And We're Off.  The 2017 legislative session began today.  The old first-day saying of "Everyone got sworn in and no one got sworn at" rang true today as the returning House majority and new Senate majority officially elected its leadership and approved the committee assignments.  The only House leadership change is that of House Minority Leader, with Representative Melissa Hortmann taking over for Representative Paul Thissen.  Speaker Kurt Daudt and House Majority Leader Joyce Peppin retained their leadership positions.  The Senate's Republican majority will be led by Senator Paul Gazelka with Senator Tom Bakk flipping from Senate Majority Leader to Senate Minority Leader as the head of the DFL caucus.

It will be a quiet week in terms of hearings, with a very light schedule.  They have set up the education committees this year so that there is no overlap.  There will be some long days, with the House Education Innovation Policy meeting at 8:30 AM on Tuesday and Thursday and the House Education Funding Committee meeting at 1:00 PM on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons.  The Senate Education-related committees will be meeting at 3:00 PM on Monday through Thursday, with the Education Finance Division meeting on Monday and Wednesday during that time slot and the Education Policy Committee meeting on Tuesday and Thursday.

Here are the home pages for the four education-related committees.  The Senate web pages do not have the committee rosters updated at this point:

House Education Finance

House Education Innovation Policy

Senate E-12 Finance

Senate E-12 Policy