Fixing Minnesota Government: Why Cultural Change Requires Structural Change

Merely pledging “cultural change” at the Minnesota State Capitol and hoping the politics will be different  is reminiscent of  the Scottish proverb "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride."  Declarations of good intentions are nice but naive:  It is not just about leaders saying they will work together, but instead the state government needs to build new structures and institutions if it truly wishes to change the culture and politics at the Capitol and avoid in the future the problems that defined the 2019 session.
Promises at the start of the session were made by all to play nice and cooperate.  Yet it is no surprise that the 2019 Minnesota legislative session ended with another gridlock that went into overtime and accomplished far less than most hoped.  It was also eventually a clandestine process where many critical decisions took place in secret.  The reason for all this is elementary–fundamentally nothing structural was changed in the process of how the legislature and the governor do their business.  The rules and processes for the last generation that have led to special budget sessions 80% of the time, three partial or near governmental shutdowns, and two major State Supreme Court fights were  the same one in place this year.
As the cliche goes, insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting to get different results.  Political insanity is the same–following the same process deployed in the past and expecting different results.  Expecting  different results this year simply because political leaders wanted it to be different ignores the incentives that have produced the breakdown at the Capitol.
Polarization is a fact of life there now.  It  is more than a result of partisan attitudes, a result of many forces, including deep-seated party differences over the role government should have.  But these attitudes are also reinforced by election rules that produce few swing districts that converge toward center, election rules that augment the power of divergent interest groups, and lobbyist and campaign finance laws that do little to curb the impact of big money.  All of these forces create political incentives not to cooperate, no matter what the intentions at the Capitol.
But in addition, the rules for doing business at the Capitol may be broken. There is perhaps too much work and too little time to do a near $50 billion budget under constitutional rules established decades ago.  The budget process does not work, the legislature flouts the single-subject and germaneness rules (and the State Supreme Court gives them a pass), and the most basic requisites of a democracy–respect for openness and transparency–are ignored.
Minnesota politics needs to be fixed, but somewhere in the last generation the appetite for reform died.  Back in the early 1990s Minnesota was a national leader in campaign finance reform, open government, lobbyist disclosure, and other innovations that gave the state high marks for it government.  But since then the state has done little, now meriting near failing grades from the Center for Public Integrity.  The state rested on its laurels, letting others surpass Minnesota in critical areas.  Fundamentally, there has not been a major piece of political or campaign reform adopted in Minnesota in over a generation.  The state is no longer a cradle for innovative good government.  Politics has changed in Minnesota, but the basic governing processes and institutions have not.
That is why it is not a surprise nothing changed this year in Minnesota.  Instead of opting for  political reform of the process, use partisanship and gridlock as a strategic tool to campaign on in the next election.  “Political reform” is beating up the other party, seeking single-party dominance where one can move an agenda without serious opposition.
This year there were pledges of cultural change, but no legislative proposals to enable that.  No legislator seems interested in political reform anymore.  Cultural change necessitates institutional change; alter the rules regarding how the process operates and you will create the incentives and capabilities to change the results.
So if the legislature and the governor really want cultural change, they need to consider rules changes and institutional reform.  What might these reforms be?  Here is a list of possibilities, some big and small, that need to be considered as either constitutional, statutory, or joint chamber reforms.
Change the budget process.  This includes timing of fiscal forecasts, when budget targets are set, and perhaps creating joint House-Senate committees to expedite decisions.  Also, change the law  tht allows inflation to count for state revenues but not obligations when making the budget and fiscal  forecasts.  Among the worst feature of Minnesota politics is budgetary dishonesty.
Adopt a permanent automatic continuing resolution law that would guarantee state funding at current levels plus inflation if no budget is adopted on time.
Serious adherence to the single-subject and germaneness rules.
Apply the rules of open meeting laws to all activities of the legislature.  This would require all conference committees, budget negotiations, and legislation to be done in public.  The current  closed door negotiations undermined the ability of legislators, especially new ones, to learn policy and negotiation skills, thereby undermining the development of new leadership.
Rethink campaign finance rules, including limits on special interest money contributions to the parties and legislative caucuses.
Strengthening of the public financing for campaigns.
Increase lobbyist disclosure rules so we know what legislators they are talking to and about what.
Creation of a non-partisan redistricting commission to draw legislative districts.
Replacement of current single-member, first-past-the-post election districts with multi-member ones selected with ranked choice voting.
Consider a constitutional convention to undertake a more comprehensive review of the structures of state government (the last major constitutional reforms were in the 1970s).  Many states  have changed their constitution more than one since statehood.  Minnesota more or less has the same one in place from 1857.
Certainly these are not the sum of possible political reforms the state should consider, but the important point is that real political reform needs to go back on to the legislative agenda.  Maybe the ugly 2019 session will the catalyst for that.