Frequently Asked Questions About the Minnesota Legislature

A bill is a proposal for a new law, a change in current law, repeal of a current law, or for a constitutional amendment. It consists of a title, enacting clause, and body (text), which is examined and approved in its form by the Office of the Revisor of Statutes.

In the Senate, bills are called Senate Files (SF). Bills are referred to as House Files (HF) in the House of Representatives.

Resolutions are formal actions of the Legislature which express intent on the part of one or both bodies, but are not codified into Minnesota statutes upon passage. Each body can pass a separate resolution to express individual intent. They can also pass resolutions jointly or concurrently.

The Revisor of Statutes Bill Drafting Manual's chapter 6 discusses the different types of resolutions and more.

You can use the basic search tool for House bills or Senate bills to look for bills by session, keyword, author, topic, and more from 1995 to the present. Other specialized search tools are noted on the main Bills search page. If you do not have internet access, there are public computers in the Legislative Reference Library on the third floor of the Minnesota Senate Building or the sixth floor of the State Office Building.

To identify bills older than 1995 by topic, use the topical index of the House Journals and Senate Journals in print, which are available in many libraries, including the Legislative Reference Library. See the Legislative History Guide for more information about researching bills older than 1995.

How to Follow a Bill is a helpful guide to tracking bills currently before the Legislature. The House and Senate Index Offices also track the status of current bills. They can help you find a particular piece of legislation. Call House Index at 651-296-6646 or Senate Index at 651-296-2887. To receive a copy of the bill once you locate it, call the Chief Clerk's Office in the House at 651-296-2314 or Senate Information at 651-296-0504. For further information on this topic, see the Bills topic of this FAQ.

Anyone can—legislators, staff members, state or local agency employees, private groups, or individuals. However, only a legislator can introduce a bill or a resolution, and only after the Revisor of Statutes has approved its form. In addition, many Senators and Representatives approach staff members to help them draft a bill. House Research, Senate Counsel and Research, the Office of the Revisor of Statutes, and caucus staff members are often called upon to help.

Any member of the legislature can introduce a bill. There is no limit to the number of bills and resolutions a member can introduce. To get a sense for how many bills are introduced and passed, please see the Legislative Reference Library's page: Number of Bills Introduced and Laws Passed in the Minnesota Legislature, 1849-present.

However, there are limits to the number of co-authors. In the House, there can be 35 total authors on each bill. In the Senate, the limit is five. Once a bill is introduced in either body, the chief author may find someone to carry the companion bill in the other body. A companion bill is usually identical when introduced, though each body's bill may change independently after introduction. In the House, the Speaker of the House assigns each bill and numbered resolution to one of the standing committees. The Chief Clerk of the House then assigns each bill a House File number, which will identify the bill in its travels. The Senate has traditionally used a somewhat different path to introduction. Bills and resolutions are given a number by the Secretary of the Senate's Office and assigned to a committee by the Senate President.

Once introduced, a bill travels through the committee process. It goes through the relevant policy committees and, if it has financial implications, a finance committee. After committee discussion, members can recommend action. Typically, the bill is tabled, laid over for inclusion in an omnibus bill, or sent to the floor. A bill must receive three readings on the floor before members debate it and take a final vote. Many bills never make it that far.

Once a bill is passed by the House or Senate, the bill must travel to the other body. If the two bodies do not agree, the bill will travel to a conference committee. See the FAQ: What happens when a bill has passed one body but not the other? for more information about conference committees. Once the bill is approved by both bodies, it goes to the governor for his approval. If the governor signs the bill, it becomes law.

See the steps a bill takes to become law on the page: How a bill becomes law in Minnesota, which combines information from the various offices of the Minnesota Legislature on the process of lawmaking in Minnesota.

Under the Minnesota Constitution, Article 4, Sec. 17, only single subject laws may be passed by the Legislature. Theoretically, this requires that only amendments directly related, or "germane" to the measure, be attached to a bill. (The term "garbage bill" is sometimes used when a bill contains what some people feel are unrelated subjects.)

When a bill is being amended in committee, the committee chair rules whether an amendment is germane; on the House floor, the Speaker of the House makes those decisions. In the Senate, the committee chair makes the same rulings, and such decisions are left up to the President of the Senate on the floor. At times the courts have been asked to rule on this matter.

An omnibus bill is a large bill that is generally made up of numerous smaller bills on the same broad topic. For example, an omnibus tax bill may cover various changes in several areas of tax law including income, corporate, and sales taxes. Often the smaller bills are heard in committee and then laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill rather than passing each bill separately.

The Minnesota Constitution requires revenue raising bills to originate in the House of Representatives. Revenue raising bills may also be introduced in the Senate, but a final bill enacting revenue raising must be a House File (HF).

