April 16, 2021
Policing Reform, Veterans Justice, and the Senate Judiciary Bill
In the aftermath of the death of Daunte Wright at the hands of law enforcement, and during the trial of Derek Chauvin, our state took up the Senate omnibus judiciary bill. Unfortunately, the bill lacked any fundamental reforms to our policing that could prevent future tragedies. A sad moment for me was when an amendment failed along party lines which would have prohibited law enforcement officers from affiliating with white supremacist organizations.
Additionally, amendments to create a task force on missing and murdered indigenous Minnesotans and to close loopholes in our hate crime laws also failed.
Still, we did get some good legislation into the bill. There was broad support for an amendment to eliminate the statute of limitations for certain categories of sex crimes, as well as near-unanimous support for my amendment to include the Veterans Restorative Justice Act. This has been a long time coming, and now that it is included in a must-pass budget bill, I think this is the year we will get it done. Restorative justice for our veterans can wait no longer. I recorded my weekly video on this subject, which you can watch by clicking HERE.
For this reason, I voted for the final bill. It did not have everything I wanted, but it was a compromise. The bill is also still a work in progress, and I know we can get fundamental policing reform done this session.
Making Your Voice Heard
This was a big week for constituent activity in Senate District 48. Some of the individuals and groups I met with were:
- Education advocates
- Small brewery advocates
- Faith leaders
- Mental health advocates
- Supporters for compassionate aid in dying
- Environmental protection advocates
- Constituents with the Minnesota Catholic Conference
Many of you wrote and called in this week as well. Some of the most common subjects were:
- Policing reform
- Supporting seniors
- COVID Vaccinations
- Environmental protection
Thank you to everyone who exercised your civic duty this week.
Continuing the Fight Against Catalytic Converter Theft
The Senate took up the omnibus commerce and energy bill on Wednesday, and unfortunately we could not get language included to crack down on catalytic converter theft. The theft of catalytic converters from cars has increased exponentially in the last two years, as the rhodium and palladium within is currently worth more than gold. Our state needs to take action. It well be a tough fight to get this done without its inclusion in the commerce bill, but we will keep fighting. I spoke with Steve Schewe at the Eden Prairie Local News about this recently, and you can view his article describing the legislation by clicking HERE.
You can also view a recent op-ed I wrote about this in the Eden Prairie Weekly news by clicking HERE.
As for the omnibus energy and commerce bill, It was also missing protections for consumers against price gouging and meaningful action to combat global warming. After thorough consideration, I voted against the bill.
Jobs Bill Advances in the Senate
This week also included a vote on this year’s omnibus jobs bill. The bill included a rollback of wage theft protections, removes the governor’s ability to respond to states of emergency, and lacks any paid leave for quarantine, medical leave, or sick and safe time. Another issue I had with the bill was that it made high school students’ eligibility for unemployment insurance contingent on having at least $750,000 million in our state’s unemployment fund. Singling out young people when they are paying into unemployment through payroll taxes is wrong, and sends the wrong message to our state’s youth. For these reasons, the bill did not earn my vote.
Throughout all of our floor sessions this year, I have been incredibly impressed by the freshman class of DFL Senators. I am so fortunate to have the opportunity to serve with Senators Mary Kunesh, Erin Murphy, Lindsey Port, Ann Johnson-Stewart, Jen McEwen, Omar Fateh, and Aric Putnam.