If you are a member of the Minnesota Senate, you are forbidden to make eye contact with any other senator during floor debate. Senators are only permitted to stare directly at the official who is presiding as president of the Senate at the time. Sound a little bit antiquated?
Well, most of the members of the Minnesota State Senate disagree with you.
The senate voted 15-44 to keep the rule on the books, Monday, with a bipartisan majority standing in opposition to striking down the ban.
Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk defended the longstanding ban, arguing that senators being allowed to look at each other during debates could make deliberations too personal. Because, God forbid that personal interaction becomes part of Minnesota's legislative process.
"Our decorum would probably not be as Senate-like as we would like to have it" if the rule was changed, Bakk said.
In a 10-51 vote the Senate also upheld a rule that forbids water on the Senate floor - even for pregnant and nursing mothers.
Strict, huh? But, rules are rules. Still, it's unclear what the punishments are if one is caught violating these longstanding Senate limitations.
One Minnesota senator had an idea that could possibly be as antiquated as the rule itself.
