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I join in the high praise for the recent legislative session, and for the leadership shown by DFLers Gov. Tim Walz, House Speaker Melissa Hortman, and Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic.
Many have compared this session and the "Minnesota Miracle" legislative session decades ago in terms of being especially significant to the state. But to be fair to both political parties, and to properly compare this 2023 Legislature to past sessions, we first need to get our historical facts straight.
Specifically, the 2023 session with its DFL controlling trifecta (governor's office and both the House and Senate) is much different from the political balance of power that prevailed when the "Minnesota Miracle" was passed. The Minnesota Miracle legislation was passed in 1971, when the Conservatives (i.e., Republicans) controlled both the House and the Senate and a newly elected DFL governor, Wendell Anderson, led the charge for a major change in the structure of financing state government. The resulting legislation was called a miracle in that it raised state taxes significantly (state revenue jumped 23%), redistributed the increased funding to school districts and local governments, and substantially lowered property taxes.
Passage of this miracle was a tough bipartisan effort. In the Senate, 88% of the Liberal (i.e., DFL) caucus and 35% of the Conservative caucus voted for it. In the House, 72% of the Liberal caucus voted in favor along with 43% of the Conservative caucus. It took a governor's veto and the longest legislative session in history (10 months) to get this done. Final adjournment came on Oct. 30, 1971.
Conservative Senate Majority Leader Stanley Holmquist played a key role, along with House Liberal Minority Leader Rep. Martin Sabo. The legislation established a long-lasting structural change that has served Minnesota well and remains, at least in part, a key element of running our state. In today's climate it is noteworthy that 90% of the House members who voted for this legislation with its hefty tax increase won re-election.
Part of the confusion in comparing sessions is that over the years the words "Minnesota Miracle" have been used to include much of what happened after the 1972 election, in which the DFL did achieve a ruling trifecta when the House and Senate flipped to DFL control. Sabo became speaker of the House and DFLer Nick Coleman became the Senate majority leader. The House was then made up of 77 Liberals and 57 conservatives, and the Senate consisted of 37 Liberals and 30 Conservatives (these labels changed from Liberal to DFL and Conservative to Republican after party designation was passed in 1973).
Perhaps more importantly, the median age of House members dropped from 47 in 1963 to 41 in 1973, as the number of women in the House increased from one (yes, one) to six. Two legislators of color were elected and all told, in the House, 30 freshman legislators were elected.
In short, there was a generational turnover. And it was the first time since statehood that Democrats had won control of both the House and Senate and the governor's office.
All this change led to an amazing legislative session during 1973-74. It began with changes to key legislative rules. For the first time minority members were allowed to serve on the powerful House rules committee. The changes in state law that followed included ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment; revising state government structure by establishing departments of finance and personnel; an increased minimum wage; ethics and campaign finance changes, including partial public financing of campaigns; no-fault insurance; a data privacy law; same day voter registration; the Uniform Probate Law; the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act; the Open Meeting Law for local governments; party designation for legislators; the Environmental Policy Act; collective bargaining for public employees, and on and on. Importantly, much of this was done with bipartisan support. There were still partisan fights, but civility and bipartisan friendships reigned.
I admit to not being as familiar with the day-to-day workings of the 2023 Legislature, although I did testify on a couple of occasions. But I sense that civility was the norm and that partisan rancor was subdued compared to other recent sessions. I certainly hope so.
The public discussion as to how significant in history this session was compared to earlier sessions is interesting, and can be a productive exercise. But the key point is that regardless of its ranking, the 2023 session will be remembered for bringing about a major improvement in many people's lives, and for making our state a much better place.
Tom Berg, of Minneapolis, was a member of the Minnesota House, 1971-79, and is author of "Minnesota's Miracle: Learning From the Government That Worked."
