79th Minnesota Legislature

The seventy-ninth Minnesota Legislature first convened on January 3, 1995. The 67 members of the Minnesota Senate were elected during the general election of November 3, 1992, and the 134 members of the Minnesota House of Representatives were elected during the general election of November 8, 1994.

Seventy-ninth Minnesota Legislature
← 78th Minnesota Legislature 80th Minnesota Legislature →
Overview
Legislative body	Minnesota Legislature
Jurisdiction	Minnesota, United States
Meeting place	Minnesota State Capitol
Term	January 3, 1995 (1995-01-03) – January 7, 1997 (1997-01-07)
Website	www.leg.state.mn.us
Minnesota State Senate
Members	67 Senators
President	Allan Spear
Majority Leader	Roger Moe
Minority Leader	Dean Johnson
Party control	Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
Minnesota House of Representatives
Members	134 Representatives
Speaker	Irv Anderson
Majority Leader	Phil Carruthers
Minority Leader	Steve Sviggum
Party control	Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party

Sessions

The legislature met in a regular session from January 3, 1995, to May 22, 1995. A special session convened from May 23, 1995, to May 25, 1995, to consider funding for K-12 schools and other unfinished business.^[1]

A continuation of the regular session was held between January 16, 1996, and April 3, 1996.^[1]

Party summary

Resignations and new members are discussed in the "Membership changes" section, below. On September 23, 1995, the Independent Republican Party changed its name back to the Republican Party.

Senate

	Party[2] (Shading indicates majority caucus)			Total	Vacant
	DFL	Ind	IR
End of previous Legislature	43	0	24	67	0
Begin	43	0	24	67	0
January 3, 1995			23	66	1
February 13, 1995			24	67	0
January 9, 1996	42			66	1
February 12, 1996			25	67	0
May 1996	41	1[nb 1]
July 1, 1996	40			66	1
Latest voting share	60%	1%	37%
Beginning of the next Legislature	42	1	24	67	0

House of Representatives

	Party[4] (Shading indicates majority caucus)		Total	Vacant
	DFL	IR
End of previous Legislature	84	50	134	0
Begin	71	63	134	0
February 2, 1995		62	133	1
February 21, 1995	70		132	2
March 13, 1995		63	133	1
April 4, 1995		64	134	0
June 18, 1995	69		133	1
July 1, 1995		63	132	2
July 11, 1995		64	133	1
August 1, 1995		65	134	0
October 15, 1996	68		133	1
Latest voting share	51%	49%
Beginning of the next Legislature	70	64	134	0

Leadership

Senate

President of the Senate

Allan Spear (DFL-Minneapolis)^[5]

Senate Majority Leader

Roger Moe (DFL-Erskine)^[6]

Senate Minority Leader

Dean Johnson (R-Willmar)^[6]

House of Representatives

Speaker of the House

Irv Anderson (DFL-International Falls)^[7]

House Majority Leader

Phil Carruthers (DFL-Brooklyn Center)^[8]

House Minority Leader

Steve Sviggum (R-Kenyon)^[8]

