2019 Report on the Minnesota Legislature Released

Legislative Evaluation Assembly of Minnesota

LEA evaluates legislative session, decries unconstitutional lawmaking patterns and announces
honorees. 2019 LEA Report

2019 LEA Honorees

St. Paul, MN, October 22, 2019 — Legislative Evaluation Assembly of Minnesota (LEA) has completed its evaluation of the 2019 Minnesota legislature’s performance. In its report, released today, the LEA criticizes the growing role of “omnibus” bills derived through non-transparent, unaccountable legislative processes.

“Good lawmaking requires an open and accountable process,” says LEA president Don Lee. “Minnesota’s constitution requires each bill to embrace one subject, a requirement flouted in 2019. The house speaker and senate majority leader met with the governor behind closed doors to make deals, which they expected to be rubber-stamped by legislators without amendment or debate. The result was over 2100 pages of legislation and nearly all of the biennial budget contained in 13 ‘omnibus’ bills, passed in a one-day special session.”

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2019 LEA Banquet News and Photos

Legislative Evaluation Assembly of Minnesota

2019 LEA banquet

2019 Awards Banquet: Come Join Us!

Legislative Evaluation Assembly of Minnesota

Come to the 2019 Awards banquet, where we honor the top scoring legislators in the 2018 LEA report. Meet the honorees, and hear Teresa Collett discuss interpretation of the Minnesota constitution. HONORING: Representatives Cal Bahr, Steve Drazkowski, Jerry Hertaus, Eric … Continue reading →

LEA at Southwest Conservative Republican Women

Legislative Evaluation Assembly of Minnesota

LEA President Don Lee was the keynote speaker on May 19th at a meeting of the Southwest Conservative Republican Women in Prior Lake. (http://www.swcrw.org) The slides are here.

Don Lee

Don Lee

At the end of the talk, the attendees were eager to hear more about the Minnesota legislature’s website and how to use it. The presentation spent some time walking through important features of the legislature’s website at https://www.leg.state.mn.us.

Thank you to the Southwest Conservative Republican Women (SWCRW) for this opportunity.

2018 LEA Banquet News and Photos

Legislative Evaluation Assembly of Minnesota

2018 LEA awards banquet

2018 LEA awards banquet

Over 60 people attended the LEA Annual Members’ Meeting and Legislative Awards Banquet, which was held March 1st at The Mermaid Event Center in Mounds View. LEA Board Chairman/President Don Lee thanked key members of the LEA board for their long and faithful service, and expressed a desire to grow the organization.  LEA is a unique and valuable group.

Our three 2017 honorees, representatives Cal Bahr, Eric Lucero, and Matt Dean accepted  their award plaques and each offered some brief comments. The keynote speech, “Reading Our Constitution in Plain English: A Populist Approach” was presented by Erick Kaardal, who has a long career challenging the illegal acts of government officials. His talk was full of fascinating anecdotes and inspiration to keep doing what we do. (We will post the full video when it is available). Continue reading →