Legislative Update - Rep. Tom Murphy

Legislative Update

Last weekend’s Town Hall on Education was a huge success. Thank you to everyone who came out to make their voice heard on such an important issue that affects all of our students. Quality education and providing funding for students, not systems, is an important step in getting our students ready for the future. If you want even more info on Education Freedom, next week the Center of the American Experiment is hosting a great event on the topic. You can Find out more about the event here.

More Burdens for Businesses

This week we had a long debate about the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act on the house floor. This legislation would give workers up to 24 weeks of paid time off per year, 12 for personal medical leave and 12 for caring for another family member. Unfortunately, this benefit would need to be funded by a nearly 3 billion dollar increase in payroll tax. This would be a huge financial burden so we rolled out a plan that wouldn’t be financially imposable, but like most of our ideas, the majority voted it down.

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Worst State for Startups

This bill just adds to the already terrible environment Minnesota has become for new businesses. The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce found us to rank 31st for states opening new businesses in 2019, a ranking that has likely lowered as many new mandates and regulations have been added to the books. We’ve heard countless stories about businesses choosing to move to neighboring states or start their business across the border to begin with.

Attack on Free Speech

The creation of a tip line and registry for offensive speech is a huge change that seems to be going under the radar from last week’s public safety omnibus bill. We already have “hate crime” laws on the books so this would be aimed at speech that by definition does not break the law. To me, this is a clear first amendment violation and a frightening step toward even bigger government.

This devotion to categorizing groups and putting neighbor against neighbor only serves to divide us more. Creating artificial barriers and stereotypes that prevent mutual understanding and ignoring the complexity of human beings, who cannot be reduced to simple categories. Such division fosters discrimination, prejudice, and injustice in society; the exact opposite of what this legislation claims to be working towards.

We can work towards a better Minnesota, and I look forward to being a part of that process.

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