ST. PAUL (KFGO-WCCO) – Minnesota House Republicans have passed a resolution asking the Minnesota State Patrol to round up absent Democrats.
“In many other states, law enforcement has gone out and brought legislators back to work when they have been skipping and it appears that that the Democrat legislators have been assured by Governor Walz that that won’t happen here,” says Rep. Harry Niska (R- Ramsey). “And we’re concerned that there’s some kind of partisan interference going on with law enforcement.”
DFL lawmakers have been absent since the legislative session began last week, and say that will continue until Republicans agree to share power.
“And so we wanted to just encourage Governor Walz, if he’s been interfering with the State Patrol enforcing the law, that he changed course and that the State Patrol help us to make sure that the Democrat colleagues are actually here and working so we can get our work done,” says Niska.
The resolution from the Republicans states, “Be it resolved that the Minnesota House of Representative hereby calls upon Governor Tim Walz to direct the Minnesota State Patrol to locate the absent members of the DFL Caucus and ensure their presence in the House of Representatives no later than 3:30 PM on Thursday, January 23, 2025.”
House Speaker-designate Melissa Hortman (DFL- Brooklyn Park) says there is no legal standing by the GOP in this case.
“I am confident that there’s no legal authority supporting such a resolution and I am not concerned,” she says.
Hortman adds it is another example of division inside the House.
“What I think that this shows it is that Republicans are interested in fighting with Democrats,” Hortman says. “They’re not interested in co-governing. They’re not interested in resolving disputes so we can work together. They just want to intensify and increase conflict.”
The Minnesota Supreme Court will hold a hearing Thursday on whether or not there has been a legal quorum at the Capitol under which Republicans alone have been conducting business while Democrats continue to boycott.
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