Frequently Asked Questions About the Minnesota Legislature

Here are some ideas for using the Minnesota legislative website and other sites to find information on important issues facing the Minnesota Legislature.

Committee Information

House committees and Senate committees have web pages that give updates on issues.

Bills

Status information and the full text of bills introduced in the Minnesota Legislature are available within hours of introduction. You can search for bills by bill number, author, chief author, statutory citation, topic, committee, bill action, and by keyword in the bill's description.

Bill Summaries

Staff from the House Research Department, the nonpartisan research and legal services office for the House of Representatives, summarize significant and/or lengthy bills on their Bill Summaries page.

They provide summaries of bills that are enacted on their Act Summaries page.

Staff from Senate Counsel and Research, the nonpartisan research and legal services office for the Minnesota Senate, summarize selected bills on their Bill Summaries page.

They provide summaries of bills that are enacted on their Act Summaries page.

Public Information Offices

Additionally, you can contact the Senate Information Office, Room 231 State Capitol at 651-296-0504 or House Public Information Services at 3300 Centennial Office Building (3rd floor), 658 Cedar Street at 651-296-2146 to learn who represents you in both the Senate and the House.

Journals

See the House Journals and the Senate Journals for the daily record of a legislative session.

Statutes and Session Laws

Current and past statutes and session laws can be found on the Revisor of Statutes page Statutes, Laws, and Rules.

Minnesota Legislative History Guide

The Legislative History guide provides instructions on following a specific bill through the legislative process.

Research Reports

The House Research department and the Senate Counsel, Research, and Fiscal Analysis Office have a variety of reports and tools to aid in legislative research.

Fiscal reports include the Fiscal Review from Senate Counsel, Research, and Fiscal Analysis, Money Matters from the House Fiscal Analysis Department, and fiscal notes from the Legislative Budget Office.

The Office of the Legislative Auditor Program Evaluation Division evaluates state government programs and agencies and helps to ensure accountability for the expenditure of public funds. Studies are conducted at the request of the Legislature, but all reports are available to the public.

Additional reports are available in the LRL catalog.

Legislative Reference Library Resources

The Library collection includes public policy reports and a comprehensive collection of state documents. Search it via the LRL catalog. The full text of many reports is available online.

Library staff prepare guides to information on selected legislative issues. The Minnesota Issues Guides list important reports and articles, sometimes give timelines, and give contacts for further information.

The Library is also where you'll find news, magazines, books, and historical data about the legislature, including Minnesota Legislators Past & Present.

Executive Branch information

Minnesota.gov links to state agency websites, which may include statistics and reports on major issues, including education, crime, and the environment. It also links to the Governor's website. The Legislative Reference Library's Historical Information About Minnesota State Government contains information about vetoes, executive orders, agencies, and more.

See the sample citations below, which are followed by notes on formatting.

Constitution:

Minn. Const. art. IV, sec. 8

Minn. Const. art. IV, sec. 8, online. Accessed August 19, 2016.

Statutes:

Legislative citation

Minnesota Statutes 2015, section 3.302, subdivision 3

Minnesota Statutes 2015, section 3.302, subdivision 3, online. Accessed August 19, 2016.

Court citation

MINN. STAT. 3.302 (2015)

MINN. STAT. ANN. 3.302 (2015)

Session Laws:

Legislative citation

Laws of Minnesota 1988, chapter 469, article 1, section 1

Laws of Minnesota 1988, chapter 469, article 1, section 1, online. Accessed August 19, 2016.

Laws of Minnesota 1985, 1st Spec. Sess. chapter 13, article 1, section 61

Court citation

1988 Minn. Laws xxx (note: xxx is a page #)

Minnesota Rules:

Legislative citation

Minnesota Rules 2015, part 1400.2070, subpart 2, item C

Minnesota Rules, part 1400.2070, subpart 2, item C, online. Accessed August 19, 2016.

Court citation

MINN. R. 1400.2070 (2015)

Bills:

Minn. S.F. 123 art. 4, sec. 5. (2015), online. Accessed August 19, 2016.

House and Senate Journals:

Minn. Sen. J., 89th Leg., Reg. Sess. xxx (2016) (note: xxx is a page #)

Minn. H.J., 89th Leg., Reg. Sess. xxx (2016) (note: xxx is a page #)

Audio or Video of Legislative Floor and Committee Hearings:

Floor debates

Minn. Sen., Floor Debate, 89th Minn. Leg., Reg. Sess. (May 23, 2016), available at: http://mnsenate.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2 (audio)

Minn. Sen., Floor Debate, 89th Minn. Leg., Reg. Sess. (May 23, 2016), available at: http://mnsenate.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=1 (video web media)

Minn. H., Floor Debate, 89th Minn. Leg., Reg. Sess. (May 22, 2016, part 2), available at: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/htv/archivesHFS.asp?ls_year=89 (video web media)

Committee hearings

Minn. Sen., Hearing on S.F. 2374 before the Sen. Comm. on Taxes, 89th Minn. Leg., Reg. Sess. (April 5, 2016), available at: http://mnsenate.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=1 (video web media)

Minn. H., Hearing on H.F. 3594 before the H. Comm. on Taxes, 89th Minn. Leg., Reg. Sess. (April 21, 2016), available at: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/cmte/archiveAV/cmtearchives.aspx?comm=89023&ls_year=89 (video web media)

Materials from committee minutes

The example is a Senate Counsel Bill Summary.
Minn. Sen. Judiciary Comm., 75th Minn. Leg., Summary of S.F. No. 2017, at 2 (Mar. 5, 1988) (report by Senate Counsel Allison Wolf)

Notes on formatting:

In some instances, two citation formats are listed:

1. Legislative: as cited by the Minnesota Revisor of Statutes or on the Minnesota Legislative website
2. Legal court citation: as cited in legal citation manuals. Legislative hearing cite formats are taken from a citation manual (tapes) and the Mitchell Hamline Law Review (web archive).

If you consult Minnesota's legal materials online, cite them in a way that makes that clear. A citation to online material will usually include three elements:

1. The ordinary, official citation
2. The word "online." (You don't need to include the full URL.)
3. The access date, which is the latest date when the text appeared online in the form you cite.
   
   For example, a complete citation of Minnesota Statutes, section 3.302 consulted online looks like this:
   Minnesota Statutes 2015, section 3.302, online. Accessed September 6, 2016.

Historical information about the Minnesota Legislature is available from the Legislative Reference Library and the Minnesota Historical Society. See the Historical Information About the Minnesota Legislature page for facts on House and Senate leadership over time, party control, sessions, vetoes, women in the Legislature, and more. For information on former members of the Legislature, see Minnesota Legislators Past & Present, call the Legislative Library at 651-296-8338 or email the Library.

Historical information about the Minnesota Legislature is available from the Legislative Reference Library and from the Minnesota Historical Society. For information about former members of the Legislature, see the Minnesota Legislators Past & Present database, call the Legislative Reference Library at 651-296-8338 or email the Library. A page with Historical Information About the Minnesota Legislature has facts on House and Senate leadership, party control, sessions, vetoes, women in the Legislature, and more.