HF 287

as introduced - 81st Legislature (1999 - 2000) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             proposing an amendment to the Minnesota Constitution; 
  1.3             providing for a unicameral legislature; changing 
  1.4             article IV; article VIII, sections 1 and 6; article 
  1.5             IX, sections 1 and 2; and article XI, section 5; 
  1.6             providing by statute for a legislature of 99 members; 
  1.7             amending Minnesota Statutes 1998, sections 2.021; and 
  1.8             2.031, subdivision 1. 
  1.9   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.10     Section 1.  [CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS PROPOSED.] 
  1.11     Subdivision 1.  [PROPOSAL TO PEOPLE.] An amendment to the 
  1.12  Minnesota Constitution, changing article IV, article VIII, 
  1.13  sections 1 and 6, article IX, sections 1 and 2, and article XI, 
  1.14  section 5, is proposed to the people.  
  1.15     If the amendment is adopted, article IV will read: 
  1.16     Section 1.  The legislature consists of the senate and 
  1.17  house of representatives. 
  1.18     Sec. 2.  The number of members who compose the senate and 
  1.19  house of representatives shall be prescribed by law.  The 
  1.20  representation in both houses shall be apportioned equally 
  1.21  throughout the different sections of the state in proportion to 
  1.22  the population thereof. 
  1.23     Sec. 3.  At its first session after each enumeration of the 
  1.24  inhabitants of this state made by the authority of the United 
  1.25  States, the legislature senate shall have the power to prescribe 
  1.26  the bounds of congressional and legislative districts.  Senators 
  1.27  shall be chosen by single districts of convenient contiguous 
  2.1   territory.  No representative district shall be divided in the 
  2.2   formation of a senate district.  The senate districts shall be 
  2.3   numbered in a regular series. 
  2.4      Sec. 4.  Representatives shall be chosen for a term of two 
  2.5   years, except to fill a vacancy.  Senators shall be chosen for a 
  2.6   term of four years, except to fill a vacancy and except there 
  2.7   shall be an entire new election of all the senators at the first 
  2.8   election of representatives after each new legislative 
  2.9   apportionment redistricting provided for in this article and the 
  2.10  senators chosen at that election from districts with odd numbers 
  2.11  shall serve for an initial term of two years.  The governor 
  2.12  shall call elections to fill vacancies in either house of the 
  2.13  legislature senate. 
  2.14     Sec. 5.  No senator or representative shall hold any other 
  2.15  office under the authority of the United States or the state of 
  2.16  Minnesota, except that of postmaster or of notary public.  If 
  2.17  elected or appointed to another office, a legislator senator may 
  2.18  resign from the legislature senate by tendering his resignation 
  2.19  to the governor. 
  2.20     Sec. 6.  Senators and representatives shall be qualified 
  2.21  voters of the state, and shall have resided one year in the 
  2.22  state and six months immediately preceding the election in the 
  2.23  district from which elected.  Each house The senate shall be the 
  2.24  judge of the election returns and eligibility of its own 
  2.25  members.  The legislature senate shall prescribe by law the 
  2.26  manner for taking evidence in cases of contested seats in either 
  2.27  house. 
  2.28     Sec. 7.  Each house The senate may determine the rules of 
  2.29  its proceedings, sit upon its own adjournment, punish its 
  2.30  members for disorderly behavior, and with the concurrence of 
  2.31  two-thirds expel a member; but no member shall be expelled a 
  2.32  second time for the same offense. 
  2.33     Sec. 8.  Each member and officer of the legislature senate 
  2.34  before entering upon his duties shall take an oath or 
  2.35  affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States, 
  2.36  the constitution of this state, and to discharge faithfully the 
  3.1   duties of his office to the best of his judgment and ability. 
  3.2      Sec. 9.  The compensation of senators and representatives 
  3.3   shall be prescribed by law.  No increase of compensation shall 
  3.4   take effect during the period for which the members of the 
  3.5   existing house of representatives senate may have been elected. 
  3.6      Sec. 10.  The members of each house the senate in all cases 
  3.7   except treason, felony and breach of the peace, shall be 
  3.8   privileged from arrest during the session of their respective 
  3.9   houses and in going to or returning from the same.  For any 
  3.10  speech or debate in either house the senate they shall not be 
  3.11  questioned in any other place. 
