Dear Neighbor,
Greetings from the House, where this has been a pretty good week for Republicans. We led the passage of a bill to resolve a bill to improve school safety and also caused Senate Democrats to at least think twice about making the same mistake House Democrats made by declaring open season on our religious freedom.
More on those shortly. First, I want to recognize the Supreme Court for issuing a 9-0 decision in support of fair and free elections. The push to ban Donald Trump from the ballot was baseless and should have been defeated by the lower courts.
It’s high time we stop activists from abusing the legal system to accomplish goals the political process won’t deliver. But at least the Supreme Court stepped in and did its job with a unanimous decision that should finally put this issue to rest in no uncertain terms.
We need to do all we can to ensure election integrity in Minnesota by making sure it is easy to vote and hard to cheat. In today’s electronic era, this involves using technology. Just one tool is an app available through votifynow.org, which is designed to help citizens strengthen the voting process in local, state and national elections. I hope you will give it a look.
In other news:
Religious freedom
House Democrats have made it crystal clear the state’s views trump your religious beliefs. They did so by recently voting down an amendment House Republicans offered in a committee hearing to fix a problem Democrats caused in the Minnesota Human Rights Act they enacted last year.
Before last year, when gender identity was included within the MHRA definition of sexual orientation, the still-existing religious exemption for sexual orientation covered gender identity claims as well. When a new, separate definition of gender identity was created last year, there was no corresponding religious exemption added.
The Republican amendment simply restores the religious exemption in the MHRA protecting religious organizations and faith-based schools against claims of gender identity discrimination. The exemption ensures that religious organizations and faith-based schools can, among other things, hire teachers and ministers consistent with their mission and values.
Unfortunately, the Democrat majority refused to fix the problem it created and voted down the amendment. This is a major red flag regarding the direction our state is heading under full control of Democrats. They obliterated the separation of church and state after assuring us for years their anti-discrimination push would spare religious entities.
Senate Democrats can right this wrong by accepting the amendment House Democrats voted down. Exactly when that amendment will be put to a vote is unclear because a hearing on the overriding bill scheduled for this week was pulled from the Senate agenda.
Special thank you to everyone who kicked up dust after House Democrats took their bad vote because we caused Senate Democrats to at least think again before voting to attack our religious freedom.
Bill addresses school safety issue
The House on Monday provided overwhelming approval of a bill to fix a problem Democrats caused after a change in law they enacted last year resulted in school resource officers to be removed from schools throughout the state.
House Republicans and our friends in law enforcement were the driving forces behind this bill – which is no small feat considering Democrats have full control of the Capitol.
The issue started with an omnibus education bill (HF 2497) Democrats enacted into law in 2023, imposing new prohibitions on the use of force in schools, banning certain physical holds by “an employee or agent of a district, including a school resource officer, security personnel, or police officer contracted with a district."
The bill we approved excludes SROs as employees or agents of a school district, excludes SROs from the prohibitions on prone restraints and physical holds, revises the “reasonable force standard,” mandates school districts and charter schools use only trained SROs, and establishes new training and model policy requirements for law enforcement.
The House approved the bill (H.F. 3489) by a 124-8 vote, which reminds me: Remember that statement 34 House Democrats issued last September to oppose fixing the SRO issue? Well, apparently 26 of those House Democrats don’t remember either, because they flipped and sided with Republicans when it came time to vote this week.
Have a good weekend and stay in touch.
Sincerely,
Shane