Capitol View for February 7

Good morning. Ready for a weekend reset after the House reset. Next week, it gets real.

Federal employees struggling with whether to take a buyout offer have more time to mull it over. A judge has paused the deadline, which had been Thursday, until Monday. The "deferred resignation" offers made to a swath of federal workers promises them pay through Sept. 30 to leave the government now. But there are ample questions about the Trump administration's authority and the wherewithal to follow through. A labor union lawsuit is being heard on Monday. At least 40,000 employees have already accepted the offer or roughly 2 percent of those eligible.

After an almost four-week standoff, the House got back to work yesterday. Democrats returned after a boycott over House control and put up the votes needed to reach a quorum. Republican votes elected House Speaker Lisa Demuth as part of a power-sharing arrangement. Demuth is the first person of color and the first Republican woman to hold the position. From there, lawmakers quickly got to work with some of the typical work of a first day — setting up committees, electing a chief sergeant and chief clerk. Legislative leaders acknowledged that they're coming out of negotiations frustrated with one another, but they're hopeful that they can get their work done on time. More from Dana Ferguson, Clay Masters and Peter Cox on the Take 2 of Day 1.

In another first for the state, both presiding officers of the Minnesota Legislature will be people of color. Senate President Bobby Joe Champion, DFL-Minneapolis, administered Demuth's oath of office yesterday. Champion is the first Black Minnesotan to hold that position. In her acceptance speech, Demuth said her election was "a testament to the progress and the possibilities of our great state, and I am committed to leading with integrity, respect and a focus on delivering real results to every Minnesotan." While she said she hopes people focus more on her merit to hold the position than her background, she said she hopes it will become more commonplace for people of color to hold elected positions.

One of the points of dispute and of the deal means Rep. Brad Tabke will keep his spot in the House. Republicans had been noncommittal about Tabke retaining the seat until the agreement was struck. As a reminder, Tabke's 14-vote win was a source of consternation because of ballots that went missing; a court trial determined he likely would have won anyway. Tabke could have been removed on a party-line vote because House members determine who can be seated. The agreement allows the House Ethics Committee to conduct a hearing into the close Shakopee election. But that committee is evenly split now. The likelihood of something beyond that is slim. If it did, the rules now say "the affirmative vote of 68 members is required for the House to reject the returns of an election and declare a vacancy in the affected district." Tabke issued a statement thanking House DFL leader Melissa Hortman, who is using the title speaker emeritus, and others for fighting "to have the will of Shakopee's 22,0000 voters recognized. It shouldn't have taken this long, but today is a good day."

After weeks of delays, freshmen Democrats finally got to have their first House floor session yesterday. The new House members took a group photo after their first session, and talked about what it was like to finally sit at their desks. Alex Falconer, DFL-Eden Prairie, said this wasn't the first day he'd imagined when he elected in November. "In function the first day, this is about what we expected. You know, electing the speaker, the clerk, the sergeant at arms, kind of that first day sort of stuff," he said. "It just took a little bit to get here." Both Falconer and his colleague Pete Johnson, DFL-Duluth, said the most nerve-wracking moment was their first voice vote for Speaker of the House. The clerk called out names, and members answered either "Demuth," the Republican, or "Hortman," the Democrat. For both it was the first time using their desk microphones during House business. "Seeing the process, how it plays out, you want to make sure you say the right name. And everybody's saying different things. And so thankfully, it went off without a hitch. I don't think my voice cracked too bad," Johnson said, laughing. "Thankfully, everybody said what they were supposed to say, and we'll move forward." Falconer said it was a little bit of a let down not to get that first day swearing-in moment on the floor with his family there. Falconer said it was a relief to get started. "It's nice that now it's legit. Here we are. We can move forward now," he said.

As lawmakers were announcing their agreement, the Minnesota Supreme Court was pressing ahead with its hearing into the latest House standoff lawsuit. Attorneys for House Republicans offered to postpone the hearing, but justices decided to go forward. We'll be honest, we were too busy to follow every word. And the court hasn't even decided if it will decide or declare the entire case moot. There were some interesting exchanges in the case, which revolves around Secretary of State Steve Simon's now-concluded presiding officer duties. Republicans say he improperly ignored their efforts to force Democrats to end the boycott. Justice Karl Procaccini asked Simon's attorney, Deputy Solicitor General Pete Farrell, if future problems could arise. "You could imagine a rogue secretary really abusing that power and not allowing formation of a House of Representatives, even if you had a quorum, right?" Farrell responded: "There generally is a presumption of good faith and regularity when it comes to government officers. So I don't think you have to assume the rogue secretary of state." Justices gave no timetable for a ruling, but they're certainly facing less pressure to rush on this one. You can watch most (our recording started late) of the hearing here.