  3.12     Sec. 11.  Two or more members of either house the senate 
  3.13  may dissent and protest against any act or resolution which they 
  3.14  think injurious to the public or to any individual and have the 
  3.15  reason of their dissent entered in the journal. 
  3.16     Sec. 12.  The legislature senate shall meet at the seat of 
  3.17  government in regular session in each biennium at the times 
  3.18  prescribed by law for not exceeding a total of 120 legislative 
  3.19  days.  The legislature senate shall not meet in regular session, 
  3.20  nor in any adjournment thereof, after the first Monday following 
  3.21  the third Saturday in May of any year.  After meeting at a time 
  3.22  prescribed by law, the legislature senate may adjourn to another 
  3.23  time.  "Legislative day" shall be defined by law.  A special 
  3.24  session of the legislature senate may be called by the governor 
  3.25  on extraordinary occasions. 
  3.26     Neither house during a session of the legislature shall 
  3.27  adjourn for more than three days (Sundays excepted) nor to any 
  3.28  other place than that in which the two houses shall be assembled 
  3.29  without the consent of the other house. 
  3.30     Sec. 13.  A majority of each house the senate constitutes a 
  3.31  quorum to transact business, but a smaller number may adjourn 
  3.32  from day to day and compel the attendance of absent members in 
  3.33  the manner and under the penalties it may provide. 
  3.34     Sec. 14.  Each house The senate shall be open to the public 
  3.35  during its sessions except in cases which in its opinion require 
  3.36  secrecy. 
  4.1      Sec. 15.  Each house The senate shall elect its presiding 
  4.2   officer and other officers as may be provided by law.  Both 
  4.3   houses It shall keep journals of their its proceedings, and from 
  4.4   time to time publish the same, and the yeas and nays, when taken 
  4.5   on any question, shall be entered in the journals journal. 
  4.6      Sec. 16.  In all elections by the legislature senate 
  4.7   members shall vote viva voce and their votes shall be entered in 
  4.8   the journal. 
  4.9      Sec. 17.  No law shall embrace more than one subject, which 
  4.10  shall be expressed in its title. 
  4.11     Sec. 18.  All bills for raising revenue shall originate in 
  4.12  the house of representatives, but the senate may propose and 
  4.13  concur with the amendments as on other bills. 
  4.14     Sec. 19.  Every bill shall be reported on three different 
  4.15  days in each house the senate, unless, in case of urgency, 
  4.16  two-thirds of the house where the bill is pending senate deem it 
  4.17  expedient to dispense with this rule. 
  4.18     Sec. 20.  Every bill passed by both houses the senate shall 
  4.19  be enrolled and signed by the presiding officer of each house.  
  4.20  Any presiding officer refusing to sign a bill passed by both 
  4.21  houses shall thereafter be disqualified from any office of honor 
  4.22  or profit in the state.  Each house The senate by rule shall 
  4.23  provide the manner in which a bill shall be certified for 
  4.24  presentation to the governor in case of such refusal. 
  4.25     Sec. 21.  No bill shall be passed by either house upon the 
  4.26  day prescribed for adjournment.  This section shall not preclude 
  4.27  the enrollment of a bill or its transmittal from one house to 
  4.28  the other or to the executive for his signature. 
  4.29     Sec. 22.  The style of all laws of this state shall be: "Be 
  4.30  it enacted by the legislature senate of the state of 
  4.31  Minnesota."  No law shall be passed unless voted for by a 
  4.32  majority of all the members elected to each house of the 
  4.33  legislature senate, and the vote entered in the journal of each 
  4.34  house. 
  4.35     Sec. 23.  Every bill passed in conformity to the rules of 
  4.36  each house and the joint rules of the two houses senate shall be 
  5.1   presented to the governor.  If he approves a bill, he shall sign 
  5.2   it, deposit it in the office of the secretary of state and 
  5.3   notify the house in which it originated senate of that fact.  If 
  5.4   he vetoes a bill, he shall return it with his objections to the 
  5.5   house in which it originated senate.  His objections shall be 
  5.6   entered in the journal.  If, after reconsideration, two-thirds 
  5.7   of that house the senate agree to pass the bill, it shall be 
  5.8   sent, together with the governor's objections, to the other 
  5.9   house, which shall likewise reconsider it.  If approved by 
  5.10  two-thirds of that house it becomes a law and shall be deposited 
  5.11  in the office of the secretary of state.  In such cases the 
  5.12  votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and 
  5.13  the names of the persons voting for or against the bill shall be 
  5.14  entered in the journal of each house.  Any bill not returned by 
  5.15  the governor within three days (Sundays excepted) after it is 
  5.16  presented to him becomes a law as if he had signed it, unless 
  5.17  the legislature senate by adjournment within that time prevents 
  5.18  its return.  Any bill passed during the last three days of a 
  5.19  session may be presented to the governor during the three days 
  5.20  following the day of final adjournment and becomes law if the 
  5.21  governor signs and deposits it in the office of the secretary of 
  5.22  state within 14 days after the adjournment of the legislature 
  5.23  senate.  Any bill passed during the last three days of the 
  5.24  session which is not signed and deposited within 14 days after 
  5.25  adjournment does not become a law. 
