Legislative Update - Rep. Tom Murphy

Legislative Update

Friends and Neighbors,

It has been great to get started in St. Paul. I am very proud to be here representing the people of District 9B.

Standing up for Life

It was a very sad day on Thursday. House File 1, the abortion bill deemed as the Democrat’s number one priority, passed in the House. It's a horrible bill that shows the extremeness of Democrats on abortion. Democrats said no to licensing abortion providers, said no to banning Partial Birth Abortions, said no to banning 3rd term abortions and said no to allowing counties and cities the choice to opt out.

Democrats have more to come with House File 91 which is even worse. MCCL said, “what does the abortion industry want to hide; no reporting, no licensing, no parental notification, and little informed consent.”  In 2022, we had five babies that were born alive in Minnesota in failed abortions. With no reporting, we will have no way to present data that defends the lives of the unborn or protects the health of the mother.

I will continue to fight for the rights of the unborn and pray this body will do what is best for the lives of everyone in Minnesota.

In Committee

In our Transportation Committee this week we heard about several concerning issues we will face in the near future. Gas tax revenues continue to get smaller. Our current proposed budget for counties and rural cities decreased by 4% not including 8-13 percent projected inflation. We have a huge surplus, yet Democrats are looking at all the ways they can spend it when these shortfalls could mean huge problems for investing in infrastructure.

We learned about House File 7. This would result in a complete ban on garbage incinerators, like we have in Perham and Alexandria, which would have a number of consequences, especially for Otter Tail, Douglas and surrounding counties. Incinerators produce steam for direct use by area businesses or produce electricity and serve as a primary solution for waste management. Without them, this garbage would need to go to a landfill where it will take significantly more space to store. The environmental impacts of a landfill are worse than using incinerators. The off-gassing of methane and potential for leaching into the groundwater is much worse than the emissions released from burning trash, especially at such high temperatures and with ever-improving technology. Closing these incinerators will have a huge negative financial effect on every household.

If you have any legislative concerns, please reach out to my office by phone at 651-296-6756 or by email at Rep.Tom.Murphy@House.mn.gov.

Stay Up-to-Date

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