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"History was made on Monday when a conference committee to iron out differences between the Minnesota House and Senate versions of a bill to modify residential housing tenant and landlord provisions met. For the first time it was being chaired by two Black women, one of Nigerian descent and the other Somali.

Before a bill can be sent to the governor for his signature, the House and Senate must reconcile any differences, so that only one bill emerges from the legislature. The process of accomplishing the reconciling is referred to as sending the bill to conference, hence conference committee. The two chambers choose their own representatives (conferees) to represent them at the conference committee. Typically, the chair of each chamber’s conferees being sent to conference on a bill tend to be one of the authors. The conference committee meeting is then co-chaired by the chairs of each chamber’s conferees’ chair."

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