Members

Senate

Name	District	City	Party
Anderson, Ellen	66	St. Paul	DFL
Beckman, Tracy	26	Bricelyn	DFL
Belanger, William	41	Bloomington	IR
Berg, Charlie[nb 1]	13	Chokio	Ind
Berglin, Linda	61	Minneapolis	DFL
Bertram, Joe	14	Paynesville	DFL
Betzold, Don	48	Fridley	DFL
Chandler, Kevin M.	55	White Bear Lake	DFL
Chmielewski, Florian	08	Sturgeon Lake	DFL
Cohen, Dick	64	St. Paul	DFL
Day, Dick	28	Owatonna	IR
Dille, Steve	20	Dassel	IR
Finn, Skip	04	Cass Lake	DFL
Fischbach, Michelle	14	Paynesville	IR
Flynn, Carol	62	Minneapolis	DFL
Frederickson, Dennis	23	New Ulm	IR
Hanson, Paula	50	Ham Lake	DFL
Hottinger, John	24	Mankato	DFL
Janezich, Jerry	05	Chisholm	DFL
Johnson, Dean	15	Willmar	IR
Johnson, Doug	06	Tower	DFL
Johnson, Janet	18	North Branch	DFL
Johnston, Terry	35	Prior Lake	IR
Kelly, Randy	67	St. Paul	DFL
Kiscaden, Sheila	30	Rochester	IR
Kleis, Dave	16	St. Cloud	IR
Knutson, David	36	Burnsville	IR
Kramer, Don	47	Brooklyn Center	IR
Krentz, Jane	51	May Township	DFL
Kroening, Carl	58	Minneapolis	DFL
Laidig, Gary	56	Stillwater	IR
Langseth, Keith	09	Glyndon	DFL
Larson, Cal	10	Fergus Falls	IR
Lesewski, Arlene	21	Marshall	IR
Lessard, Bob	03	International Falls	DFL
Limmer, Warren	33	Maple Grove	IR
Marty, John	54	Roseville	DFL
McGowan, Pat	33	Maple Grove	IR
Merriam, Gene	49	Coon Rapids	DFL
Metzen, James	39	South St. Paul	DFL
Moe, Roger	02	Erskine	DFL
Mondale, Ted	44	Saint Louis Park	DFL
Morse, Steven	32	Dakota	DFL
Murphy, Steve	29	Red Wing	DFL
Neuville, Thomas	25	Northfield	IR
Novak, Steve	52	New Brighton	DFL
Oliver, Edward	43	Deephaven	IR
Olson, Gen	34	Minnetrista	IR
Ourada, Mark	19	Buffalo	IR
Pappas, Sandra	65	St. Paul	DFL
Pariseau, Pat	37	Farmington	IR
Piper, Pat	27	Austin	DFL
Pogemiller, Larry	59	Minneapolis	DFL
Price, Leonard	57	Woodbury	DFL
Ranum, Jane	63	Minneapolis	DFL
Reichgott Junge, Ember	46	New Hope	DFL
Riveness, Phil	40	Bloomington	DFL
Robertson, Martha	45	Minnetonka	IR
Runbeck, Linda	53	Circle Pines	IR
Sams, Dallas	11	Staples	DFL
Samuelson, Don	12	Brainerd	DFL
Scheevel, Kenric	31	Preston	IR
Solon, Sam	07	Duluth	DFL
Spear, Allan	60	Minneapolis	DFL
Stevens, Dan	17	Mora	IR
Stumpf, LeRoy	01	Thief River Falls	DFL
Terwilliger, Roy	42	Edina	IR
Vickerman, Jim	22	Tracy	DFL
Wiener, Deanna	38	Eagan	DFL

