Dear Neighbor,
The 2024 legislative session officially began Monday with a great many challenges to address between now and our May 20 date for adjournment.
In fact, I personally made motions to address a couple of important issues on the very first day of session. Here is more on those subjects and more:
Holdingford Elementary visit
Thank you to the students, teachers and staff at Holdingford Elementary School for recently hosting Sen. Jeff Howe and me for a Principal for a Day event (above). We enjoyed the opportunity and even teamed up to read a book to first-grade students. Our future looks awfully bright with these kids!
Efforts on the House floor
You may recall changes made to state law last year limit what SROs are allowed to do to de-escalate aggressive or violent situations, taking away tools they can use to keep students and teachers safe. In response, law enforcement agencies pulled SROs from numerous schools across Minnesota and, to this day, the issue remains unresolved.
I made a motion on Monday to suspend the House rules and bring forward a bill (HF3489) to rectify the situation and improve safety in our schools, and made another motion Wednesday to provide a more timely solution. Unfortunately, the majority blocked those motions to take prompt action and is delaying legislation that is needed to fix this serious public safety issue. This is not the “fast track” Democrats promised to deliver on this issue. Schools, students, and law enforcement have been waiting for months to find resolution that returns SROs to their posts ensuring school safety. Republicans will continue working until a real fix is passed and 100% of SROs are back in schools.
A separate motion I made Monday would reject the committee report on the majority’s assisted-suicide bill (HF1930). In the end, the majority voted to adopt the committee report and move it along to the next committee stops for hearings.
International leaders
It was my pleasure to recently meet with a group visiting the Capitol through the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program (above). The delegation of young leaders spanned more than a dozen countries and it was an interesting discussion where I think we all learned something.
Media appearances
Check out TPT Channel 2 at 7 p.m. this Friday as Almanac conducts its first show of this legislative session with me as part of the guest panel.
(Likely) Starting Feb. 23, I will be making regular 12:45 p.m. Friday appearances on KASM 1150 AM to discuss the latest developments at the Capitol. I thoroughly enjoy the on-air discussions I have with Joe Gill and hope you can tune in.
Helpful links
Here are some links to House of Representatives resources that are helpful in following along this session:
My social media
You can find me on Facebook at Representative Lisa Demuth, on X at @LisaDemuthMN, or on Instagram at lisademuthmn.
Look for more news and notes from St. Paul as the session progresses. I’m sure I’ll have a lot to say. For now, I would like to sincerely thank the people of our district for the continued support. As always, your input is welcome, and you can reach me using the contact info found in this email.
Have a good weekend.
Sincerely,
Lisa