House floor havoc: legislators spar over house procedure

(ABC 6 News) – The Minnesota legislature is in its last few days of the session and with that comes a lot of late nights and chaos. And Wednesday night into Thursday morning was no different on the house floor.

Many members of the GOP are furious, saying the speaker didn’t follow proper procedure before call role. However, the DFL says they did everything right.

This time of year, hours upon hours spent on the floor is the norm for legislators.

“It is a normal situation to not get a lot of rest the last week,” said Rep. Duane Quam (R-Byron).

While many Minnesotans were asleep Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, house members were on the floor debate amendments to the paid family and medical leave bill. But the night ended with more debate about procedure than the bill itself.

After the DFL abruptly called a vote on the issue, GOP representatives expressed their anger over the house speaker not allowing minority members to express their views before that vote.

“A person presented their amendment and then the speaker when straight to a vote. Didn’t allow the people so request a roll call, didn’t allow any of the other people that were standing there waiting to be recognized waiting to speak,” said Rep. Quam.

But the DFL leaders say they had every right to call for a vote.

“When they closed the vote on paid family and medical leave, on Wednesday evening, in the house, I watched that tape, there had been hours of debate. On that provision there had been hours of debate. Majority and minority. It had gotten airing, so I think what they did was appropriate. Let’s get done and let’s go home and come back for another day,” said Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy (DFL-St. Paul) at a press conference Friday morning.

Now, Republicans fear more turmoil in the last few days of session. Representative Quam says there is no trust anymore.

“The best way to make stuff work is to have different viewpoints discussed so you don’t miss unintended consequences and frankly that’s done,” said Rep. Quam.

House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth says the controversy could lead to GOP lawmakers withholding support for key bills like sports betting and a bonding bill with dozens of building projects.

ABC 6 reached out to our local DFL representatives in our area for comment on the situation, but they were not available.