Frequently Asked Questions About the Minnesota Legislature

Find out who represents you or if you know who represents you, use the House Member Information and Senate Member Information pages to see their contact information.

You can call, email, or write a letter to your legislator. To speak to your representative or senator in person, contact their office to make an appointment.

Email is most effective if it is not a blanket mailing to all members. When sending an email, remember to include your name, postal address, and phone number.

Address Format - Representatives
Representative's offices are located in the State Office Building West of the Capitol.

Honorable (Full Name)
Minnesota House of Representatives
(Room #) State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155-1298

Begin your letter: Dear Rep. (Last Name):

Address Format - Senators
Senator's offices are located in the Minnesota Senate Building North of the Capitol.

Honorable (Full Name)
Minnesota State Senate
(Room #) Minnesota Senate Building
95 University Avenue West
St. Paul, MN 55155-1606

Begin your letter: Dear Sen. (Last Name):

There is a printable PDF roster of current members, which shows House and Senate Legislators' room numbers and phone numbers.

To find additional contact information, including downloadable lists, please see the House member information page and the Senate member information page. On each page, additional contact information for individual members is available by clicking on their name. There are links to downloadable lists of contact information for all members in Excel or CSV (which can open as an Excel spreadsheet) documents in the member information section in the right-hand column.

There is not a bulk email list available for Minnesota legislators. While email is an effective way to contact your representative or senator, it is best to address your concerns to the legislators that represent you.

You can use the Who Represents Me? page from Geospatial Information Services to find out who your elected officials are based on your address. Every member of the Legislature has an email address based on the member's name. For example, Representative Jane Doe's email address is rep.jane.doe@house.mn.gov. Senator John Doe's email address is sen.john.doe@senate.mn.

To find out a specific member's email address, you can look several places. The House and Senate websites have pages for each member that includes his or her email address (Members of the House of Representatives and Minnesota Senators). The Official Directory of the Minnesota Legislature (often referred to as "the red book") and the Members Directory ("the green book") contain contact information, including email addresses, for all legislators. To receive a free copy of the red or green book, or to ask for a member's email address, call either House Public Information Services at 651-296-2146 or Senate Information at 651-296-0504.

You can use the Who Represents Me? page from Geospatial Information Services to find out who your elected officials are based on your address.

Additionally, you can contact the Senate Information Office, Room 231 State Capitol at 651-296-0504 or House Public Information Services in Room 175, State Office Building at 651-296-2146 to learn who represents you in both the Senate and the House.

Yes. Members of the general public are encouraged to testify before committees, though testimony will need to be arranged with committee staff prior to a scheduled hearing.

Contact the committee staff or your representative before the hearing. See the Combined Calendar for hearing dates and times.

Committees primarily focus hearings on particular bills, though occasionally they discuss issues of broad interest within the committee's jurisdiction. You can find a Senate standing committee schedule or House standing committee schedule online or call House Public Information Services at 651-296-2146 or Senate Information 651-296-0504 to find the phone numbers for committee staff or to receive a printed standing committee schedule.

From 2020-2024, House and Senate rules allowed for virtual and/or hybrid committee hearings (see Temporary Senate Rule 12.1(b) and House Rule 10.05 ). As a result, there were deviations from some of the processes outlined below. Future legislatures may or may not continue the practice of virtual and/or hybrid hearings.

Here are 10 suggestions to make it easier to get involved:

1. Arrive early. Getting to the meeting early will give you a chance to survey the meeting space, identify legislators, and make last-minute changes to your presentation.
2. Contact the committee's administrator or legislative assistant. If you want to testify, make sure you are on the committee meeting agenda. It's best to contact the committee a day or two before the hearing to do this. But, time permitting, it's possible to sign up and testify on same day of the hearing.
3. Introduce yourself. When speaking to the committee, clearly identify yourself and the organization you represent, if any. Then clearly state your position on the bill before the committee.
4. Speak through the committee chair. All questions and answers during committee hearings are routed through the committee chair. Address the chair as "Madame Chair" or "Mr. Chair." This makes it easier to follow the testimony when listening to tapes of recorded committee meetings.
5. Don't be intimidated. This is a citizen Legislature. Representatives are your friends and neighbors and they want to hear what you have to say. Just state your case clearly and in simple terms as you would to anyone.
6. Be brief. Make your key points as concisely as possible. Provide specific information about why your position is in the state's best interest. Legislators may want to know what, if anything, has been done in other states, what the costs might be, and what groups support or oppose your proposal. If you know the answers, include them in your statement.
7. Be prepared to answer questions. The best way to make your case is to provide straightforward answers to legislators' questions. If you don't know the answer, say so. If possible, find the answer and pass it on to committee members.
8. Bring written summaries. You may want to have copies of a concise summary of your key points to hand out to legislators, staff and the news media. Some legislators say a clearly written letter, or issue sheet, is the most effective way of gaining support.
9. Offer to help. Citizens play a key role in shaping state policy. Ask if there is anything you can do to help get the proposal in question approved or defeated.
10. Display mutual respect. Your views are important and you have a right to be treated courteously by all members and staff. Likewise, legislators are more apt to respond to polite treatment than to browbeating. There are many sides to every issue and each one has merit. Understand the difficult position legislators have in reaching their decisions.

