Dear Neighbor,
Just five full weeks remain in the 2024 legislative session as we put another one in the books and look forward to warm temperatures and sunshine this weekend.
With that in mind, we do have a bright ray of bipartisanship to talk about this week. Here’s more on that and other recent notes from the Capitol, starting with an upcoming youth event:
TeenPact event
Sen. Dahms and I continue sponsoring TeenPact Leadership Schools at the Capitol complex. Our next class will take place April 22-26, and we have 30 students registered for our Four Day Class and over 40 registered for our One Day Class. The class sponsors will greet the students at 1 p.m. on Monday, April 22, in Room 300N of the State Office Building in St. Paul.
TeenPact is a national organization that brings young people to the state capitol for a week of hands-on learning and experience in government. It emphasizes character development, encouraging students to embody integrity, humility, and servant leadership in their interactions and pursuits.
Visit teenpact.com for more information on this program. We're excited for this year's students to gain an understanding of their government through interactive activities, mock legislative sessions, and personal experiences.
Bipartisan public safety bill
It was nice to see a bipartisan omnibus public safety policy bill receive overwhelming support in the House this week, passing 130-0. This just goes to show what can happen when both parties are involved in crafting a bill.
The package includes changes related to crime victims and their rights, making criminal justice reforms, modifying predatory offender restrictions, and modifying some duties of the Department of Corrections.
Unlike most omnibus bills that have been coming out of the Public Safety Committee in recent years, this policy omnibus is pretty clean. For example, there are no gun control measures or other controversial bills in this package … and it even includes handful of Republican-authored measures.
Also, this bill does not include any additional spending since it is comprised of policy provisions. That is good news because our state budget was increased by 40 percent just last year and a shortfall is on the horizon.
Guest chaplain
It was an honor to see Pastor Don LeClere from Marshall Evangelical Free Church in Marshall serve as guest chaplain in the House of Representatives this week. Thanks for your time and service, Pastor. I appreciated getting to spend time with you in St. Paul.
Partisan elections bill
As good as it was to see bipartisan work on the public safety package, it was rather concerning to see House Democrats also this week approved an omnibus elections bill which is extremely partisan and includes a number of controversial provisions.
Concerning changes include allowing a mere description of residence when an address is not available. The bill also infringes on local governments with additional unfunded mandates on local elections.
It’s too bad this bill took a partisan turn because elections policy has a longstanding tradition of being bipartisan so that neither side can use their legislative power to tip the scales in their favor. Previous governors have demanded that elections bills be bipartisan, but that is not the case right now. Enacting partisan elections policy with virtually zero support from the other side is undemocratic and irresponsible legislating.
Unclaimed money
There is a chance money is sitting around just waiting for you to claim it. This happens more often than you may think and you can check the Minnesota Unclaimed Property department website to see if there is any money in your name. Click here for a link to step-by-step guide on how to claim your unclaimed property online. If you need to contact the Unclaimed Property staff with any questions, please email unclaimed.property@state.mn.us or call 651-539-1545 (Select option 1).
Have a good weekend and hope you find some money. It might help offset this tax season!
Sincerely,
Chris