What's New
2/9/2010
LCCMR 2011-2012 Request for Proposal (RFP)
The LCCMR 2011-2012 Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund has been posted.
2/2/2010
Fiscal Notes
For a good review before session, see the House of Representatives Fiscal Analysis department's "Fiscal Notes," meant to "provide background information on fiscal notes and their role
in the legislative budget process. Included is information on how to request and review fiscal notes."
12/23/2009
New Laws Effective Jan. 1, 2010
Check out these selected new laws passed during the 2009 legislative session that take effect Jan. 1, 2010.
The asterisk following the bill number denotes the language that became law. A complete summary of all laws passed by the 2009 Legislature is available from House Public Information Services.
12/7/2009
Statute Searching Improves All the Time
The programmers in the Revisors Office respond quickly when an issue arises. For example, this summer a citizen asked a librarian why she
couldn't find information on fair campaign practices in Minnesota Statutes online. The reason was that the phrase "fair campaign" appeared in a
chapter heading, and not in the text of the statutes - and chapter titles weren't indexed and searched. No problem. The Revisors Office
programmers added the chapter headings and chapter titles to the indexing. Now the fair campaign practices search
works well, and in case you need it, you can also find "boom companies"!
12/2/2009
New Legislative Guide for Students
In a continuing effort to explain the legislative process to young Minnesota citizens and future voters, House Public Information Services has published Capitol Steps: From Idea to Law: A Young Person's Guide to the Legislative Process
which explains in a simple, straightforward manner how a bill moves from an idea to law. Capitol Steps is intended as a resource for junior and senior high school students and is also linked to from the Legislative
Reference Library's youth guide to the legislature.
11/23/2009
Session Laws Linked from Bill Search Results
Yet another improvement to the bill status system from the Office of the Revisor of Statutes is linking to Session Laws from the results of a bill search. If the
bill became a law, it is listed in and linked to from the "Law" column. For example, see the results for the topic search "consumer protection" for 2009.
11/17/2009
Football Stadiums and the Minnesota Vikings
Quick! In what year was the Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington demolished? The Legislative Reference Library's newest
Minnesota Issue guide, "Football Stadiums and the Minnesota Vikings"
includes a great timeline, and the answer to that question--1985. We think the football guide will prove as useful as our other sports stadium guides,
"Baseball Stadiums," "NHL Hockey in Minnesota and the Xcel Energy Center,"
"Target Center Arena and the Minnesota Timberwolves," and
"Financing Professional Sports Facilities."
9/24/2009
2009 Statutes Published Online
The Office of the Revisor of Statutes has published the 2009 statutes online.
9/18/2009
Combined Charities Annual Used Book Sale
The date has been set for the 2009 Legislative used book sale to
benefit the Combined Charities Campaign: Wednesday, October 21 and
Thursday, October 22.
Mark your calendars to shop, and start going through your bookshelves for
donations. We want your used books, DVD movies, VHS movies and CD's. All
proceeds will go to the Combined Charities Campaign. Receipts for your donations are available.
You may drop off your items at the
Legislative Reference Library (Room 645 S.O.B.) or the Chief Clerk´s
Office (Room 211 Capitol) or in House Supply (Room G35 S.O.B.) Please bring in your donations by Monday, October 19th.
9/9/2009
State Fair Poll Results
This year's state fair opinion poll results from the House of Representatives poll and from the Senate poll have been posted.
7/27/2009
New Laws Effective Aug. 1, 2009
House Public Information Services has published a recap of selected new
laws passed during the 2009 legislative session that take effect Aug. 1,
2009.
7/14/2009
House Public Information Services and Legislative Reference Library on Twitter
You can now follow House Public Information Services' news posts on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MnHouseInfo. The Legislative Reference Library
also began contributing Twitter posts last session. The Library will tweet on a regular basis as state documents, or reports comparing states, arrive, alerting readers to interesting facts and resources.
7/1/2009
Kurt Zellers House Republican Leader
House Public Information Services has published a press release announcing Kurt
Zellers chosen to lead House Republicans.
7/1/2009
2009 Session Laws
The Revisor's Office has published the 2009 Minnesota Session Laws to the web.
6/30/2009
New Laws Effective July 1, 2009 Press Release
House Public Information Services has made the New Laws Effective July 1, 2009 press release,
a listing of selected new laws passed during the 2009 legislative session that take effect July 1, 2009, available on their site.
6/22/2009
New Laws
House Public Information Services has published the 2009 New Laws, summarizing "newly enacted laws, vetoed bills and some proposals that did not pass into law during a given legislative session." Older
issues of New Laws are also available.
6/16/2009
Unallotment Issues Guide
The Legislative Reference Library has published a guide to the unallotment process in Minnesota, including legislative history and links to current and historical documents.
5/15/2009
Veto Information
More detailed information on vetoes is now available from the Legislative Reference Library's
veto database. Improvements include
searching by year or governor, more line item veto details, and links to additional veto messages.
5/8/2009
Budget Comparison Documents
You can find budget comparison documents discussed at the Legislative Planning and Fiscal Policy meetings on their website.
See also the House budget tracking documents and the Senate budget tracking documents.
3/31/2009
Revised Laws of 1905 Online
The Office of the Revisor of Statutes has made the Revised Laws of 1905 available online from the history notes accompanying statutes.
