Minnesota’s Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan flouted state law by failing to hold quarterly meetings on lawmaker safety before the June 14 assassination of state House Speaker Melissa Hortman, prompting harsh backlash against Flanagan from colleagues in the legislature for the “shameful” oversight.

Flanagan, who is running to replace retiring US Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), only held around half of the required meetings of the Minnesota Advisory Committee on Capitol Area Security over the past five years.

Ignoring the state-mandated briefings on security for lawmakers could prove a stumbling block to Flanagan as she seeks higher office — and has drawn harsh criticism from Republicans in the Minnesota legislature.

“The Advisory Committee on Capitol Area Security is designed to ensure that legislators, visitors, and staff at the Capitol are kept as safe as possible, but we can’t fulfill that duty if the chair refuses to actually call meetings as required by law,” Minnesota House GOP Whip Jim Nash told The Post.

“It’s incredibly irresponsible, and frankly just confusing, that the elected official who chairs the committee and has her office within the Capitol complex refuses to take the responsibility of this group seriously,” Nash said.

“There are a lot of conversations to be had and decisions to be made, especially this year, and the fact that she has kept this committee on the back burner for years is shameful.”

From 2019 to 2024, the advisory panel met just 13 times, according to its annual reports, even though Minnesota law mandates that the committee “shall meet quarterly” — meaning at least 24 meetings should have been convened by Flanagan.

None of the meetings held before 2023 have detailed information available online, and just two — one in 2023 and one in 2024 — have their minutes publicly available. Only one of the reports arrived before its Jan. 15 deadline, according to KTTC, which first reported on the issues.

So far in 2025, five meetings of the panel have been held.

Asked earlier this year about not holding the safety meetings, Flanagan declined to elaborate but said: “We take this very seriously and that’s how we’re going to move forward.”

“We have continued to put out reports and, you know, all I can say is that going forward, we will make sure that we’re meeting with greater frequency,” she added.

Minnesota legislators renewed calls for the safety meetings after Hortman and her husband were fatally shot allegedly by accused assassin Vance Boelter at their home in Brooklyn Park.

Boelter, 57, has also been charged with shooting state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, at their Champlin home hours before allegedly killing Hortman.

The couple miraculously survived despite the suspect, who was wearing a mask and dressed as a police officer, firing 17 shots — nine at the senator and eight at his wife.

A letter left behind in an SUV reportedly claimed Boelter received secret US military training and had been asked by Gov. Tim Walz to carry out the murders and also kill US Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) so the governor could run for her seat.

Though the lawmaker security advisory committee has drawn the most scrutiny, it’s not the only committee Flanagan leads that has run afoul of its meeting requirements.

The Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness has also failed to hold at least four meetings per year since Flanagan took office in January 2019, notching just 15 of its required 24 meetings by the end of 2024.

It’s unclear if that may have prevented another crisis involving security at the state Capitol in St. Paul on Friday in July, when a naked, mentally ill man wandered into the legislature and fell asleep in the state Senate president’s chair.

“The individual made statements indicating a belief that he was the Governor, among other remarks, and was found disrobed,” the chief House sergeant-at-arms, Lori Hodapp, told lawmakers in an email, according to the Associated Press.

Court records revealed that the man, Dominic Terell Peace, 36, who was later charged with burglary, was wanted in Wisconsin for violating the terms of his probation on other charges and a warrant was filed for his extradition, according to KSTP.

Flanagan won re-election alongside Walz in 2022. She is currently well ahead of Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), the other major declared candidate in the primary race, in one early poll — though an internal Democratic survey found Craig would do two points better in the general election against a GOP candidate.

“The Advisory Committee on Capitol Area Security has met five times this year and four times since August,” a spokesperson for Walz told The Post in an emailed statement Tuesday. “The Lieutenant Governor is constantly working with public safety agencies to ensure safety at the Capitol for all elected officials, staff, and visitors. Since June, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS) has reduced Capitol public entrances from 14 doors down to 4 and increased Capitol security presence at all public entrances. DPS also developed a threat reporting matrix for members of the legislature and is contracting the Axtell Group, an independent security firm, to perform a security audit of four buildings on the Capitol complex and deliver a report on recommended changes.

“ACCAS can make recommendations to the legislature but cannot make changes on its own. The Lieutenant Governor has made clear she believes banning weapons at the Capitol is the best way to ensure safety — now the Legislature needs to act.”