Early on in Minnesota's history, the legislature had direct control over the city charters that set the groundwork for governments in municipalities across the state.

[1] Following the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920, women began to be elected to the Minnesota Legislature.

In 1922, Mabeth Hurd Paige, Hannah Kempfer, Sue Metzger Dickey Hough and Myrtle Cain were elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives.

[7] While Minnesota legislators were elected on a nonpartisan ballot, they caucused as "Liberals" or "Conservatives," roughly the equivalent in most years to Democratic or Farmer–Labor (later Democratic–Farmer–Labor) and Republican, respectively.

[9] Governor Jesse Ventura advocated the idea of changing the legislature to be unicameral while he was in office, but the concept did not obtain widespread support.

A proper budget failed to pass, and major anticipated projects such as the Northstar Corridor commuter rail line were not approved.

[12] The lack of action in the 2004 session is said to be one reason why a number of Republican House members lost their seats in the November election.

One state senator, Sheila Kiscaden of Rochester, was an Independence Party member until December 2005 when she began caucusing with the DFL, although she had been an elected Republican in the past.

The shutdown was the result of a fiscal dispute between the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) Governor Mark Dayton and the Republican-majority Minnesota Legislature, that was not resolved by the constitutional deadline on June 30.