Legislative Update
Friends and Neighbors,
Happy Mother’s Day! I hope you’re able to celebrate with your loved ones this weekend.
We’re officially in the last week of the 2024 Legislative Session with just 5 session days left before we must adjourn on May 20. Much like last week, this week was full of long floor sessions where the DFL passed their omnibus spending bills off of the floor.
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This week I offered an amendment to the Agriculture/Energy/Commerce bill to require disclosure when insect products are used in food meant for human consumption. Before I delve into that, I just want to take a moment to point out how outrageous it is that this is ONE bill. Omnibus bills alone weren’t bad enough, so the Agriculture, Energy, and Commerce Omnibus Bills all got wrapped up into one super omnibus bill. The majority has no regard for the legislative process and clearly doesn’t care that the Minnesota Constitution requires single-subject bills.
As for my amendment, I believe in consumer transparency. It’s imperative that Minnesotans know what they’re consuming, especially since we’ve seen corporations around the world start using cricket flower, mealworms, and other protein in processed food products. These companies will even attempt to hide the fact that they’re serving up insects by disguising cricket powder on the ingredients label as “Acheta” powder.
My amendment, unfortunately, failed even though the same bill includes a requirement to label fake honey! I guess the majority only cares about consumer transparency in one instance, but regardless it was disappointing to see.
Finally, an extremely concerning proposal is coming up for consideration on the House Floor on Monday – the Equal Rights Amendment. This bill would put a constitutional amendment on the 2026 General Election Ballot under the premise of protecting equal rights for women, but in reality, it does the opposite and goes even further.
Frankly, the ERA protects men cosplaying as women with no religious exemption and enshrines abortion until the moment of birth into the Minnesota Constitution. Not only is the amendment itself obviously extremely concerning, but it didn’t even go through the proper committee process to receive the same level of scrutiny as other bills. The only hearing it received is a fast-tracked hearing in the House Rules Committee!
It’s safe to say that I will be a no on this bill.
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