its bills to the Revisor for drafting should be more strictly enforced. New deadlines should be imposed for introduction of these bills. |
|
#S11 |
The House should codify more of its practices into House Rules, and should rely less on Mason’s Manual. |
|
#S12 |
The House should discourage omnibus policy bills. |