  5.26     If a bill presented to the governor contains several items 
  5.27  of appropriation of money, he may veto one or more of the items 
  5.28  while approving the bill.  At the time he signs the bill the 
  5.29  governor shall append to it a statement of the items he vetoes 
  5.30  and the vetoed items shall not take effect.  If the legislature 
  5.31  senate is in session, he shall transmit to the house in which 
  5.32  the bill originated senate a copy of the statement, and the 
  5.33  items vetoed shall be separately reconsidered.  If on 
  5.34  reconsideration any item is approved by two-thirds of the 
  5.35  members elected to each house, it is a part of the law 
  5.36  notwithstanding the objections of the governor. 
  6.1      Sec. 24.  Each order, resolution or vote requiring the 
  6.2   concurrence of the two houses except such as relate to the 
  6.3   business or adjournment of the legislature senate shall be 
  6.4   presented to the governor and is subject to his veto as 
  6.5   prescribed in case of a bill. 
  6.6      Sec. 25.  During a session each house the senate may punish 
  6.7   by imprisonment for not more than 24 hours any person not a 
  6.8   member who is guilty of any disorderly or contemptuous behavior 
  6.9   in its presence. 
  6.10     Sec. 26.  Passage of a general banking law requires the 
  6.11  vote of two-thirds of the members of each house of the 
  6.12  legislature senate. 
  6.13     article VIII, section 1, will read: 
  6.14     Section 1.  The house of representatives senate has the 
  6.15  sole power of impeachment through a concurrence of a majority of 
  6.16  all its members.  All impeachments shall be tried by the 
  6.17  senate.  When sitting for that purpose, senators shall be upon 
  6.18  oath or affirmation to do justice according to law and 
  6.19  evidence.  No person shall be convicted without the concurrence 
  6.20  of two-thirds of the senators present.  
  6.21     article VIII, section 6, will read: 
  6.22     Sec. 6.  A member of the senate or the house of 
  6.23  representatives, an executive officer of the state identified in 
  6.24  section 1 of article V of the constitution, or a judge of the 
  6.25  supreme court, the court of appeals, or a district court is 
  6.26  subject to recall from office by the voters.  The grounds for 
  6.27  recall of a judge shall be established by the supreme court.  
  6.28  The grounds for recall of an officer other than a judge are 
  6.29  serious malfeasance or nonfeasance during the term of office in 
  6.30  the performance of the duties of the office or conviction during 
  6.31  the term of office of a serious crime.  A petition for recall 
  6.32  must set forth the specific conduct that may warrant recall.  A 
  6.33  petition may not be issued until the supreme court has 
  6.34  determined that the facts alleged in the petition are true and 
  6.35  are sufficient grounds for issuing a recall petition.  A 
  6.36  petition must be signed by a number of eligible voters who 
  7.1   reside in the district where the officer serves and who number 
  7.2   not less than 25 percent of the number of votes cast for the 
  7.3   office at the most recent general election.  Upon a 
  7.4   determination by the secretary of state that a petition has been 
  7.5   signed by at least the minimum number of eligible voters, a 
  7.6   recall election must be conducted in the manner provided by 
  7.7   law.  A recall election may not occur less than six months 
  7.8   before the end of the officer's term.  An officer who is removed 
  7.9   from office by a recall election or who resigns from office 
  7.10  after a petition for recall issues may not be appointed to fill 
  7.11  the vacancy that is created. 
  7.12     article IX, section 1, will read: 
  7.13     Section 1.  A majority Sixty percent of the members elected 
  7.14  to each house of the legislature senate may propose amendments 
  7.15  to this constitution.  Proposed amendments shall be published 
  7.16  with the laws passed at the same session and submitted to the 
  7.17  people for their approval or rejection at a general election.  