Accommodations for people with a disability, such as sign language interpreters or large print materials, can be arranged with advance notice. See Disability Access for details.

House Public Information Services has created a series of short videos about testifying before a committee. Senate Media Services has created a video on "Tips on Testifying Before a Legislative Committee" as well.

From 2020-2024, House and Senate rules allowed for virtual and/or hybrid committee hearings (see Temporary Senate Rule 12.1(b) and House Rule 10.05 ). Future legislatures may or may not continue the practice of virtual and/or hybrid hearings.

Capacity to offer hybrid or virtual meetings is limited by the technology available in hearing rooms. Not every hearing room is able to host a hybrid meeting. Additionally, it is the chair of the committee’s decision to offer a hybrid option or not.

Please contact the committee or commission administrator if you would like to testify. The committee administrator will be able to tell you if there is a hybrid option and will put you on the list of testifiers.

If you are signed up to provide virtual testimony in a committee or a commission and need a device to join the meeting, there is a workstation in the Legislative Reference Library on the 6^th floor of the State Office Building. The workstation is a laptop with a camera, headset, and zoom installed. Use of the workstation is first come, first served.

For more tips about testifying, see the FAQ: May I testify at a committee hearing?

There is a pilot program offered for the 2024 legislative session to provide live interpretation services in Hmong, Spanish, and Somali for hearings, committee meetings, response to phone calls, and constituent meetings. This pilot will include translation services in Hmong, Spanish, and Somali of documents, emails, and letters beginning March 1, 2024 for the 2024 legislative session.

Members of the public will need to request services through a legislator, the legislator’s assistant, or committee staff because staff must initiate the services. You can locate contact information for legislative assistants by clicking on the legislator’s name from the House Member list or the Senator’s list. You can locate committee administrators on the House committee list or the Senate committee list. The legislator, the legislator’s staff, or committee staff can request interpretation or translation services for those members of the public who need it.

Contact language.services@lcc.mn.gov if you have any questions or for clarification.

If you are looking for sign language interpretation, please see the FAQ: Are there services for people who are deaf or hard of hearing?

The Legislative Publications web page links to free publications providing session information, mailing lists, fiscal information, reports, and Revisor's manuals and guides.

The green and red member directories are joint publications of the Minnesota House and Senate. The green book, or Members Directory, is published near the beginning of the first year (odd year) of a biennial legislative session - usually in February. It contains pictures, biographical information, committee assignments, and contact information for all 134 representatives and 67 senators. It also lists key House and Senate staff and certain joint offices. The red book, the Official Directory of the Minnesota Legislature, is published during the second year (even year) of the biennium. It contains additional information, such as the permanent rules of both the House and the Senate, joint rules, and statutory and constitutional provisions relating to the Legislature.

Green and red books are available at the House Public Information Services in Room 175, State Office Building, 651-296-2146, and Senate Information Office, Room 231, State Capitol, 651-296-0504. Limited copies are mailed.

The blue book or Minnesota Legislative Manual, is published by the Secretary of State's Office. It includes detailed information about the three branches of government, constitutional officers, and election statistics for certain offices over the state's history, as well as detailed information from the most recent election. The blue book also contains the state constitution and a history of proposed constitutional amendments.

Copies of the blue book are available to the public, free of charge, in Room 180, State Office Building, or call 651-215-1440 to order one. Most manuals, back to 1860, are also available electronically.

Session Daily, an online news source, is updated daily during session with the day's House actions, and when news from the House warrants.

To subscribe to Session Daily, call House Public Information Services at 651-296-2146 or 1-800-657-3550, or complete the email subscription form, which is where you can sign up for a variety of notifications from the House.

See additional subscriptions on the Legislative Electronic Notification Services page.

The Minnesota House of Representatives and the Minnesota Senate produce and distribute unedited television coverage of all House and Senate floor sessions, select committee hearings, press conferences, and other issue-oriented programming. Programming is broadcast weekdays during the legislative session from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m., with extended evening and weekend coverage available for debates on high-profile issues. All broadcast programming is closed-captioned. See the House and Senate Broadcast Television Schedule page for a list of upcoming broadcast events and a channel guide.

