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*March 28, 2024
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Easter

Dear Friends & Neighbors,

Happy Easter! I hope you are able to take a few days off and spend time with family and friends! ?

The Legislature is on break until Tuesday and we are going to be able to see our young adult children, which is always such a joy!?

Although it was a short week for us, it was still very busy.? House Republicans fought to reinstate long-standing religious freedom protections in the state Human Rights Act.? I also presented a bonding bill for the Medina Water Treatment Plant, and worked to get two amendments passed on ?fix it? bill for marijuana.







Executive Summary

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Reinstating Religious Freedom Protections

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Medina Water Treatment Bill

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Marijuana Amendments

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Upcoming Event






Reinstating Religious Freedom Protections

presser

This week House Republicans again attempted to uphold religious freedom by restoring the religious exemption in the MN Human Rights statute.

Prior to May 2023, ?gender identity? was included in the definition of ?sexual orientation? in the Minnesota Human Rights Act.? Since 1993, when sexual orientation was added to the statute, the law has always included an exemption for religious organizations.?

*Last year, the DFL Majority created a new, separate definition of ?gender identity? in the HRA, but failed to extend the religious exemption to this new protected class, even though the religious exemption had applied to gender identity when it fell under the definition of ?sexual orientation.?*??

This elimination of the religious exemption caused concern among Minnesota?s faith community and Republicans worked with religious leaders from the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities to craft the language of HF 3926 [ [link removed] ].? Already, at least one faith-based school is facing an employment complaint at the Department of Human Rights because of the removal of the exemption.

*The religious exemption for sexual orientation, which included gender identity, has been in statute for over 20 years and has served the state well.? This exemption balanced the rights of individuals while also protecting the religious freedom of people of all faiths across our state. We need to restore the religious freedom exemption for gender identity and ensure that Minnesotans? First Amendment rights are upheld and they can again worship as they see fit, and without the threat of legal action.*

Protecting religious liberty should not be a partisan issue - it is a core tenant of our republic.? Unfortunately, our efforts to address this in committee and on the floor have failed on party-line votes.??

*Indeed, the Majority voted to table our bill on the House Floor, which prevented us from even having a debate on the issue.? House Republicans held a press conference on the issue, which you can watch in its entirety here. [ [link removed] ]*

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Medina Water Treatment Bill

bonding bill

This week I also had the opportunity to present a bonding request for our district before the Capital Investment Committee.

As you will recall from previous newsletters, I have introduced bonding projects on behalf of many cities in our district, including Greenfield, Loretto, Medina & Maple Grove.

I put in ?hearing requests? for each of these bills but the only hearing I was granted was for the Medina project, which was heard this week.

My bill, HF 3653 [ [link removed] ], would provide nearly $3 million to the City of Medina to construct an expansion of the Medina Water Treatment Plant. *Great thanks to Scott Johnson, Medina City Administrator and Steve Nelson, Director Water/Wastewater for coming to the Capitol to answer questions and provide expert testimony!*

I continue to work on all of the bonding requests for our district, even if they don?t get formal bill hearings.? As you will recall, I hosted Republican Bonding Lead Rep. Dean Urdahl in our district with the Highway 55 Corridor Coalition a few weeks ago and today I had a call with Bonding Chair Fue Lee about each of the projects requested by our district.? Bonding is always the last bill to pass in the session and the House & Senate Chairs are just beginning to put project lists together for their respective chambers.? It will still be several weeks before we know if a bonding bill will pass this year and whether any of our projects made the cut!


bonding billl




Marijuana Amendments

This week the House Commerce Committee accepted two bills I had introduced as amendments to the ?marijuana fix-it bill? that is moving through the Legsilature.? These amendments were carried for me by Rep. Bernie Perryman (R-St. Cloud) as I am not a member of the Commerce Committee.? So thankful for the great teamwork!

HF 5101 [ [link removed] ] will prohibit simultaneous advertising of marijuana and alcohol, as well as prohibit advertising that would appeal to people under age 21, including depictions of cartoons, toys, dessert, or candy.

HF 5102 [ [link removed] ] will require that a clinical pharmacy expert be added to the Cannabis Board.

Although I had hoped for additional amendments that would increase local control and create potency limits and add other labeling requirements, I am grateful these common-sense amendments were adopted and will help make legalization somewhat safer for Minnesotans.






SOB Update

gopher

My colleagues and I continue our efforts to stop the $730 million renovation of the State Office Building.? As you can see, construction on this excessive ?Palace for Politicians? continues every day. It appears that the DFL expects to spend a lot of time in this building in the near future, which is made even more evident when looking at their bill [ [link removed] ] to turn Minnesota into a full-time legislature.

We continue to also try to restore a role for the Capitol Area Architectural & Planning (CAAP) Board, which was eliminated by the Majority from having any role in the process.? This is unfortunate, as there are many interesting and historic aspects of the current building that should be preserved, not demolished ? including the cute little gophers that are in all of the brass railings in the building.? Period lighting fixtures, carvings and other historic features should all be preserved in some fashion and eliminating the CAAP board?s involvement has been a big mistake.

I continue to push for public hearings on this waste of taxpayer money.? For context, the entire bonding request for all of the campuses of the U of M and the Minnesota State System were $700 million this year ? we are spending $730 to renovate just ONE building.

We will continue to try to stop this project and save money for taxpayers.


sob




Upcoming Event

Please consider joining me at this upcoming event on April 9th in Medina!

afp event




Please Contact Me

Many of you have already been in touch to discuss your thoughts on the issues that matter most to you. Thank you for sharing your ideas! Please continue to contact me to discuss any matters to which I can be of assistance.

The best way to reach me is by email:[email protected]. For occasional updates, you can follow my Facebook Page at @RepKristinRobbins. You can also leave a voicemail on my office number, 651-296-7806, which is checked every weekday while we are in session.

Of course, if you are coming to the Capitol, I?d love to meet you! Please reach out if you would like to set-up an in-person meeting.?

Have a great weekend!

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Kristin











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239 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, MN 55155
ph: 651.296.7806







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