Legislative Update - January 13, 2023

Dear Neighbors, 

We’re finishing up our second week - and first full week - in the Minnesota House, and we continue to pick up speed when it comes to delivering on our promises to Minnesotans. One that’s been in the news, and has indeed been a crucial topic in politics for the past year, has been the dire need to protect reproductive rights. 

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court unraveled a half-century of legal protections guaranteeing the right to an abortion, and in response, the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act has already passed several committees in the Minnesota House.

This bill protects Minnesotans’ right to contraception, the right to carry a pregnancy to term, the right to abortion, and ensures the right to privacy for personal reproductive health decisions. It also prevents interference by anti-choice politicians who seek to enact or defend medically unnecessary barriers to comprehensive reproductive health care. We can’t afford to only rely on judicial precedent in Minnesota, and I will wholeheartedly be supporting this bill. 

Legalizing Adult-Use Cannabis

Last week, my House DFL colleagues officially introduced legislation to legalize adult-use cannabis. We’ve heard from Minnesotans loud and clear: Minnesota is ready for legalization. 

Our bill creates a safe, well-regulated, and legal marketplace, including best practices for consumer protection, health, and public safety. It also includes a robust expungement program, so people who have disproportionately been caught in the criminal justice system due to cannabis can move on with their lives.

Minnesota’s current prohibition on cannabis is doing more harm than good, and over the last three years, DFLers in the legislature have worked and listened to build a Minnesota-specific model for cannabis legalization. I’m incredibly excited to move this proposal forward to address inequities, create economic opportunities, and update outdated laws. 

The Crown Act

The Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair (CROWN) Act was passed off the House floor this week with broad bipartisan support, and if that name sounds familiar it’s because we’ve already done that in the House twice in recent years. The bill updates the definition of “race” in the Minnesota Human Rights Act to include “traits associated with race, including but not limited to hair texture and hair styles such braids, locs, and twists.” This is one of many proposals we’re championing to build a more inclusive Minnesota.

“In 2023, we should not be asking people to tamp down their identity or their culture.”

Rep. Esther Agbaje, House Author of the CROWN Act

The bill was authored by my District 59 partner, Rep. Esther Agbaje, and to give some context for its multiple passages in the Minnesota House - the past few years of Republican Senate control kept numerous bills (even those with bipartisan support) from advancing any further in the legislative process. Now, with a 1-vote DFL Senate majority, the hope is that many bills like the CROWN Act will be given another shot at becoming law this session. 

You can read more about the CROWN Act here. 

If you have any questions about the bills we’re working on, please feel free to contact my office. You can contact me at rep.fue.lee@house.mn.gov or 651-296-4262, and my staff and I will be happy to help. Also, I’ll begin sending out these weekly updates again - if you haven’t subscribed or know of anyone who may be interested, that can be done here. 

I look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely, 

Fue Lee

State Representative