Dear Neighbor,
We’re wrapping up another busy week in St. Paul, where we continue spending most of our time in committee meetings, moving bills through the process so they can come to the floor for votes of the full body.
Before we get into more on that, I want to urge you to check out my new State Representative Jimmy Gordon Facebook page for more of my notes from the House. Please give it a follow!
 Girls sports We expect Monday to be a big day on the House floor, with the Preserving Girls Sports Act (H.F. 12) on course for a House vote that day. I’m a co-author of this bill, which says: “Only students of the female sex may participate in an elementary or secondary school athletic team or sport that an educational institution has restricted on the basis of sex to women or girls.” |
Floor bills
Here is a quick look at two important bills that came to the House floor this week:
Emergency powers: On Thursday, the House took up a bill allowing the legislature to make sure governors do not abuse their emergency powers as the current governor did a few years ago with his extreme overreach that lasted a year and a half.
The bill (H.F. 21) requires supermajority approval by each legislative body for peacetime emergency powers to extend beyond 14 days. This change balances powers by requiring legislative approval for a governor to extend emergency powers ( instead of requiring legislative approval to end the emergency powers as is the case today). The bill also says the emergency powers can only be extended 14 days at a time instead of a full month as current law allows.
House Democrats blocked the bill from passing, but it remains tabled for potential reconsideration later.
Light rail: Earlier this week, the full House considered a Republican bill (H.F. 14) that places a moratorium on funding for light rail projects in response to persistent cost overruns and delays.
Minnesotans have already paid more than twice the original cost of the Southwest Light Rail, which has surged from $1.25 billion to $2.9 billion and is nearly a decade behind schedule. Now, before construction has even started, the Blue Line Extension’s costs have tripled. Initially projected at $999 million with a 2022 completion date, the project is now estimated at $3.2 billion and won’t be operational until at least 2030.
House Democrats blocked the bill from passing, but it remains tabled for potential reconsideration later.
Here’s the kicker: On the very same day House Democrats dug in to defend boondoggle light rail trains, the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Council announced the struggling Northstar Commuter Rail line between Minneapolis and Big Lake may be shut down and replaced with bus service. Reports indicate “Ridership on Northstar cratered by nearly 98% during the pandemic as workers transitioned to remote work, with an average of 60 weekday rides reported in April 2020 with a $116 subsidy per passenger.”
It’s ridiculous to continue pouring billions into obsolete fixed-rail systems that fail to meet our evolving transportation needs, but House Democrats don’t seem to care. They keep catering to their activist agenda instead of doing what serves most Minnesotans.
Sincerely,
Jimmy