71st Minnesota Legislature
The seventy-first Minnesota Legislature first convened on January 3, 1979. The 67 members of the Minnesota Senate were elected during the General Election of November 2, 1976, and the 134 members of the Minnesota House of Representatives were elected during the General Election of November 7, 1978.
| Seventy-first Minnesota Legislature | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Overview | |||||
| Legislative body | Minnesota Legislature | ||||
| Jurisdiction | Minnesota, United States | ||||
| Meeting place | Minnesota State Capitol | ||||
| Term | January 3, 1979 – January 6, 1981 | ||||
| Website | www | ||||
| Minnesota State Senate | |||||
| Members | 67 Senators | ||||
| President | Edward J. Gearty | ||||
| Majority Leader | Nick Coleman | ||||
| Minority Leader | Robert O. Ashbach | ||||
| Party control | Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party | ||||
| Minnesota House of Representatives | |||||
| Members | 134 Representatives | ||||
| Speaker | Rod Searle, Fred C. Norton | ||||
| Majority Leader | Jerry Knickerbocker, Irv Anderson | ||||
| Minority Leader | Rod Searle | ||||
| Party control | Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party | ||||
The seventy-first legislature is noteworthy for the partisan composition of the House of Representatives. Until Bob Pavlak was unseated for unfair campaign practices, the House was equally divided between the DFL and the Independent-Republicans. Due to the tie, the DFL and the Independent-Republicans were forced to forge a compromise by which the Independent-Republicans were to elect the Speaker from among their own ranks, while the DFL would be given the chairmanship of, and one-vote majorities on, the rules and tax committees. This agreement was superseded for the 1980 continuation of the regular session, by which time the DFL had gained a slim majority in the House.