House of Representatives

Name	District	City	Party
Abrams, Ron	45A	Minnetonka	IR
Anderson, Bob	10A	Ottertail	DFL
Anderson, Bruce	19B	Buffalo	IR
Anderson, Irv	03A	International Falls	DFL
Bakk, Tom	06A	Cook	DFL
Bertram, Jeff	14B	Paynesville	DFL
Bettermann, Hilda	10B	Brandon	IR
Bishop, Dave	30B	Rochester	IR
Boudreau, Lynda	25B	Faribault	IR
Bradley, Fran	30A	Rochester	IR
Broecker, Sherry	53B	Vadnais Heights	IR
Brown, Chuck	13A	Appleton	DFL
Carlson, Lyndon	46B	Crystal	DFL
Carlson, Skip	52A	Fridley	IR
Carruthers, Phil	47B	Brooklyn Center	DFL
Clark, Karen	61A	Minneapolis	DFL
Commers, Tim	38A	Eagan	IR
Cooper, Roger	15B	Bird Island	DFL
Daggett, Roxann	11A	Frazee	IR
Dauner, Marvin	09B	Hawley	DFL
Davids, Gregory	31B	Preston	IR
Dawkins, Andy	65A	St. Paul	DFL
Dehler, Steve	14A	St. Joseph	IR
Delmont, Mike	51A	Lexington	DFL
Dempsey, Jerry	29A	Hastings	IR
Dorn, John	24A	Mankato	DFL
Entenza, Matt	64A	St. Paul	DFL
Erhardt, Ron	42A	Edina	IR
Farrell, Jim	67A	St. Paul	DFL
Finseth, Tim	01B	Angus	IR
Frerichs, Don	31A	Rochester	IR
Garcia, Edwina	63B	Richfield	DFL
Girard, Jim	21A	Lynd	IR
Goodno, Kevin	09A	Moorhead	IR
Greenfield, Lee	62A	Minneapolis	DFL
Greiling, Mindy	54B	Roseville	DFL
Gunther, Bob	26A	Fairmont	IR
Haas, Bill	48A	Champlin	IR
Hackbarth, Tom	50A	Cedar	IR
Harder, Elaine	22B	Jackson	IR
Hasskamp, Kris	12A	Crosby	DFL
Hausman, Alice	66B	St. Paul	DFL
Holsten, Mark	56A	Stillwater	IR
Hugoson, Gene	26A	Granada	IR
Huntley, Thomas	06B	Duluth	DFL
Jacobs, Joel	49B	Coon Rapids	DFL
Jaros, Mike	07B	Duluth	DFL
Jefferson, Jeff	58B	Minneapolis	DFL
Jennings, Loren Geo	18B	Harris	DFL
Johnson, Alice	48B	Spring Lake Park	DFL
Johnson, Bob	04A	Bemidji	DFL
Johnson, Virgil	32B	Caledonia	IR
Kahn, Phyllis	59B	Minneapolis	DFL
Kalis, Henry	26B	Walters	DFL
Kelley, Steve	44A	Hopkins	DFL
Kelso, Becky	35B	Shakopee	DFL
Kinkel, Tony	04B	Park Rapids	DFL
Knight, Kevin	40B	Bloomington	IR
Knoblach, Jim	16B	St. Cloud	IR
Koppendrayer, LeRoy	17A	Princeton	IR
Kraus, Ron	27A	Albert Lea	IR
Krinkie, Philip	53A	Shoreview	IR
Larsen, Peg	56B	Lakeland	IR
Leighton, Rob	27B	Austin	DFL
Leppik, Peggy	45B	Golden Valley	IR
Lieder, Bernard	02A	Crookston	DFL
Limmer, Warren	33B	Maple Grove	IR
Lindner, Arlon	33A	Corcoran	IR
Long, Dee	60A	Minneapolis	DFL
Lourey, Becky	08B	Kerrick	DFL
Luther, Darlene	47A	Brooklyn Park	DFL
Lynch, Teresa	50B	Andover	IR
Macklin, Bill	37B	Lakeville	IR
Mahon, Mark	40A	Bloomington	DFL
Mares, Harry	55A	White Bear Lake	IR
Mariani, Carlos	65B	St. Paul	DFL
Marko, Sharon	57B	Newport	DFL
McCollum, Betty	55B	North St. Paul	DFL
McElroy, Dan	36B	Burnsville	IR
McGuire, Mary Jo	54A	Falcon Heights	DFL
Milbert, Bob	39B	South St. Paul	DFL
Molnau, Carol	35A	Chaska	IR
Mulder, Richard	21B	Ivanhoe	IR
Munger, Willard	07A	Duluth	DFL
Murphy, Mary	08A	Hermantown	DFL
Ness, Bob	20A	Dassel	IR
Olson, Edgar	02B	Fosston	DFL
Olson, Mark	19A	Big Lake	IR
Onnen, Tony	20B	Cokato	IR
Opatz, Joe	16A	St. Cloud	DFL
Orenstein, Howard	64B	St. Paul	DFL
Orfield, Myron	60B	Minneapolis	DFL
Osskopp, Mike	29B	Lake City	IR
Osthoff, Tom	66A	St. Paul	DFL
Ostrom, Don	24B	St. Peter	DFL
Otremba, Ken	11B	Long Prairie	DFL
Ozment, Dennis	37A	Rosemount	IR
Paulsen, Erik	42B	Eden Prairie	IR
Pawlenty, Tim	38B	Eagan	IR
Pellow, Dick	52B	New Brighton	IR
Pelowski, Gene	32A	Winona	DFL
Perlt, Walt	57A	Woodbury	DFL
Petersen, Doug	13B	Madison	DFL
Pugh, Tom	39A	South St. Paul	DFL
Rest, Ann	46A	New Hope	DFL
Rhodes, Jim	44B	St. Louis Park	IR
Rice, Jim	58A	Minneapolis	DFL
Rostberg, Jim	18A	Isanti	IR
Rukavina, Tom	05A	Virginia	DFL
Sarna, John	59A	Minneapolis	DFL
Schumacher, Leslie	17B	Princeton	DFL
Seagren, Alice	41B	Bloomington	IR
Simoneau, Wayne	52A	Fridley	DFL
Skoglund, Wes	62B	Minneapolis	DFL
Smith, Steve	34A	Mound	IR
Solberg, Loren	03B	Bovey	DFL
Stanek, Rich	33B	Maple Grove	IR
Sviggum, Steve	28B	Kenyon	IR
Swenson, Doug	51B	Forest Lake	IR
Swenson, Howard	23B	Nicollet	IR
Sykora, Barb	43B	Excelsior	IR
Tomassoni, Dave	05B	Chisholm	DFL
Tompkins, Eileen	36A	Apple Valley	IR
Trimble, Steve	67B	St. Paul	DFL
Tuma, John	25A	Northfield	IR
Tunheim, Jim	01A	Kennedy	DFL
Van Dellen, H. Todd	34B	Plymouth	IR
Van Engen, Tom	15A	Spicer	IR
Vickerman, Barb	23A	Redwood Falls	IR
Wagenius, Jean	63A	Minneapolis	DFL
Warkentin, E.H.	49B	Coon Rapids	IR
Weaver, Charlie	49A	Anoka	IR
Wejcman, Linda	61B	Minneapolis	DFL
Wenzel, Steve	12B	Little Falls	DFL
Winter, Ted	22A	Fulda	DFL
Wolf, Ken	41B	Burnsville	IR
Worke, Gary	28A	Waseca	IR
Workman, Tom	43A	Chanhassen	IR