All House and Senate television programming is webcast live over the internet. The live webcast service allows viewers to watch additional coverage not provided on the television channels or to watch extended evening coverage. In addition, all television programming is archived and made available on the Legislative Media Archive page as well as the House and Senate websites. Webcast programming is captioned. See the House audio and video pages for House live and House archived coverage and see the Senate Media Services pages for Senate live and archived video and Senate live and archived audio.

Yes, all committee hearings are open to the public, including conference committee hearings. Use the Combined Legislative Meeting Calendar to find hearing times and locations.

Many hearings are live-streamed online (some audio and some video) or broadcast live on television. Recordings are also available online. Access live and recorded meetings on the Legislature's Multimedia page. For access to older recordings, consult the Legislative Reference Library's Legislative Media Archive.

Yes. Public galleries are accessible from the third floor of the Capitol.

No passes are required except for opening day and when the Legislature meets in joint session. The Sergeant-at-Arms may be contacted for seats for groups in the galleries.

No visitors are allowed on the floor of the Senate. Some visitors are allowed on the House floor, but they must obtain permission.

No smoking is permitted on the floor of the Senate, the House, or in the galleries.

Public photos are prohibited. Staff photographers in both the House and Senate are allowed to photograph proceedings.

Applause, demonstrations, and food and beverages are also prohibited in the galleries.

Yes. The Request Capitol Access page provides information from The Minnesota Commission of the Deaf, DeafBlind & Hard of Hearing.

Minnesota Relay Service

Individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or speech disabled may contact the Senate and House via their preferred Telecommunications Relay Service.

Minnesota Relay Service is a free service that uses a specially trained communications assistant (CA) to facilitate the telephone conversations between a person who has a hearing loss or speech disability and the person with whom they wish to speak. All calls are confidential. To make a Minnesota Relay call dial 7-1-1.

Sign Language Interpreters

Those who are interested in requesting CART or ASL can use the Legislature's combined meeting calendar to find upcoming meetings.

In order to provide accessibility for meetings with legislators, legislative committee hearings, and House and Senate floor sessions, the Legislature contracts with Keystone Interpreting Solutions to provide legislative sign language interpreting services. Interpreting services are also available for hearings or meetings with legislators in Greater Minnesota.

To request legislative interpreting services, call 651-454-7275 (voice) through their website's Request an Interpreter page or request by email.

Please make your request a minimum of 36 hours before the service is needed. You may also request legislative interpreting services from the committee administrator or committee legislative assistant that is planning the committee meeting you want to attend.

You may also request legislative interpreting services by contacting the Legislative Coordinating Commission at accessibility.coordinator@lcc.mn.gov,  or call , 651-296-6036.

If you are interested in touring the Capitol building, ASL interpreters available upon request for guided tours. Interpreter reservation must be made 14 days in advance. Call 651-259-3003.

Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART)

Those who are interested in requesting CART or ASL can use the Legislature's combined meeting calendar to find upcoming meetings.

For CART services, contact the Legislative Coordinating Commission at accessibility.coordinator@lcc.mn.gov,  or call , 651-296-6036. Please make your request a minimum of 36 hours before the service is needed.

Sound Reinforcement Systems

The Minnesota Senate has sound reinforcement systems for use in hearings rooms in the Minnesota Senate Building. The systems, for the exclusive use of people who are deaf or hard of hearing, are available for the duration of a particular meeting and must be returned immediately following the meeting. Senate receivers may be signed out during normal business hours from the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms, room G-430, Minnesota Senate Building. For meetings lasting beyond normal business hours, receivers are to be returned to the committee staff. Call the Sergeant-at-Arms at 651-296-1119 for further information.

The Minnesota House has sound reinforcement systems in the 10 hearing rooms in the State Office Building. The systems, for the exclusive use of people who are deaf or hard of hearing, are available for the duration of a particular meeting and must be returned immediately following the meeting. House receivers for State Office Building hearing rooms may be signed out during normal business hours from the House Sergeants' Office, Room G-85, State Office Building. For meetings lasting beyond normal business hours, receivers are to be returned to the committee staff. Call the House Sergeant's Office at 651-296-4860 for further information.

Capitol Hearing Rooms, including the House Hearing Room 120, and the House Gallery have a telecoil loop sound reinforcement system. House receivers for State Capitol hearing rooms may be signed out from 8:30am to 5:00pm at the Minnesota Historical Society Information Desk, Room 126, State Capitol Building.

Yes. Here is a list of available services.

