Dear Neighbor,
It is a good news/bad news week in the House. First, the good news: A bill I authored to fix a major local issue which has left some District 31 residents unable to safely consume tap water in their own homes officially has been introduced in the House so it may be considered for passage this session.
My bill (H.F. 363) provides $9 million in state capital investment funds, allowing the city of Andover to design and construct new municipal water mains in the city’s Red Oaks neighborhood, where the cancer-causing chemical dioxane was detected in private drinking water wells. Red Oaks residents have been relying on bottled water to drink, cook food and brush their teeth for more than a year.
These contaminated wells are a public safety hazard for people in our district, not to mention the significant inconveniences they are causing. Safe drinking water is one of those things you take for granted – until you don’t have it. The bill to fix this problem is the first I have introduced as a legislator and for good reason. We need action as soon as possible and I have pegged this project at the top of my to-do list for District 31A.
I continue meeting with Red Oaks residents who have been impacted and discussing solutions with officials at the state and local levels.
Questions remain regarding the source of the pollution, how far it reaches or even who may be responsible for cleanup but can’t afford to wait any longer for answers. Those investigations can continue, and should, but not to the detriment of people in our district continuing to suffer health risks. Public safety is a chief responsibility of government, and we owe it to the people we serve to abide by that principle. I’m focused on the thing that’s most important to me – taking care of my constituents – by carrying this bill.
All the legislators representing Andover have signed on as co-authors of either my bill or the companion Sen. Cal Bahr is carrying. My version is now in the hands of the House Capital Investment Committee, and I will continue advocating for its inclusion in a bonding package this session.
As for the bad news:
Democrats approve extreme abortion bill
House Democrats on Thursday approved an extreme bill which makes abortion, already legal in Minnesota under Doe v. Gomez, available at any time during a pregnancy and with no guardrails. It would make our state an outlier in the United States and western world, putting our state’s abortion laws on par with radical regimes such as North Korea and China.
Their extreme stance on abortion is out of touch with average Minnesotans and threatens the health and safety of mothers and unborn children. I strongly oppose this bill and voted against it.
House Republicans offered numerous common-sense amendments to, at the very least, moderate their radical bill. The fact House Democrats refuse to license abortion facilities or protect a child from being aborted in the third trimester – even with the exceptions of rape, incest, or health of the mother – is egregious and a position not supported by the vast majority of Minnesotans.
House Democrats repeatedly have referred to this bill as the Codify Roe Bill, but it’s not – it is much more extreme. So I offered a reasonable amendment, the “Codify Roe Amendment,” as an olive branch to help make this bill into at least make it a little more moderate instead of taking the most extreme position we can take on this crucial policy issue. The language in the amendment is not mine, rather it comes straight from Justice Harry Blackmun in the majority opinion from Roe vs. Wade. It expresses the state’s important interests in safeguarding health, maintaining medical standards, and protecting potential life, which is appropriate since, again, Democrats continually have argued this bill is essentially codifying Roe v. Wade.
It is unfortunate House Democrats blocked this amendment not only in the committee process, but on the House floor Thursday. The language they brought to the floor includes no health or safety guardrails, but the majority approved it anyway with all Republicans voting in opposition. The bill is now in the hands of the Senate, our last hope to stop this before it is sent to the governor to sign into law.
Watch for more from the House soon and, as always, your input is welcome.
Sincerely,
Harry