Membership changes

Senate

District	Vacated by	Reason for change	Successor	Date successor seated
33	Pat McGowan (IR)	Became Sheriff of Hennepin County on January 3, 1995, pursuant to having won the 1994 election for that office.[9]	Warren Limmer (IR)	February 13, 1995[10]
14	Joe Bertram (DFL)	Resigned on January 9, 1996, as the Senate considered expelling him.[11]	Michelle Fischbach (R)	February 12, 1996[12]
4	Skip Finn (DFL)	Resigned July 1, 1996, after being convicted of 12 felonies.[13]	Remained vacant

House of Representatives

District	Vacated by	Reason for change	Successor	Date successor seated
33B	Warren Limmer (IR)	Resigned February 13, 1995, to fill Pat McGowan's vacated seat in the Senate, pursuant to the results of a special election held on February 2, 1995.[10]	Rich Stanek (IR)	February 13, 1995[14]
49B	Joel Jacobs (DFL)	Resigned March 5, 1995, to accept appointment to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.[15]	E.H. Warkentin (IR)	April 10, 1995[16]
52A	Wayne Simoneau (DFL)	Resigned June 18, 1995, to accept appointment as a deputy commissioner in the Minnesota Department of Employee Relations.[17]	Skip Carlson (IR)	July 11, 1995[18]
26A	Gene Hugoson (IR)	Resigned June 30, 1995, to accept appointment as the Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture.[19]	Bob Gunther (IR)	August 1, 1995[20]
58A	Jim Rice (DFL)	Died of an apparent heart attack on October 15, 1996.[21]	Remained vacant

Notes

1. Previously a member of the DFL, Charlie Berg became an Independent in May 1996.^[3]