Dear Neighbor,
Come Monday, we will be starting the final week of the 2023 legislative session with many important bills yet to be resolved. Below are some of the latest developments, but first I would like to share some other important messages:
Happy Mother’s Day to moms in our district as we celebrate in your honor this holiday. I hope you are able to spend extra time in the company of loved ones as we celebrate this holiday. May the weather be nice and a deck/patio be near.
Fishing opener
Good luck to everyone participating in this weekend’s Minnesota’s fishing opener. Aside from pure enjoyment people find in fishing, it also plays an important role in our state’s economy. A recent Mankato Free Press article indicates, “In 2021, boating and fishing were the top contributors to the overall outdoor recreation economy — bringing in over $775 million in value added to Minnesota.”
One other, less cheery, thing to note on the subject of fishing: The omnibus environment package House Democrats approved in April raises fees for fishing, boating and visiting state parks. Those increases could be in place by next year, pending final results of this session.
Teacher Appreciation Week
As we celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week, I want to thank the teachers in our district for working so hard to help our children achieve success. Your efforts are very much appreciated.
All-Democrat public safety panel is reckless, dishonest
Minnesota legislative Democrats on today opened the door to treating pedophiles as a protected class in the state and funded a statewide speech registry while claiming otherwise.
Democrats broke from the norm by omitting Republicans from a conference committee they appointed late last month to prepare for final passage a bill to fund the state’s public safety/judiciary budget in the next two-year cycle. The all-Democrat panel reached agreement on S.F. 2909 and publicly posted it around 2:30 a.m. today – with plans to conduct votes on final approval as soon as this afternoon/tonight.
Without Republicans in the room, Democrats stripped from the bill language I successfully amended – without opposition – to House File 2890. My amendment eliminated concerns language in the original bill could be interpreted as protecting pedophiles under the Human Rights Act, simply indicating "The physical or sexual attachment to children by an adult is not a protected class under this chapter.”
The all-Democrat conference committee stripped my amendment without discussion. Without my amendment, some may interpret the HRA to deem pedophilia as a protected class in Minnesota, which prevents them from being denied employment, housing, education and more.
Part of our job as legislators is to anticipate misinterpretations of laws we create to head off potential problems. My amendment received overwhelming bipartisan support as a solution to prevent very dangerous outcomes from occurring, but Democrats recklessly decided not to have this protection in law. They are putting politics ahead of kids and are wearing ideological blinders instead of doing what’s right for Minnesotans.
In addition, the all-Democrat conference committee made changes that make it appear a proposed statewide bias speech registry has been removed from the bill. That’s not the case, because the bill still provides funding to support staff and a database for creating a bias registry – but under a different name.
Democrats are pretending to fix the speech registry but are still funding it while using more vague language that refers to analyzing civil rights trends. They are embarrassed because they can’t publicly defend their plan to create a new state-funded branch of thought police, so they have resorted to using misleading euphemisms while gaslighting the public. This is reckless, dishonest and shows why Minnesotans cannot trust this one-party, Democrat trifecta of rule in our state.
Veterans bill approved
Good news to report with the House this week providing final approval for an omnibus veterans and military affairs finance package, (H.F. 1937) which funds Minnesota’s National Guard members and veterans after their service to our state and nation concludes – with appropriations for the state’s next two-year budget cycle. It was good to see bipartisanship in this bill as it passed 131-0.
Budget bills
While the House has provided final approval for some smaller aspects of the state budget, the biggest finance packages are still in the hands of conference committees working to find agreement between House and Senate Democrat majorities. There are major reasons for concern in those bills and here are just a few:
Minnesota taxpayers
Democrats propose raising state spending by 40 percent, with nearly $10 billion in tax increases despite the record $17.5 billion budget surplus. This includes the House Democrats’ widely unpopular delivery taxes, along with billions in sales tax increases, payroll taxes, fee increases, and unnecessary tax and fee increases that take money out of the pockets of Minnesota families. Unfortunately, a full exemption of the state tax on Social Security is not in the Democrats’ plan.
First and Second Amendment
I continue advocating for House Democrat provisions that would compromise both our First Amendment and Second Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution to be stricken by a conference committee on public safety. I have written about these First/Second Amendment issues numerous times this session and will continue to support our constitutional rights.
Nursing homes
Minnesota's Nursing Home industry is suffering a crisis and faces severe consequences from Democrats failing to invest in nursing home care for seniors. The House DFL budget proposal is hundreds of millions of dollars short of meeting the urgent needs that exist.
Business mandates
Proposed tax increases, paired with billions of dollars in new business mandates pushed by Democrats have caused significant concern from Minnesota businesses of all sizes. This includes their proposed fifth-tier income tax that would impact many small businesses that file through their personal income taxes and give Minnesota one of the highest top tax brackets in the nation. Paid leave and sick time mandates would add billions in new taxes on both employers and employees and put an additional strain on Minnesota's already tight labor force.
Watch for more as things unfold next week. Let’s hope common sense prevails and the finished product resembles what the vast majority of us want instead of an extreme budget that caters to activists but ignores the wants and needs of everyday Minnesotans.
Sincerely,
Harry