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The Legislative Reference Library sometimes hears from people expressing a concern that too many laws are getting passed. “Why is the Legislature's answer to issues always more government”? As librarians, we don’t answer that sort of question philosophically!  But we can supply tips to help people better understand the process.

You have to pass a law to repeal a law

When you hear that the Minnesota Legislature has passed a certain number of laws in a session, it does not mean that every provision in those laws is a new law. When you look at a session law, you will see that it may be creating new laws – but it may also be amending existing laws or repealing laws – and often, a combination of all of the above. Here is an example of a “new” law from 2015 that is repealing two existing sections of Minnesota Statutes.

How many new laws are created compared to how many laws are repealed each year?

The laws that govern Minnesota are compiled into the Minnesota Statutes. The Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes provides this table to track law changes. Use the drop down box to view sessions back to 1994 to see how many MN Statutes were created (new), amended, or repealed in a particular legislative session.

Historical data on Session Laws passed

Here are links to the 80 session laws that passed during the 2015 Regular Session.

The number of session laws passed during each session of the Minnesota Legislature has dropped significantly during the past decades. Bar chart. Chart with numbers.

Remember, those statistics are the number of session laws passed, not the number of provisions within those session laws. A session law might be a single paragraph – or hundreds of pages.

The concern with passing too much legislation is long-standing.  Here is an interesting quote by Thomas Jefferson:

"I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because, when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find practical means of correcting their ill effects. But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors." - Jefferson to H. Tompkinson (AKA Samuel Kercheval), July 12, 1816 (Last quote in this compilation)