2019 PRE-SESSION CAPITOL UPDATE
Dear Neighbors,
I am honored to continue to serve Senate District 46 for the 91st Session of the Minnesota Legislature. As we turn the calendar year and begin 2019, there remains a lot to accomplish this Spring. Since session ended last May, St. Paul has changed. The 2018 election revised the political dynamic in the House of Representatives and brought in Congressman Tim Walz as the state’s newest governor. I am pleased to begin working with the Walz administration and the House as they both appear eager to bring change for the better and a refreshing outlook to Minnesota’s biggest issues.
It was a privilege to work alongside Governor Mark Dayton for eight years. Governor Dayton left behind a legacy that positively impacted many Minnesotans and will continue to do so for years to come. His leadership brought many of Minnesota’s families all-day kindergarten and prekindergarten options. When Governor Dayton began in 2011, Minnesota was facing a state budget deficit of more than $6 billion. Now, 8 years later, Governor Walz will take the oath of office with a state budget projection nearing a $1.54 billion surplus. Although Governor Dayton is leaving the state in solid condition, we must be committed to balancing government spending and tax levels. Minnesota’s finances must be protected from future instability as the state expects a slowdown in economic and state revenue growth.
In addition to the number of bills I will be personally introducing this session, Minnesota elected officials must address the growing cost of health care, continue to work on paid family leave and affordable child care for all Minnesotans, stabilize funding for our roads, bridges, and transit systems, and revise the state tax law by conforming it with the new federal tax bill passed last year.
Southwest Light Rail
I was honored to be a part of the groundbreaking of the Southwest Light Rail Transit (LRT) project (METRO Green Line Extension) on December 3, 2019. For years, I led efforts to fund planning and to block attempts to shut down the line. We were successful! The new line will run from downtown Minneapolis through St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka, and Eden Prairie, touching near Edina’s border. The project’s groundbreaking signaled the beginning of construction in a project that’s taken roughly 20 years of planning. Included in the line will be 16 new stations that will be a part of a cohesive system of transitways, including connections to the METRO Blue Line, the Northstar Commuter Rail line, and many bus routes and proposed future transitways. Through a combination of federal, county, state and local sources, the project is estimated to cost $2.003 billion.
Senator Ron Latz, second from the left, tossed dirt last month during the groundbreaking of the Southwest Light Rail Transit project, which will run through St. Louis Park and Hopkins in addition to other western metro cities.
Gun Violence Prevention
In previous years, under either my authorship or chairmanship, we filled some gaps in the background check information system and gave law enforcement additional tools to crack down on people illegally possessing firearms or ammunition. However, there remains much work to be done regarding criminal background checks and private purchases, since the current system leaves unacceptable gaps. Last year we faced many challenges in the effort to move forward with two gun violence-related provisions. Despite Minnesotans’ overwhelming support for both the expansion of criminal background checks for Minnesota gun purchases and the implementation of gun violence extreme risk protection orders, the Senate majority refused to hear either measure. This year I will again introduce these two bills in effort to reduce the number of deaths from firearms.
The expansion of criminal background checks would allow gun owners to buy firearms after completing a criminal background check. In the states that require a background check before every handgun sale there are nearly half as many suicides by gun, women shot to death by their domestic partners, police officers who die by hand gun fire, incidents of trafficking, and mass shootings. Last spring, a Star Tribune poll found that 9 out of 10 Minnesotans support criminal background checks on all private firearm purchases. Another similar poll conducted by Everytown for Gun Safety found identical support among Minnesota for criminal background checks and extreme risk protection bills.
Extreme risk protection orders, also known as “red flag” laws, are a preventative tool law enforcement could use in extreme cases. Extreme risk protection orders would save lives by allowing law enforcement to step in before warning signs spiral into tragedies. Often, law enforcement officers are among those who first see or learn of a person in crisis. If law enforcement finds a person poses a significant danger of bodily harm to self or to other persons by possessing a firearm, and deems that less restrictive alternatives are inadequate or inappropriate to the circumstances, a petition for relief would require that person to give up their guns while the order is in effect. In a nationwide study from 2009 to 2016, roughly 42 percent of mass shootings produced documentation that the attacker displayed dangerous warning signs before shooting.
Although the 2018 session brought no change in statute to equip law enforcement with the necessary tools to lessen gun violence across our state, the newly elected House and Governor have displayed a healthy appetite to take on and pass gun violence reform. Additionally, support among Minnesotans is broad as well as deep, and crosses political, urban and rural, and gun owners and non-owners lines. It is my intention to pass both bills through the Senate, notwithstanding the majority’s efforts to block much needed safety reforms, and have them be signed into law before the end of the 2019 session.
Senator Latz spoke in the Capitol Rotunda on the importance of passing gun violence prevention legislation last session.
Internet Privacy
Last session, I again offered internet privacy protection language to the Energy and Utilities Committee and on the Senate Floor. Since the United States Congress reversed the internet service provider’s privacy regulations years ago, I have been fighting for this consumer protection to be reinstated. The internet is a core function of our productive lives and it is completely unacceptable for powerful corporate ISPs to track our online use and then sell the data to the highest bidder without our permission.
Net Neutrality
Although other states across the country passed net neutrality laws in 2018, Minnesota failed to do so. An open internet where online content is not blocked or slowed down by telecom, cable, or internet companies is crucial for small businesses, students, and everyday folks. Because of the connected world we live in today, the internet is an essential service for all Minnesotans. The decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to hinder open internet protections has put many Minnesotans at risk with an unfair economic and educational disadvantage, among other things.
I again will be pushing a bill that would ensure protections for Minnesotans. As other leaders from outside states acted on the FCC’s net neutrality repeal, I am hopeful we can swiftly react in similar effort and adopt a robust solution for all Minnesotans this year.
Senators Scott Newman (R – Hutchinson) and Latz in the Senate Chambers last session.
Upcoming Town Hall
Thank you for your continued interest in the state legislature and our work serving Senate District 46. If you have any time-sensitive questions, comments, or concerns please call my office at 651-297-8065.
Regards,
Ron Latz