Minnesota lawmakers prepare to take office — minus the actual office space for some

A new political alignment and a tighter budget aren’t the only obstacles facing Minnesota lawmakers this year. 

Due to a massive construction project in the Capitol’s shadow, Minnesota House members will be displaced throughout the session that starts next Tuesday. They’ll be working from cubicles down the street and have to find other ways to hold private meetings with constituents and others trying to sway them.

State representatives will spend the next two years — and maybe longer — in the Centennial Office Building down the hill from their Capitol building. And that means a move from private offices for each legislator to an array of cubicles spread out across broad open office floors. 

It’s a far different situation than what Rep. Melissa Hortman, the top House Democrat, has experienced during her 20-year tenure in the House.

“I think that the staff and the members will be a lot closer together,” Hortman, of Brooklyn Park, said as she navigated a set of fifth-floor cubicles recently. “There’ll be less of a separation between staff and members, which I think is great.”

Across the campus, their typical home for the legislative session — the State Office Building — is under construction. 

Workers are renovating the space and blazing the footprint of a new expansion. Democrats fought for the project and said it’s needed to improve venting in the building and to make it more accessible for people with disabilities. Republicans, meanwhile, fought for more limited updates. And they say the $500 million price tag is too high.

“The excess of what was spent over there, and we know that’s the floor, more dollars will be spent in that, because usually projects run over,” House Republican Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said. “Folks are adjusting, but this is out of our control.”

In their typical space at the State Office Building, lawmakers could retreat for a nap on an office couch or grab a snack between committee hearings and floor sessions. They had private office spaces decorated with personal photos, taxidermy, putting greens and knickknacks from schools or businesses in their districts.

The new cubicles don’t offer quite the same options for lounging or personal touches.

Due to security considerations, the constituents and interest groups coming to seek lawmakers will have to make appointments in advance and check in at the front door. It’s different than the freer-flowing nature of the State Office Building. 

Keith Boser, the deputy chief sergeant at arms for the House, said visitors will confirm their appointment with a representative and get escorted up to meet them on their designated floor — the Republican and Democratic caucuses each have a floor where lawmakers and staff are based.

If they haven’t made an appointment, legislative staff will work to find a time, Boser said.

Then they’ll meet with their legislator in the cafeteria or a shared space near the front desk or closer to their office cube.

Hortman said the move to limit people from wandering the halls freely tracks with what many businesses and governments in larger cities are making to keep unauthorized people from getting in. And that’s important after lawmakers have attracted more threats in recent years.

She expects that senators will also be able to host more annual community events or constituent get-togethers this year.

“We've been doing more than our fair share in our very crowded, old building that wasn’t ADA accessible or fire safe or safe from terroristic threats,” Hortman said. “So it’s the Senate's turn.”

The new space will likely come with growing pains, the legislative leaders acknowledged.

Hortman said some DFL lawmakers and staff have installed shower curtains to create a more closed environment in their cubes. And they’ve added machines to block out some of the cross-talk.

“The non-partisan staff has brought in white noise machines so that they don’t have to hear, like pretty much every word or every bite that the neighbor takes,” she said.

Demuth said Republicans are still adjusting to the new space, including the more-open floor concept.

“The problem with that is that it doesn’t lend to a lot of confidentiality or privacy when having conversations,” Demuth said.

Demuth also said some lawmakers who drive in from greater Minnesota have had trouble fitting larger trucks in designated ramps. The trek through the tunnels to the Capitol has been tough for some members with limited mobility.

“If you are on a scooter or in a wheelchair, there is quite a tight zig-zag curve, because there’s an area that has two steps, and it’s not real workable, but it is what we have right now,” she said.

Demuth and Hortman say lawmakers and visitors will likely spend more time at the Capitol over the next two years to avoid the back and forth. That’s not a bad thing, they say, since it’ll give them a chance to focus on recent renovations there.

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