Dear Friends,
A number of budget-related conference committee reports were approved on the House floor this week, but a few still remain. In this update, I’m going to share my thoughts on the public safety conference committee report and discuss some of the other budget bills after session has ended, which will happen by Monday.
PUBLIC SAFETY PROPOSAL IS MADDENING
The Public Safety/Judiciary bill passed this week with all Democrat votes. Though there are a number of provisions in this omnibus bill that I support, there are too many harmful components for me to justify voting for the bill. In addition, instead of providing law enforcement with the resources they need to keep Minnesotans safe, this bill ties their hands more, inhibiting their ability to do their job, and fails to make any significant investments to recruit, train, and retain law enforcement professionals. These are the very people we need to have on our streets and in our communities to keep us safe and it’s important that we support them.
Please feel free to click on the link below to watch my speech during the floor debate where I share some of my concerns about this bill, including gun provisions that will do nothing to solve any problems, pedophiles, a “get out of jail free card” for violent criminals, and more. What this bill will do for the criminal who shot Officer Arik Matson in the head three years ago, along with other violent offenders like that criminal, is highly concerning and will make your blood boil. This should never happen!
The implications will yet to be seen for the removal by the all DFL conference committee of the child-protecting language from the human rights act - language that clarifies that pedophiles cannot acquire rights as a protected class. This is highly concerning to me. Lawyers tell us that the absence of this language will leave a glaring hole for future lawyers and judges to potentially give pedophiles protection as a sexual orientation. Republicans tried multiple times to negotiate this protective and clarifying language back into law but our efforts were rebuffed at every level. This just blows my mind. Protecting our children from sexual predators should be of utmost importance!
Please click here if you’d like to watch my comments. Stay tuned for more info on other bills as session wraps up in just a few days.
Have a good weekend,
Peggy