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Dear Friends,
Rep. Harry Niska and I enjoyed hosting a group of 5th graders from Legacy Christian Academy this week! We joined the students as they had the unique opportunity of hearing from Associate Justice Barry Anderson in the Minnesota Supreme Court Chambers.
Budget Targets Released
This is a budget year, and this week the Governor, Speaker of the House, and Senate Majority Leader announced budget targets that committees will use to create their respective omnibus bills. Remember, Minnesota has a $17.5 billion surplus. Instead of returning the surplus to you, Democrats have decided to spend it all to grow our government budget by 30%.
Some key spending targets include $2.2 billion for Education, $1 billion for Housing, and $3 billion for Taxes, Aids and Credits. This does not mean $3 billion in tax cuts. The Taxes Committee could use these funds as ?spending? on refundable tax credits. Fully exempting the social security tax or providing permanent tax relief for all Minnesotans is not guaranteed.
Growing our state budget to $71.9 billion is putting Minnesota on an unsustainable path. We will face a budget deficit in the near future if the Democrat spending spree goes unchecked. We need to be increasing family budgets, not the government?s. I will continue fighting for permanent, meaningful tax relief to support all Minnesotans.
Judiciary Committee
The Judiciary committee was very busy this week as we worked to meet the Second Deadline today. Second Deadline marks the point in session where a bill must have had a hearing in both the House and Senate in order to move forward.
One bill that we heard would force housing providers to accept tenants receiving housing support. As a housing provider myself, I know the difficulties they face when any tenant breaks a lease agreement. I have deep concerns that this bill will fail to make any housing provider whole if a tenant breaks their contract. ?
Protecting Kids
This morning, in the very early hours, Democrats passed a bill to make Minnesota a sanctuary state for gender-affirming care. HF 146 undermines parental rights and, most concerningly, has zero guardrails to protect our kids. As the Republican lead on the Judiciary committee, I worked with our GOP team on this bill, and we identified numerous issues with this bill. Some of the concerning provisions include:
- Failure to protect kids, who can be brought to Minnesota ?by one parent or a person acting as parent? and be given transgender health care, including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and genital surgery, in some cases without their parents? permission. There are no age limits on how old children must be before getting these irreversible treatments.
- Creation of a new definition of ?gender-affirming healthcare? that ?respects the gender identity of the patient, as experienced and defined by the patient.? This is an unprecedented standard, where the patient, including a minor, can self-diagnose and the doctor must provide care according to the patient?s definition.?
- Undermines parents? long-standing Constitutional rights to direct the upbringing of their children.?
- Puts Minnesota above the law by prohibiting our state from recognizing out-of-state subpoenas and our extradition statutes are amended to exclude acts involving gender-affirming health care.
We want to protect kids and ensure every child is able to receive the help, love, and support they need to flourish in life. This bill is not the way to do that.
In this time of extreme divisiveness, I want to leave you with a quote from Jamie Reed, a whistle blower regarding the harms of transgender medical treatment, and a self-identifying queer woman who initially believed she was helping gender-dysphoric kids as a case worker at St. Louis Children?s Hospital. She said: ?The safety of children should not be a matter for our culture wars.?
Last night, Republicans fought to protect our kids and stand up for the rights of parents. I encourage people to reach out to their Senators and urge them to do the same.
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