House DFL, Republicans strike power-sharing deal

— UPDATED 12:31 p.m.

A quorum is expected to be present in the House Thursday afternoon.

That’s because it was announced Wednesday evening DFL and Republican caucus leadership reached an agreement to organize the body.

The agreement includes:

• Rep. Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring) will be speaker of the House for the biennium, the first female Republican and first Black person to hold the position;
• Republicans will chair committees unless the House is tied, at which point there would be co-chairs and co-vice-chairs;
• Republicans will immediately have a one-seat advantage in committee membership, but committees will have equal party representation when the House has equal party membership. The lone exception is that the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee will have a 5-3 Republican advantage;
• the House must only appoint an even number of members to conference committees divided equally between the caucuses;
• shared decision-making on any administrative or nonpartisan functions, including member appointments to boards and commissions;
• Rep. Brad Tabke (DFL-Shakopee), whose 14-vote win in District 54A was upheld by a judge, will be seated.

“The work is just beginning. We have a lot of work ahead of us. I’m glad we’re getting to it and not delaying any longer,” said Rep. Paul Torkelson (R-Hanska), who’ll chair the House Ways and Means Committee. Session must conclude by May 19.

DFL Speaker-designate Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) noted that she previously called the tied House a “golden opportunity” to show that bipartisanship can work.

“And even though we had these rough few weeks, we can turn the page now and we have an opportunity to really show Minnesotans that we can govern together in a collaborative way,” Hortman said.

A March 11 special election has been called for the open District 40B seat that will either produce a 67-all tie in House membership or increase a Republican advantage to 68-66.

Curtis Johnson won the seat by more than 30% at the Nov. 5 election; however, a district judge ruled in December the DFL candidate did not meet the residency requirement to serve the district.

The House has been unable to organize since the Jan. 14 start of session because all 66 DFL members stayed away. A recent Minnesota Supreme Court ruling stated that 68 of 134 House members are needed for a quorum.

• Assistant Editor Lisa Kaczke contributed to this story.