Dear Neighbor,
Another week in the 2024 session is coming to a close and here is the latest from the Capitol:
Straw gun purchases
House Republicans yesterday moved to act on a bill that I co-authored (H.F. 548) to increase the penalty for transferring a firearm to an ineligible person, aka, “straw man” purchases. Our move coincided with yesterday’s news an indictment has been filed against someone who allegedly acted as a straw purchaser of the weapons used in the shooting of three first responders in Burnsville. Click here for a brief clip of me encouraging House Democrats to join us in taking urgent action on this bill … shortly before House Democrats voted down our effort.
Bill approved to support First Amendment
In a time when our First Amendment rights too often fall under attack, it’s time to give credit where credit is due and thank my House colleagues for approving without opposition a bill intended to protect our First Amendment rights.
Specifically, HF 3309 is designed to protect the First Amendment rights to public expression and prevent “strategic lawsuits against public participation” (aka, SLAPP lawsuits) which serve to tamp down the right to free speech, press, assembly, petition, or association.
Beginning in the 1980s, courts have struggled with an increasing volume of lawsuits aimed at chilling public dissenting voices by initiating legal actions that may lack merit but intimidate defendants into silence. These suits characteristically are brought against people who exercise their First Amendment rights through a public expression which reflects unfavorably on the plaintiff.
By 2020, more than half of the U.S. States had anti-SLAPP statutes providing various levels of protection through a basic framework our legislation followed. The bill we approved was bipartisan, with DFLer Cedric Frazier and me the sole authors successfully achieving a 128-0 vote of support in the House.
This is a glimmer of good news our state can use.
Religious freedom
We are still waiting to see if the Senate will do the right thing by restoring the separation of church and state in Minnesota to defend our cherished religious freedoms.
When Democrats last year created a new, separate definition of gender identity in the Minnesota Human Rights Act, there was no corresponding religious exemption included. I presented a committee amendment to rectify the situation by restoring the religious exemption in the MHRA to protect religious organizations and faith-based schools against claims of gender identity discrimination. House Democrats voted down my amendment and now we continue waiting to see if the Senate will right this wrong when it takes up this bill. Stay tuned.
School safety
I also mentioned in my most recent newsletter the Minnesota House approved a bill to resolve last year’s change in law which caused school resource officers to be removed from schools throughout the state, including locally. After a hiccup in the Senate on Monday, the bill came back to the House for a vote on final passage Wednesday and was approved 119-9. The Senate also approved the bill yesterday and the governor enacted it into law.
Assisted suicide
Things had been quiet of late regarding a Democrat bill legalizing assisted suicide in Minnesota. That has changed and now the proposal has been the subject of House hearings, including Tuesday in the Judiciary committee on which I serve. This bill is of great concern, especially since it puts all medical providers in a place where they must provide suicide as an option for every patient under their care who is terminally ill with a six-month prognosis.
Democrats are forcing every provider to present this information at an extremely traumatic time when they may be most impressionable. They are taking someone who just received the most devastating news of their life and telling them suicide is an option. Democrats say they are against coercion but, to be charitable, they’re tiptoeing right up to that line by forcing this conversation that will cause undo influence at minimum and flat-out coercion at worst.
This bill violates my conscience and, more importantly, breaches the consciences and ethical codes of medical providers who expressed major concerns during the committee. Some are even wondering what this will mean for their own careers.
As a Democrat in the Senate put it, “The risk lies not in undervaluing personal autonomy for the few who currently want assisted suicide, but in normalizing attitudes that prioritize convenience over compassion.”
Hope you have a good weekend and please stay in touch.
Sincerely,
Harry