Playing by the House Rules

When the new DFL majority made a House rule requiring bill amendments to be filed a day before they’re debated on the floor, the Republican minority protested – loudly.

The change was adopted in February after a nine-hour debate on the House floor that dragged on into the middle of the night. The majority argued that the new deadlines would make the legislative process more deliberative and cut down on mistakes that lawmakers have made when they amend bills on the fly. Republicans decried the rule as a power grab that would stifle healthy debate.

When it comes to changing the House Rules, “I don’t remember anything that controversial in my time,” said Rep. Michael Paymar (DFL-St. Paul), who is serving his ninth term.

It may have been the House’s liveliest rules debate in years, but it certainly wasn’t the first. Lawmakers have butted heads repeatedly over House rules, which guide bill movement, floor debate and conduct of legislators. And partisan quarrels about how the rules should be applied are commonplace as action shifts from committees to the floor in the waning days of the legislative session.

(ABOVE: House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, background, and House Majority Leader Erin Murphy, foreground, debate April 17 on adopting the committee report on HF1765 that would require labor peace agreements for receipt of public funds. The bill was filed late in the process, and according to House Rules, needed action by the House Rules and Legislative Administration Committee before it could move forward. Photo by Andrew VonBank)

Cigarettes and prayer

To Republicans, this year’s battle over amendment deadlines harks back to a dispute four years ago about a change allowing the House rules committee to set time parameters for floor debate. “Both are gag rules,” Rep. Matt Dean (R-Dellwood) said earlier this session.

DFLers such as Paymar – one of two majority members who voted against this year’s rules –said that the time limits allowed in 2009 were fair and sensible. “Otherwise, bills get debated for way too long,” he said. Republicans got rid of the rule about time parameters when they took control of the House in 2011.

At times, disagreements about rule changes have reflected not only tension between majority will and minority rights, but broader cultural issues.

Rep. Phyllis Kahn (DFL-Mpls) prevailed in one of those debates in 1975, when she argued successfully to ban smoking in the House Chamber. At the time, the proposal was far from a slam dunk. When she pitched the ban to a rules subcommittee, Martin Sabo – then House Speaker – pointedly lighted a cigarette and started smoking.

“Sabo just sat there blowing smoke rings as I sat there talking,” Kahn said.

The prayer that’s traditionally given at the start of each floor session has also been controversial. In 1999, legislators tweaked the rules to say that the prayer should be nondenominational and respect “the religious diversity of the House,” but that language was removed a year later.

Guest chaplains from the community often lead the prayer, and Paymar, who is Jewish, isn’t happy when a pastor mentions Jesus on the House floor. “It’s fine to have a moment of reflection (or) collective prayer, but it should not be one religion to the exclusion of others,” he said.

In 2011, a prayer by conservative minister Bradlee Dean prompted such an outcry that then-Speaker Kurt Zellers apologized on the House Floor.

To head off prayers that might offend, House members and staff have generally been careful to remind visiting chaplains of the diverse views of their audience, said Rep. Matt Dean. “I think it should be more of an issue of common sense and civility and courtesy, and we shouldn’t probably have to have a rule around that.”

Arcane, but necessary

Of course, not all of the rules are controversial, and many of the changes approved by lawmakers over the years have been technical.

Some rules deal with ethics or conduct; one bars legislators from lobbying the House for one year after they leave office. Still others lay out when the House can meet (not after midnight, except by majority vote) or who can hang out in the Retiring Room next to the House Floor (at certain times, senators are not welcome).

The rules may be complicated and arcane, and they certainly lead to squabbles on the House floor. But Republicans and DFLers agree on this: As Dean and Paymar both put it, if the rules didn’t exist at all, “There would be chaos.”