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Speaker of the House
Steve Sviggum

463 State Office Building, 100 Constitution Ave., St. Paul, MN 55155 (651) 296- 2273

For Immediate ReleaseFor more information contact:
February 14, 2000Bill Walsh (651-296-0640)
NEWS RELEASE
UNICAMERAL CLEARS FIRST HOUSE COMMITTEE ON UNANIMOUS VOTE
Focus now shifts to Senate for committee action.

(St. Paul, MN...) The unicameral proposal supported by Speaker of the House Steve Sviggum and Governor Jesse Ventura crossed its first major hurdle today by passing the House Government Operations Committee with unanimous support. The bill now goes to the State Government Finance Committee, where Chairman Phil Krinkie, a vocal opponent of unicameral, promised to give the bill a full hearing and keep it moving through the process.

"I am very pleased with the committee vote today and I am confident the unicameral proposal will continue to move through the House committee process," said Sviggum. "Now we need to see some movement in the Senate."

So far no committee hearings have been scheduled in the Senate on the unicameral issue. A joint House-Senate hearing was held Monday February 7th where Governor Ventura, Speaker Sviggum and President of the Senate Alan Spear testified in favor of the bill.

"This important issue deserves a full legislative hearing in both the House and the Senate where all members of the legislature can cast a vote. If the Senate chooses not to give the bill a hearing or move it through the process, they will have to answer to the voters in November," added Sviggum. "The minimal expectation ought to be open votes on the floor of the House and Senate."

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