Signs

• Raised numbers identify legislative offices and rooms in the Minnesota Senate Building and State Office Building. In addition, Braille signs are installed throughout both buildings to assist those who are visually impaired. The elevators in both buildings are equipped with control signs in Braille.

Large print

• Some of the printed material handed out in committees may be enlarged on the copying machines used by the Legislature. For assistance, contact: Legislative Coordinating Commission, 651-296-6036, Centennial Office Building.

Readers

• Readers for printed materials can be arranged upon request. Advance notice is necessary to insure timely assistance. For assistance, contact: Legislative Coordinating Commission, 651-296-6036, Centennial Office Building.

Recorded Meetings

• Committee, commission meeting, and floor session are recorded. Audio recordings from 1991 to the present are available on the Minnesota Legislature's website.
  • Legislative Media Archive from the Legislative Reference Library
  • House Audio and Video Archives
  • Senate Media Services-Senate Audio Service
• To purchase a copy of a House video please contact House Public Information, 175 State Office Building; (651) 297-1338 - $12.50 per item produced. The Senate does not provide copies of audio/video.
• If an individual wishes to listen to the recording of a committee meeting or floor session, public computers are located in the Legislative Reference Library, 651-296-8338, Room 645, State Office Building.

Screen Reader Software

• Screen reader software is installed on some public access computers in the Legislative Reference Library, Room 645, State Office Building (JAWS and NVDA) and the Legislative Reference Library, Room 3238, Minnesota Senate Building (NVDA).

Approval and coordination of special events and public rallies within Capitol Complex buildings and grounds is managed by the Department of Administration.

• For information on event permits, equipment rental, and event resources visit the Public Events Web page.
• To find an event, check the Capitol Complex Events Schedule Web page.

See also the FAQ: How do I schedule a press conference or reserve a room at the Capitol?

Please use the Capitol Complex Reservations page to book a room. In the Capitol building, there are meeting rooms for the public on the third floor. You can drop in to the Public Business Center in room 318. There are other rooms that you can reserve on that floor including: Cass Gilbert Library Room (317A), or conference rooms (309A, 316, 317, 317B). The G20A conference room is on the ground floor and is reservable. The press conference room in the Capitol is Room B971. For questions about access to Capitol spaces contact the Department of Administration at 651-201-2300.

If you would like to reserve a Senate hearing room, please fill out the Request for Use of Senate Facilities form. Contact the Senate Sergeant at Arms at 651-296-0866 with any questions.

To reserve a House hearing room, please contact the House room scheduler at 651-296-0306.

If you’re looking for available space to work without a reservation, you can use the Public Business Center in room 318 in the Capitol. In the State Office Building, you can use the Legislative Reference Library on the 6th floor. In the Minnesota Senate Building, there are many chairs throughout the hallways or you can drop by the Legislative Reference Library on the 3rd floor.

See also the FAQ: Who do I contact to schedule an event at the Capitol?

If you'd like to reserve a room, please use the Capitol Complex Reservations page. In the Capitol building, there are meeting rooms for the public on the third floor. You can drop in to the Public Business Center in room 318. There are other rooms that you can reserve on that floor including: Cass Gilbert Library Room (317A), or conference rooms (309A, 316, 317, 317B). The G20A conference room is on the ground floor and is reservable. The press conference room in the Capitol is Room B971. For questions about access to Capitol spaces contact the Department of Administration at 651-201-2300.

If you would like to reserve a Senate hearing room, please fill out the Request for Use of Senate Facilities form. Contact the Senate Sergeant at Arms at 651-296-0866 with any questions.

To reserve a House hearing room, please contact the House room scheduler at 651-296-0306.

If you’re looking for available space to work without a reservation, you can use the Public Business Center in room 318 in the Capitol. In the State Office Building, you can use the Legislative Reference Library on the 6th floor. In the Minnesota Senate Building, there are many chairs throughout the hallways or you can drop by the Legislative Reference Library on the 3rd floor.

See also the FAQ: Who do I contact to schedule an event at the Capitol?

During the 2024 legislative session, the State Office Building will remain open to the public and some committee hearings will be held in the building. However, the tunnel between the State Office Building and the Capitol is closed. The North door of the State Office Building will remain closed as well.

While House members and their staff will remain in the State Office Building until after session adjourns, some building tenants have already moved to new locations. Please check with individual offices for the most recent update on their location and availability.

The Civic Engagement Resources page includes general information about state government, the Minnesota Legislature, how a bill becomes a law, and how high schoolers and college students can get involved.

Additionally, there is a Minnesota State Symbols Coloring Book and a Minnesota House of Representatives Puzzle Book for younger students.