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*May 23, 2023*

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

O'Neill
CANNABIS AND THE SECOND AMENDMENT

Last week, the House passed a bill to legalize recreational marijuana [ [link removed] ]. During the debate, I spoke on several extremely concerning implications [ [link removed] ] of this bill, particularly concerning Minnesotans' gun rights.

Recently there have been several cases in federal courts about whether marijuana users are prohibited from possessing firearms under 18 U.S. Code ? 922 (d)(3) [ [link removed] ] - Unlawful Acts.

Just this year two federal judges, one in Oklahoma and the other from Texas, have found that they are not prohibited, and the Biden administration's Justice Department responded by immediately appealing those rulings and reasserting that users of marijuana are indeed prohibited from possessing firearms.

We had a member of the House, Rep. Rod Hamilton, who enrolled in the medical cannabis program. He spoke openly about the fact that even though he never filled his prescription, the simple fact that he had enrolled in the program, precluded him from purchasing or possessing a firearm. This issue has been around for years, and the case is likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court.

With that in mind, the question remains of how the federal government would discover one?s use or possession of marijuana. In the bill there are several state licenses that could be obtained to grow one?s own marijuana, grow it for retail, wholesale, transport, deliver, cultivate, process, or more. The federal government could easily obtain those lists. Also, beginning July 1, the federal government is implementing FedNow, through which all transactions using a credit card or bank account will be routed, and is a way for the government to see every single transaction going through one?s bank accounts and if that person purchased marijuana and to deny them the right to own or purchase any firearm. It is important to understand that nationwide a recently developed app, KindPay is a common way to purchase Marijuana instead of cash. These transactions would also go through FedNow and thus easily seen by the federal government. If you are going to exercise your new freedom in Minnesota, just know it might come at a great cost.



ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

In the final environment and energy bill [ [link removed] ] last week, I was glad to see the fee increases for fishing licenses and state parks dropped from the final agreement. Unfortunately, there are a number of provisions [ [link removed] ]still included that are not in the best interests of Minnesotans. Among those are the removal of a study of advanced nuclear reactors, the lack of reductions of costs to the community solar gardens, and a brand new ?preweatherization? funding for low income homeowners. It will also cost $1.003 billion from the General Fund for this biennium, and $2.535 billion from all environmental funds combined.

Community solar gardens are one of the most expensive ways to produce power, and Xcel Energy must buy the power at four times the wholesale market rate. While power from community solar gardens can cost between 12 to 14 cents per kilowatt hour depending on when the contract was signed, rooftop solar currently only costs 2 - 3 cents per kilowatt hour according to testifiers in committee. We should be studying ways to lower the cost of energy, not dumping money into power generation sources that show no signs of becoming competitive without significant subsidies.

For the preweatherization funding of $38.5 million, the bill massively expands what preweatherization funding can be used for - including things like pest management, remediation of clutter and hoarding, major electrical repair, black mold removal, plumbing repair, grading, structural repair, and more.

TAXES

The tax bill [ [link removed] ] alone raises $2.2 billion in new taxes, at a time when we have a $17.5 billion budget surplus, many of which hit lower income Minnesotans and businesses the hardest. It also fails to fully repeal the tax on social security income, breaking a promise that nearly every House Democrat made over the last year. We are one of only 11 states that still taxes social security, and it is time to leave that group.

The bill also makes a change to e-pull tabs, which are a critical revenue source for local charities like veterans organizations and youth sports teams.

TRANSPORTATION

The Transportation bill [ [link removed] ] raises sales taxes in the seven-county Metro area by more than $2 billion over the next four years through a 3/4 cent sales tax. It also raises the gas tax approximately 5 cents this year and indexes it to inflation, automatically raising the gas tax every year another 3 ? 6 cents. This gas tax change will cost drivers $423 million over the next four years. On top of these increases, it also hikes license tab fees and the motor vehicle sales tax, raising over a billion dollars between the two increases over four years. This Transportation bill is unacceptable, and will hit Minnesota families in the pocketbooks.

EDUCATION

The Education bill [ [link removed] ]?will cost Minnesotans $23.2 billion in this biennium, and another $24.4 billion in FY 26-27 and makes changes to teacher licensure to make it harder for Tier 1 teachers to move to Tier 2. This is unfortunately a pathway that many minority teachers and those with extensive experience in the field that they're teaching in often use. The bill also repeals the requirement for teachers completing a teacher prep program to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of science-based reading instruction, and exempts those who complete Minnesota Teacher Prep from teacher assessment requirements. At a time when kids are having trouble reading and doing math at grade level, this bill is making it both harder for good teachers to move to a higher licensure, and easier for teachers who haven't proven their ability to teach.

HEALTH

In the Health bill [ [link removed] ], Democrats removed even more guardrails on abortions, provides more taxpayer funding for abortions, allows undocumented immigrants to enroll in MinnesotaCare, destroys the individual market. It also includes a study for a public option for MinnesotaCare - and once it's complete, the bill directs the legislature to begin implementation. This bill's total cost in FY 24-25 is $6.2 billion, with another $6.4 billion in 26-27 , and will be disastrous for Minnesotans.

Graph
BONDING

On the last day of session, the House and Senate passed two bonding [ [link removed] ] bills [ [link removed] ] in addition to all of the spending they've done so far. This session, Democrats spent through our entire $17.5 billion budget surplus, raised billions more in taxes and spent that too, and finally decided to borrow another $1.5 billion dollars to spend on new projects. This session alone has raised the state budget by $20 billion. You can see the growth in state budgets over the last 12 years above.

SCHOOL GROUPS AT THE CAPITOL

Over the last few weeks I welcomed three school groups (photos below) from Buffalo and two from Monticello. Thank you to all of the students and teachers for visiting!







BuffaloBuffalo

BuffaloMonticello




Please Contact Me

As always, if you need assistance on an issue pertaining to state government or have concerns or ideas about legislation, my office is available to you. You can e-mail at [email protected] or call my office at 651-296-5063 [ tel:6512965063 ]. You can also write a letter to me. My office address at the Capitol is 357 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, St. Paul, MN 55155.

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357 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, MN 55155
651.296.5063







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