The best way to explain this is with an example. Say a Senate version of a bill passes the Senate before the House companion bill passes the House. In such a case, the Senate file is transmitted to the House, and if the House companion is still in a House committee, the Senate bill is referred to that same committee. Any further action on that bill is done to the Senate bill, though the committee may insert the House language if there are differences.

If the House companion has already gone through the committee process and awaits action on the floor, then the two bills are "referred for comparison," where they are compared to one another and the differences are reported. If the bills are identical, the Senate bill is substituted for the House version and all future actions are to the Senate bill. If they are not identical, the rules must be suspended to substitute the Senate bill with its differences for the House bill.

In the House, the language of the bill that already has passed the Senate automatically takes the place of the language that was recommended by the House committee. If the chief author wants to go back to the House language, he or she makes a motion to amend and substitute the House language for the language passed by the Senate.

In the Senate, the procedure is different. When a House bill is substituted for a Senate bill on the Senate floor, the Senate automatically places the Senate language back into the bill. The Senate author must then propose an amendment if he or she wishes to use the House language.

Ultimately, both bodies must agree to any changes made to the bills. If they don't agree, the bills go to a conference committee. That committee reaches a compromise that must be accepted by both bodies. However, once a conference committee makes its recommendation, the bill cannot be amended by either the House or the Senate. The only alternative is to accept the conference committee report or send it back to the conference committee for further work.

After both bodies have passed the bill in identical form, it goes to the governor for approval or veto.

For more details about this and other processes, please see Making Laws.

Not necessarily. Either body can still take up a bill again as long as the session has not adjourned. In fact, bills are technically alive over the course of a biennium so a bill that was introduced in the first year (odd year) of a biennium and didn't pass, it could still be discussed until final adjournment in the second year (even year). When a bill fails to get the required number of votes, the author can try to persuade other members to change their opinions on the measure. The only way such a bill can be taken up for a vote again is if a member who voted against the bill is willing to make a motion for reconsideration and the body agrees to reconsider.

In addition, many bills that either don't receive a floor vote or are voted down on the floor end up as amendments to other bills of similar topic.

A veto is the constitutional power of the governor to reject a bill. When vetoed, a bill is returned to the house of origin with a veto message.

A more detailed description of vetoes is in: The Veto Process and Powers of the Governor. Historical data on vetoes and override attempts is available on the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library's webpage: Vetoes.

According to the Minnesota Constitution Article IV, Section 23, a line-item veto (also known as an item veto) is the power of the governor to reject one or more items of appropriation in a bill, while approving the rest of the bill. The Governor can only line-item veto appropriations; the governor cannot line-item veto policy provisions in a bill. A more detailed description of line-item vetoes is in: History of the Item Veto in Minnesota.

If a bill is passed during the last three days of the session, the governor can "pocket veto" the bill by not signing it within 14 days after final adjournment (sine die). Historical data on vetoes and override attempts is available on the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library's webpage: Vetoes.

See the FAQ: Is there a timeline for the governor to sign bills?

No.

See the Legislative Reference Library's Vetoes database for a list of vetoes.

The state constitution requires that each bill be reported on three separate days in each body before votes for final passage can occur. These reports of the bill are called readings. Therefore, every bill will have a first, second, and third reading before a vote is taken.

A bill is given its first reading at the time it is introduced. A bill typically receives its second reading after it has been heard in committee and has been recommended to pass. It is then ready to be placed on one of the calendars or agendas in each house.

Once all proposed amendments have been discussed and voted on, a bill receives its third reading and can no longer be amended. Then members discuss the bill and it proceeds to final vote.

Under extraordinary conditions, a bill may receive all three readings in one day in either the House or the Senate if a motion to bypass the rules of the body receives a two-thirds majority vote.

See the Legislature's Civic Engagement Resources page for more about how a bill becomes a law.

In both houses, the process a bill follows may be accelerated in the interest of time. In the Senate, this happens through Rule 26 and Special Orders. Rule 26 provides for immediate consideration and third reading of bills that have been given their second reading, rather than having to go through the Committee of the Whole and waiting an entire day before it can be taken up. Under Rule 26, the chair of the Committee on Rules and Administration or the chair's designee can designate a bill that has been given a second reading as a Special Order. At that point, the bill can be amended and discussed before being given its third reading and placed on final passage.

Most of the time, the governor has three calendar days (excepting Sundays) from presentment to sign a bill or to veto it. If the governor takes no action within three days of presentment, the bill will become law.

However, the timeline is different for bills passed in the last three days of a biennial session, in the even-numbered year. The governor has 14 days (including Sundays) after the adjournment of the legislature to sign or veto a bill. If the governor takes no action within these 14 days, the bill will not become law. This is known as a pocket veto.

Presentment is the action that the legislature takes to present the enrolled act to the governor for review. There is not usually a delay in this process, but the constitution does establish limits. If the act was passed before the last three days of a biennial session, the legislature must present the bill to the governor before the legislature adjourns sine die. If the act was passed during the last three days of the biennial session, the legislature has three calendar days after adjournment sine die to present the bill to the governor.