See the history note at the bottom of Minnesota Statute 2.01 Names and Boundaries for an example.
3/17/2009
Links to Audio and Video from House Minutes
In another step in the continuing effort to make legislative information readily accessible, the House of Representatives is linking to audio and video of hearings from committee minutes. See these
K-12 Education Finance Division/Taxes minutes for an example.
Handouts are also linked to from minutes when available (near the bottom of the page).
3/4/2009
Legislative Networking Group (LNET) Wins Website Accessibility Award
The Commission of Deaf, DeafBlind and Hard of Hearing Minnesotans has given the Minnesota Legislative Networking Group (LNET) its Website Access Award. According to Mary Hartnett,
Commission Director, "The work [LNET has] done voluntarily to improve access on the web is impressive and shows a commitment to including all citizens in the legislative process."
An award ceremony will take place at the Deaf, Hard of Hearing and DeafBlind Lobby Day at the capitol rotunda on March 4 at noon.
2/23/2009
SONARs
Statements of Need and Reasonableness (SONARs) back to 2006 have been published by the Legislative Reference Library.
Part of the rulemaking process, SONARs provide background on the proposed rule or amendment for decision makers and citizens. This electronic SONAR archive will ensure that the documents will be widely accessible via the Web and be available for future researchers.
2/16/2009
LCCMR 2010 Request for Proposal
For funding from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund beginning July 1, 2010, go to the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) site for forms and information.
2/11/2009
Legislative Television Broadcasting
For an explanation of the nationwide digital television transition's impact on legislative television broadcasting, see the House & Senate Broadcast Television Schedule.
2/5/2009
2009 Committee Deadlines
The 2009 committee deadlines have been announced.
1/15/2009
Senate Budget Discussion Website
The Senate has created a budget discussion website welcoming ideas from the public regarding the state budget.
1/9/2008
Minnesota Legislators Past & Present
Minnesota Legislators Past & Present, from the Legislative Reference Library, is the only comprehensive list of legislators who have served in the Minnesota Legislature since territorial times. You can search for legislators by session, county represented, birth place, occupation, and more.
New search features have been added to this historical resource, providing easy access to information such as legislative family connections, leadership positions, special elections, committees, and committee chairs.
Beginning in 1995, each legislator’s entry also includes links to legislation he or she authored, by session. With additional links to current members’ official web pages, official photographs and other government service, this database offers a wealth of information about Minnesota Legislators, past and present!
The database continues to be a work in progress and is by no means complete. We welcome additional information or corrections.
12/23/2008
2009-2010 Senate Committee Structure
A document outlining the 2009-2010 Senate committee structure has been published. See the Senate's Committee Information page for more information, including jurisdiction, schedules and membership.
12/23/2008
2009-2010 House Committee Structure
Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher announced the new House committee structure.
12/22/2008
Minnesota State Budget Comment Line
The Minnesota House of Representatives has set up a webpage to allow citizens to have a say in how we confront Minnesota's projected budget deficit.
12/18/2008
Session Daily News Items
Session Daily news items are now featured prominently on the House home page as well as on the House
Public Information Office site. Session Daily may be a misnomer, since
news is added even when the Legislature is not in session. There are
several recent stories on the budget shortfall.
11/7/2008
Women in the Minnesota legislature
The Office on the Economic Status of Women has published a new fact sheet on women in the Minnesota legislature.
11/6/2008
2009-2010 Election Directory
House Public Information Services has published the 2009-2010 Election Directory of the Minnesota House and Senate and the 2009-2010 Members-elect roster. Also see the election results press release for a list of new House members-elect.
10/31/2008
New Statutes Feature
The 2008 Minnesota Statutes have a new feature that brings up additional related statute topics, with links to those topics in the statutes index. For example, searching for the specific words "pedestrian crossings" brings up MS 169.2151, Pedestrian Safety Crossings. The topics list links to Pedestrian Crossings as a topic, leading to many other statutes dealing with the issue.
The new feature will also be helpful when someone does a keyword search with a word that isn't commonly used; for instance, handicapped. One of the few sections in the search results is MS 248.061. The topics list leads the user to Disabled Persons which brings up many more sections.
This new feature is just one of many designed by programmers in the Office of the Revisor of Statutes to help users find the information they need, no matter where they begin their searches.
10/29/2008
New Legislature Home Page
Based on great ideas from staff members and citizens (and usability tests), we have redesigned the legislature's home page to be more accessible and user-friendly. We have also enhanced the accessibility of the legislative website generally.
10/28/2008
2008 Minnesota Statutes
The 2008 Minnesota Statutes are on the Web.
9/30/2008
Power Outage Notice
Geographic Information Services has created an interactive map of the Capitol area, with driving directions and parking locations.
9/2/2008
State Fair Poll
2008 state fair poll results from the House of Representatives poll and from the Senate poll have been posted.
8/14/2008
House State Fair Booth
House Public Information Services has issued a schedule of state representatives who will appear at the House State Fair booth.
7/22/2008
2008 Session Laws
The Revisor's Office has published the 2008 Session Laws to the web.
7/17/2008
Women and Poverty in Minnesota
The Office on the Economic Status of Women has published an economic brief, Women and Poverty in Minnesota.
7/1/2008
OESW 2008 Legislative Summary
The Office on the Economic Status of Women has published their 2008 Legislative Summary outlining some of the hundreds of bills the office tracked this year.