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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Harry Niska (R)

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Legislative update

Friday, March 8, 2024

Dear Neighbor,

Greetings from the Capitol, where the Democrats’ all-out attack on our religious freedom continues to be a main subject of interest. Here’s the latest on that issue and more:

I wrote last week that House Democrats made it clear the state’s views of government trump your religious beliefs. Senate Democrats still have a chance to right this wrong by accepting an amendment to restore to the Minnesota Human Rights Act a religious exemption for sexual orientation covered gender identity claims.

It is unclear when the Senate will put that amendment to a vote since it canceled a hearing on the relevant bill that had been scheduled for this week.

We need to do the right thing here by restoring what we thought was consensus, that religious communities in Minnesota have the autonomy to decide questions of faith. Anything less undermines the foundation of our great state and nation, setting off major alarms about the assault full-control Democrats are waging on our cherished freedom of religion.

I posted a quick social media video with more on this subject. Click here to see the clip. The newsletter I issued last week also has more on this issue and you can click here for those details.

On a related side note: The Catholic bishops of Minnesota came to the Capitol on Thursday for their annual round of legislative visits. I was blessed to have a short meeting with a few of them, and I hope they had some productive conversations with my colleagues across the aisle. I will continue to work on this issue and keep you updated.

Bill addresses school safety issue

The House on Monday provided overwhelming approval of a bill to fix a problem Democrats caused after a change in law they enacted last year resulted in school resource officers to be removed from schools throughout the state.

This has been a big issue for students in Andover and Ramsey, who saw SROs removed from their school buildings last fall, leaving our students, teachers and staff unsafe. It’s good the majority finally came around to understanding the gravity of their new law and started working with Republicans to fix the problem they created.

While this is not the fast and full fix Republicans would have executed, fixing it late is better than never and fixing it halfway is better than not at all. I hope this bill eases concerns of law enforcement so SROs can get back to doing the important work they do so well.

The issue traces back to an omnibus education bill (HF 2497) Democrats enacted into law in 2023, imposing new prohibitions on the use of force in schools, banning certain physical holds by “an employee or agent of a district, including a school resource officer, security personnel, or police officer contracted with a district."

The bill we approved excludes SROs as employees or agents of a school district, excludes SROs from the prohibitions on prone restraints and physical holds; revises the “reasonable force standard,” mandates school districts and charter schools use only trained SROs, and establishes new training and model policy requirements for law enforcement.

Let’s vote on the state flag

To unify Minnesotans on a new state flag, House Republicans have authored legislation allowing Minnesotans to vote on the new flag design that has been approved by the Minnesota State Emblems Redesign Commission. The legislation was crafted in consultation with non-partisan House staff to steer clear of any constitutionality questions and puts the flag design up for a vote this November.

Democrats have been using the design of a new flag and seal to drive a political agenda. It’s time to put an end to the partisan games that should not be part of this process and allow Minnesotans to have the final say about what flag flies over the citizens of our state.

I will be back soon with more from the House. Until then, have a good weekend and please stay in touch.

Sincerely,

Harry