(KNSI) – St. Cloud lawmaker is urging her colleagues on the other side of the political aisle to return to the Capitol.
On Friday, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that Republicans didn’t have a quorum when they began the Legislative Session on January 14th. House member Bernie Perryman told KNSI’s Dan “The Ox” Ochsner the court’s decision means it’s like the last two weeks never happened. “The Supreme Court decision really just pushed back a lot of great work we did the last two weeks for Minnesotans, and now that we’re back to square one, we need to have everybody back to work.”
The ruling means nothing can get done until the DFL returns to the Capitol. Perryman urged the DFL party to do what’s right for the people they’re supposed to represent. “Do it for Minnesota. Do it for us. Do it for what we heard at the doors that they want fixed. They want fraud fixed. They want money back in their pockets. They want public safety respected. Businesses want to get back to work too, with full strength, and we’re just not getting there, just with us.”
A power-sharing agreement that was in the works after Democrats and Republicans tied at 67 each was shattered when a DFL lawmaker was stripped of his win after it was determined he didn’t live in the district. To keep Republicans from using their majority, Democrats were secretly sworn in before the start of the session and then fled St. Paul. A special election for the seat hasn’t been scheduled but will likely take place in February or March. Democrats have threatened to stay away from St. Paul until that seat is filled in what’s considered a relatively safe Democrat district.
Perryman is worried that if they wait too long, it could make it very difficult to get a two-year budget passed. In odd years, lawmakers set the state’s spending limits.
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