ST. PAUL – State Representative Steve Jacob (R-Altura) said too much debate on radical Democrat proposals and not enough attention paid to common sense legislation will be the key takeaways from the now concluded 2024 legislative session.
“The priorities shown by the legislative majority over the past two years have been head scratching to say the least,” Jacob said. “Because their leadership has been trying to appease the most extreme members, we have seen many controversial proposals being moved along with no respect to the rules of the House chamber.”
Jacob noted that the Democrat majority spent a nearly $18 billion budget surplus last year and raised taxes by another $10 billion. In addition, they approved new laws that provide free college; health insurance and drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants; allow abortions up to birth; attack your 2nd Amendment rights; declared Minnesota a refuge for children seeking sex changes; created a hate speech database; and created a program that allows inmates who complete certain programming to serve just half of their prison sentences.
This session, House Democrats approved a ballot measure that would ask voters whether to codify abortions until birth in the state Constitution, but the proposal was not debated in the Minnesota Senate.
And during the final hour of session, Jacob said the majority party took several controversial proposals and combined them into one for a forced floor vote. The 1,430-page bill included spending relating to taxes, transportation, housing, labor, higher education, agriculture, energy, and human services. Also included is language relating to scope of practice, paid family medical leave and a binary trigger ban for firearms.
“This is the sort of nonsense that occurs under one-party rule,” Jacob said. “It’s so disappointing that partisan power plays are more important than doing what is right for all Minnesotans.”
Jacob said he also helped prevent an anti-farming bill from becoming law, as a measure that would prohibit corn planting on state land was not approved.