Legislative Update
Dear Neighbor,
It's been a very busy week in St. Paul with a few nights burning the midnight oil for our constituents. With the end of session just 17 days away, omnibus bills have begun making their way to the floor. The Omnibus bill strategy involves the integration of multiple policies combined into one large bill. It is a recipe for disaster with a quagmire of bad provisions that get tacked on to bills.
Education Supplemental Budget Bill
On Tuesday, we heard the Education Omnibus bill which originated on a committee I serve on. Overall, the bill is not good. It makes some necessary changes to the READ Act, but the law is full of unfunded mandates that create budget issues for our schools. Last year's bill contained 65 new mandates overriding local control. This year's bill isn’t much different, with additional mandates including shifts in health standards and paid leave during school closures. This presents further budgetary burdens on schools. It's disturbing to consider that while schools are struggling to incorporate the new mandates and lay off staff, the Department of Education will receive additional funding to hire more people for the enforcement of these mandates.
I believe in local control and the empowerment of our school boards and teachers to prioritize what their independent needs are within their district. That is why I offered an amendment to help schools recover some of the money they're losing because of these mandates. My amendment would take money from the fund paying for the new State Office Building expansion and reallocate it to our school districts to cover some of the costs. It was my first time offering an amendment on the floor as your representative and I was proud to stand up for our teachers and our schools. However, the amendment was found not germane by the majority and subsequently dismissed. You can see my floor speech on the amendment above. Rest assured that we will keep fighting for our teachers, schools, and students as the session draws to a close.
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Gun Control Measures Move through the House
Three gun control measures made their way through the House this week. While the bills and their authors had good intentions, these bills do little to solve gun violence and target law-abiding gun owners.
HF 601, for example, mandates reporting lost or stolen firearms within 48 hours. While responsible gun owners would typically do this to safeguard themselves, the bill also imposes criminal penalties for failure to report. This means that victims of theft could themselves be labeled as criminals for not reporting their stolen firearm. It's unprecedented in our state's history to criminalize victims in this way. This law was so egregious it seemed a worthy time to give my first-ever floor speech, which you can watch to the right. This bill was passed along party lines on Monday.
HF 4300 imposes safe storage requirements for firearms, which is sensible, particularly when children are present. However, the bill mandates that firearms not within arm's reach must be unloaded and locked, with ammunition stored separately. This undermines the purpose of owning a firearm for self-defense. If your firearm is locked and unloaded, you won't be able to access it quickly enough in a home invasion scenario. Moreover, there are serious concerns about how this law could be enforced. Similarly, this bill passed, after being tabled for a couple of days, on Thursday, also along party lines.
HF 2609 bans trigger activators, which can enable a firearm to fire on both the pull and release of the trigger. While the bill aims to ban components that convert semi-automatic pistols to nearly automatic, the lack of firearm knowledge among its authors has led to vague language that could inadvertently ban popular pistols like Glocks. The bill's definition of "release" as a full trigger reset conflicts with how Glock pistols operate, potentially making them illegal.
I want to you know that as your representative, I completely support your 2nd Amendment rights. It’s unfortunate – but on brand – for my Democrat colleagues to introduce legislation that goes after law-abiding gun owners and not criminals who use firearms for harm. Rest assured, I will continue to stand up for your constitutional rights should another gun bill, or any other concerning bill, come to the House floor.
Sincerely,
Bryan
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