Legislative UpdateDear friends and neighbors, It has been another newsworthy week at the Capitol. This Wednesday evening, a deal was made between the House DFL and GOP caucuses. This means that Democrats are returning to the Capitol, ending their four week boycott. Lisa Demuth will be Speaker of the House for the next 2 years. The newly created Fraud and Oversight Committee will be GOP-chaired, with a GOP majority, for the next two years. And, all committees will have a GOP chair and a GOP majority at least until the winner of the 40B special election in mid-March. If the Republican candidate wins the election, we will have an uncontested Republican majority with quorum for the next 2 years. I am so thankful that are finally able to get to work for the people of Minnesota. Thank you to everyone who took to social media or reached out to DFL members to voice concerns about their skipping work. The stalemate was ended largely because of the public pressure on the Democrats that caused them to cave. The Scott County race that was won by 14 votes with 21 destroyed ballots causes great concern for election integrity in Minnesota. I am disappointed that we are not able to take a vote on unseating Brad Tabke because of these details regarding election integrity. I am hopeful that our Republican-lead elections committee will be able to make critical changes in our election law to ensure situations like this do not happen in the future. Thank you for your support as we navigate this very frustrating time in the legislature. Now, all eyes are on the 40B special election, as it will be the difference between returning to a 67-67 tie or having an outright Republican majority for the remainder of this biennium. Students at the Capitol All this week, we had students from all over the state here at the Capitol through various organizations and activities. I had the pleasure of meeting Mackenzie Mack from Park Rapids! Mackenzie is a 4-H ambassador and raises lambs for competition at the Hubbard County Fair. Last year she showed a goat, and someday she hopes to have rabbits too. It was so great to meet this wonderful young lady, especially from so close to home. Thank you, Mackenzie! HF24Now that the House is officially organized, we are resuming bill hearings and I have several on the calendar next week. I want to highlight HF24, which will be introduced and heard in committee on Monday. This bill returns the mandate to provide medically necessary care to babies that survive an abortion procedure. As a mom and a pro-life advocate, this bill hits close to home and I am proud to be the chief author. I look forward to sharing more details about some of the other bills I am carrying and supporting in the weeks to come. Fraud CommitteeAs I briefly mentioned in the opening, the Fraud and Oversight Committee is one major guarantee that we have under the deal that we agreed to this week. One of our main priorities is to root out waste, fraud, and abuse here in Minnesota and this committee will play a major role in that. We have already seen an insane amount of fraud be uncovered in the recent weeks and months, and I am confident that this committee is set to uncover a whole lot more. The fraud committee is set to have its first official meeting on Monday morning. |