Constitutional convention process established to select delegates.
Summary
HF593 establishes a Minnesota statutory process for selecting delegates if Congress calls a constitutional convention under Article V of the U.S. Constitution. The bill directs the state to send five delegates: one appointed by each of the four legislative leaders named in the bill, plus a fifth delegate chosen unanimously by those four leaders. If they cannot agree on the fifth delegate by the deadline, Minnesota would send only the four individually appointed delegates.
The bill also allows each appointing authority to name one alternate delegate, and it provides for a jointly appointed alternate for the fifth delegate if needed. Delegate and alternate appointments must be made no later than 30 days before the convention is called, or 30 days before any deadline set by Congress, whichever comes first. The proposal would add a new section to Minnesota Statutes chapter 1 and would apply to any Article V convention called by Congress.
Impact
HF593 would create new state law governing how Minnesota prepares for a federal constitutional convention, but it would not itself call for such a convention or change the substance of Minnesota constitutional law. Its main legal effect is procedural: it assigns appointment authority to legislative leaders, sets deadlines, authorizes alternates, and establishes what happens if the leaders cannot agree on a fifth delegate. The bill would be codified in Minnesota Statutes chapter 1 and would affect the roles of the senate majority leader, senate minority leader, speaker of the house, and house minority leader in any future Article V convention process.
Sentiment
Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee testimony or votes, the available context suggests a neutral-to-supportive procedural intent rather than a controversial policy change. The bill appears designed to prepare the state for a possible future constitutional convention by clarifying delegate selection in advance. Because there are no committee transcripts or vote records provided, there is no documented public debate in the supplied materials showing broad support or opposition.
Contention
The main potential point of contention is the structure of delegate selection itself, especially the role of legislative leaders in appointing delegates and the requirement that the four leaders unanimously choose a fifth delegate. Some observers may view this as a practical bipartisan safeguard, while others may question whether it gives too much control to legislative leadership or whether Minnesota should establish any convention-related process at all before Congress acts. Another possible issue is the fallback rule that the state would send only four delegates if the fifth cannot be agreed upon, which could be seen as either a useful default or an incomplete solution.