Dear Neighbor,
The House majority is busy assembling omnibus finance bills to fund various aspects of state government for the next two years.
Or, more precisely, they are deciding exactly how they propose spending the taxpayers’ $17.5 billion surplus and increasing the state budget by 40 percent now that Democrats in St. Paul have agreed to do so. Here’s a sneak peek:
Bad-speech registry
As a member of finance committees related to commerce and judiciary, I look forward to thorough discussions over what the majority proposes in those areas. One thing I want to dive into on judiciary is a proposed taxpayer-funded program where the state would collect data regarding perceived bias-related incidents that fall short of criminal acts or are not reported because the victim chooses not to. In this program, people could submit their version of events to “community groups,” that then could file reports with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights to collect in a database, aka a bad-speech registry.
This proposal would be a horrible precedent for our state to set, expanding the scope of government’s jurisdiction to include "incidents" that do not reach criminal levels. This measure would render the intention of the accused irrelevant because, if the person filing the report simply feels bad, then they have been a victim of bias and someone potentially is going to arbitrarily end up on the state’s bad-speech list.
It should be a good discussion and I may share more thoughts on this subject after the hearing.
Transpo taxes
It appears Democrats in St. Paul are bent on taxing anything that moves. They have assembled an omnibus transportation bill which raises taxes and fees by at least $4 billion – $1.71 billion in 2024-25, and by more than $2.2 billion in 2026-27. Here is a sampling of what they propose:
- ¾-cent metro area sales tax increase (for transit)
- 75-cent “delivery tax” (everything from Amazon packages to pizza delivery)
- License tab fee increases
- $10 surcharge on license tabs
- Motor vehicle sales tax increase
SAFER Act
I mentioned in a recent newsletter that House Democrats have been authoring numerous gun-control bills this year. A couple of them – H.F. 14 (universal gun registration and H.F. 15 (red flag confiscation orders) – are included in the majority’s 312-page public safety omnibus bill even though nearly 80 county sheriffs in Minnesota have signed letters objecting to these proposals.
Regardless of where the experts stand, one thing we know for sure is these bills neglect to address a rather key component on this subject: mental health. I support a package of four bills House Republicans propose to focus on core issues and the mental health. The bills are H.F. 3133, 3134, 3135, and 3136. Together, they are called the SAFER Act:
- Supporting Law Enforcement
- Accountability Resources for County Attorneys
- Facilities for Mental Health Care
- Education for Responsible Gun Ownership and Respect for Life
- Responsibility
The main objectives include increasing mental health and drug treatment centers, increasing criminal penalties for violent crimes and providing gun-safety curriculum for students – similar to the D. A. R.E. program – as an effort to reduce gun crimes or accidents. These components help us get to the heart of the matter, addressing the human element to mitigate the reasons why people are committing heinous crimes.
Have a good weekend and, as always, your input is welcome.
Sincerely,
Harry