Overview
- House DFL leaders filed an ethics complaint Tuesday accusing Reps. Elliott Engen and Walter Hudson of leaving an Education Finance hearing to drink at a St. Paul bar.
- Engen was stopped in White Bear Lake early March 27 and charged with misdemeanor DWI-related counts and speeding after a breath test around 0.13 to 0.142, while passenger Walter Hudson had a permitted handgun seized and faced no charges after police did not test him.
- Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth removed both lawmakers from all committees, citing the police report, and seated GOP replacements to preserve the partisan balance on the panels.
- Hours after the DFL filing, House Republicans submitted an ethics complaint against DFL Rep. Alex Falconer over past state lobbying for Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness and current work tied to Save the Boundary Waters as he carries related bills.
- Both complaints now go to an evenly split House Ethics Committee with no hearings set, a dynamic that has stymied decisive outcomes in a chamber itself tied 67–67.