  7.18  If a majority 60 percent of all the electors voting at the 
  7.19  election on the amendment vote to ratify an amendment, it 
  7.20  becomes a part of this constitution.  If two or more amendments 
  7.21  are submitted at the same time, voters shall vote for or against 
  7.22  each separately.  
  7.23     article IX, section 2, will read: 
  7.24     Sec. 2.  Two-thirds of the members elected to each house of 
  7.25  the legislature senate may submit to the electors at the next 
  7.26  general election the question of calling a convention to revise 
  7.27  this constitution.  If a majority 60 percent of all the electors 
  7.28  voting at the election vote for a convention, the legislature 
  7.29  senate at its next session, shall provide by law for calling the 
  7.30  convention.  The convention shall consist of as many delegates 
  7.31  as there are members of the house of representatives senate.  
  7.32  Delegates shall be chosen in the same manner as members of 
  7.33  the house of representatives senate and shall meet within three 
  7.34  months after their election.  Section 5 of article IV of the 
  7.35  constitution does not apply to election to the convention. 
  7.36     and article XI, section 5, will read: 
  8.1      Sec. 5.  Public debt may be contracted and works of 
  8.2   internal improvements carried on for the following purposes: 
  8.3      (a) to acquire and to better public land and buildings and 
  8.4   other public improvements of a capital nature and to provide 
  8.5   money to be appropriated or loaned to any agency or political 
  8.6   subdivision of the state for such purposes if the law 
  8.7   authorizing the debt is adopted by the vote of at least 
  8.8   three-fifths of the members of each house of the legislature 
  8.9   senate; 
  8.10     (b) to repel invasion or suppress insurrection; 
  8.11     (c) to borrow temporarily as authorized in section 6; 
  8.12     (d) to refund outstanding bonds of the state or any of its 
  8.13  agencies whether or not the full faith and credit of the state 
  8.14  has been pledged for the payment of the bonds; 
  8.15     (e) to establish and maintain highways subject to the 
  8.16  limitations of article XIV; 
  8.17     (f) to promote forestation and prevent and abate forest 
  8.18  fires, including the compulsory clearing and improving of wild 
  8.19  lands whether public or private; 
  8.20     (g) to construct, improve and operate airports and other 
  8.21  air navigation facilities; 
  8.22     (h) to develop the state's agricultural resources by 
  8.23  extending credit on real estate security in the manner and on 
  8.24  the terms and conditions prescribed by law; 
  8.25     (i) to improve and rehabilitate railroad rights-of-way and 
  8.26  other rail facilities whether public or private, provided that 
  8.27  bonds issued and unpaid shall not at any time exceed 
  8.28  $200,000,000 par value; and 
  8.29     (j) as otherwise authorized in this constitution. 
  8.30     As authorized by law political subdivisions may engage in 
  8.31  the works permitted by (f), (g), and (i) and contract debt 
  8.32  therefor. 
  8.33     Sec. 2.  [SCHEDULE AND QUESTION.] 
  8.34     The proposed amendment shall be submitted to the people at 
  8.35  the 2000 general election and, if approved, shall be effective 
  8.36  for members of the legislature whose terms begin the first 
  9.1   Monday in January 2003.  The question submitted shall be: 
  9.2      "Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to provide 
  9.3   that the Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate be 
  9.4   combined and a single legislative body be created, beginning in 
  9.5   2003? 
  9.6                                      Yes .......
  9.7                                      No ........"
  9.8      Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 2.021, is amended 
  9.9   to read: 
  9.10     2.021 [NUMBER OF MEMBERS.] 
  9.11     For each legislature, until a new apportionment shall have 
  9.12  been made, The senate is composed of 67 99 members and the house 
  9.13  of representatives is composed of 134 members. 
  9.14     Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 2.031, 
  9.15  subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
  9.16     Subdivision 1.  [LEGISLATIVE DISTRICTS.] The 
  9.17  representatives in the senate and house of representatives are 
  9.18  apportioned throughout the state in 67 99 senate districts and 
  9.19  134 house districts.  Each senate district is entitled to elect 
  9.20  one senator and each house district is entitled to elect one 
  9.21  representative.  
  9.22     Sec. 5.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  9.23     If the amendment proposed in section 1 is adopted, sections 
  9.24  3 and 4 are effective for members of the legislature whose terms 
  9.25  begin the first Monday in January 2003.