For a more detailed description of vetoes, please see The Veto Process and Powers of the Governor. For more details about presentment and vetoes, please see Making Laws: Review by the Governor.

See the FAQ: What are line-item and pocket vetoes?

The General Register is a list of bills that have had a second reading and await action by the full House of Representatives. The House Rules Committee usually meets the day prior to session to determine which bills on the General Register will be placed on the Calendar for the Day. Bills placed on the Calendar are debated and may be given a third reading and placed on final passage that day.

General Orders is a list of bills that have had a second reading and await action by the full Senate. Acting as one large committee known as the Committee of the Whole, the Senate debates the bills and may recommend them for preliminary passage. Bills recommended to pass, or pass as amended, are added to the Senate Calendar for third reading and final passage by the full Senate on another day.

In the Senate, Special Orders is a category of bills that bypass the Committee of the Whole. A bill on Special Orders may be debated, amended, and placed on final passage immediately. Special Orders are designated by the Chair of the Committee on Rules and Administration (the Senate Majority Leader).

See the Legislature's Civic Engagement Resources page for more about how a bill becomes a law.

There is no yearly deadline for the introduction of bills. However, each year the Legislature establishes deadlines for committee action on bills by concurrent resolution. The deadlines do not apply to the House committees on Capital Investment, Ways and Means, Taxes, or Rules and Legislative Administration, nor to the Senate committees on Capital Investment, Finance, Taxes, or Rules and Administration.

Committee deadlines are announced during the first half of a session in order to winnow the list of topics to be dealt with that year.

The Minnesota Constitution sets a deadline for the end of each year's session: the first Monday after the third Saturday in May.

According to pages 11-12 of Making Laws: Committee Proceedings from the Minnesota House Research Department:

"A committee is not required to consider, still less to report, every bill referred to it. Many bills proceed no further than introduction and referral to a committee; they are never heard of again. Others emerge from one committee only to founder in another.

A committee hearing on a referred bill is not automatic. The author must ask for one. Some bills do not get a hearing because the author decides not to request one or push strongly for one.

An author is not entitled to a hearing on request. The committee chair decides and may refuse. Some chairs find this easier than others, but almost every chair, however amiable, denies some bills a hearing. A chair may refuse for simple lack of time; the limited session period does not permit a hearing on every introduced bill, and a chair may consider one bill more important than another. A chair may decide that a bill is not ripe for legislative decision for some reason — a pending federal action, a court case, a forthcoming government report on the subject. A chair simply may oppose a bill on its merits or conclude that a majority of the members of the committee are opposed, making a hearing pointless."

More details are available in Making Laws, House Research Department.

Yes, the Legislature can override vetoes, including vetoes of line items, provided the legislature has not adjourned, as noted in the Minnesota Constitution Article IV, Section 23. The action must receive a two-thirds majority in both houses (90 in the House and 45 in the Senate) in order to achieve this. There is no limit to this privilege, though successfully overriding a veto has been rare over the course of state history.

Historical data on vetoes and override attempts is available on the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library's Vetoes database.

Bills awaiting floor action are on lists of bills called calendars or orders. They could be called General Orders or Consent Calendar in the Senate or the General Register in the House.

At the end of the first year of a biennium, a bill remaining on General Orders, Consent Calendar, or General Register bills are returned automatically to a committee (usually the last committee to report them). Bills must receive a favorable committee hearing again in the second year of the biennium before being returned to the floor.

When the chamber adjourns sine die, at the end of the second year of a biennium, bills left on General Orders, Consent Calendar, or General Register are considered dead and lawmakers would need to re-introduce them following biennium.

For an illustration of how bills move through the floor process, please see Making Laws: The Bill on the Floor.

You can check the Session Laws and index for laws passed by topic and corresponding bill numbers. For older Session Law Indexes, see the Cumulative Index page.

In addition to bills that passed, you can find information about all bills introduced from 1995 to the present on the Legislature's Bills web page, which includes a topic search.

To identify bills older than 1995, use the House Journals and Senate Journals in print, which are available in many libraries, including the Legislative Reference Library. The House Journal or Senate Journal index for a particular session often has a topical index of Senate and House bills introduced in that session. See the Legislative History Guide for more information about researching bills older than 1995.

The Senate Information Office (651-296-0504), the House Index office (651-296-6646), and the Legislative Reference Library (651-296-8338) can help you find bills from previous sessions.

The full text of bills from 1995 to the present can be found on the Bills page. Bills from 1957-2002 are on microfilm at the Legislative Reference Library. For bills prior to 1957, contact the Minnesota Historical Society Library.

For more information, please see the Minnesota Legislative History - Location of Materials guide.