Law and government

As with the federal government of the United States, power in Minnesota is divided into three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial.^[121]

Executive

Main article: Governor of Minnesota

Governor Mark Dayton

The executive branch is headed by the governor. Governor Mark Dayton, DFL (Democratic Farmer Labor), took office on January 3, 2011, to become the first DFL governor to hold the seat in two decades. The governor has a cabinet consisting of the leaders of various state government agencies, called commissioners. The other elected constitutional offices are secretary of state, attorney general, and state auditor.

Legislature

Main article: Minnesota Legislature

The Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul, designed by Cass Gilbert.

The Minnesota Legislature is a bicameral body consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The state has sixty-seven districts, each covering about sixty thousand people. Each district has one senator and two representatives (each district being divided into A and B sections). Senators serve for four years and representatives for two years. In the November 2010 election, the Minnesota Republican Party gained twenty-five house seats, giving them control of the House of Representatives by a 72–62 margin.^[122] The 2010 election also saw Minnesota voters elect a Republican majority in the Senate for the first time since 1972. In 2012, the Democrats regained the House of Representatives by a margin of 73–61, picking up 11 seats; the Democrats also regained the Minnesota Senate.

Judiciary

Minnesota's court system has three levels. Most cases start in the district courts, which are courts of general jurisdiction. There are 279 district court judgeships in ten judicial districts. Appeals from the trial courts and challenges to certain governmental decisions are heard by the Minnesota Court of Appeals, consisting of nineteen judges who typically sit in three-judge panels. The seven-justice Minnesota Supreme Court hears all appeals from the tax court, the workers' compensation court of appeals, first-degree murder convictions, and discretionary appeals from the court of appeals; it also has original jurisdiction over election disputes.^[123]
Two specialized courts within administrative agencies have been established: the workers' compensation court of appeals, and the tax court, which deals with non-criminal tax cases.