Hello from the State Capitol,
During a week in which we marked the 1-year anniversary of the Burnsville tragedy that cost three heroic first responders their lives, public safety issues were on the minds of many at the Capitol this week.
In the House judiciary committee, it was our top priority of the week.
We debated a wide-ranging crime bill that’s designed to strengthen our laws and protect Minnesotans from criminal behavior. The bill enhances penalties for criminals, provides more accountability for judges and prosecutors, and ensures law enforcement has the tools and resources it needs to keep us safe.
I was pleased to support this bill in committee and hope it will soon receive a full debate on the House floor.
CANNABIS EXPUNGEMENT BOARD STILL LOOKING TO EXPUNGE
Our committee also received an update from the Cannabis Expungement Board this week. After marijuana use was legalized in this state last year, part of the new law created this board that will review and ultimately remove marijuana crimes from the records of those who were convicted of them.
To date, we have spent millions in this area, and though there are 98,000 cases to analyze, the board has yet to expunge one case. Officials tell us it has spent the past year figuring out a new software system and sorting through other staffing issues.
PRESERVE GIRLS’ SPORTS ACT MOVES AHEAD
My Preserving Girls Sports Act, which would maintain fairness and safety in girls’ athletics, was approved by the Minnesota House Education Policy Committee this week. To view my committee comments, click here.
The bill would prevent biological male athletes from competing in girls’ sporting events.
We also heard moving testimony from female athletes, such as Ainsley, whose comments you can view here.
We’ve all seen or heard the stories of girls being physically injured while competing against a biological male athlete in a sporting event designed for girls. Considering the Minnesota State High School League has stated it will not comply with President Trump’s executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” it’s apparent the Legislature is actually going to need to approve legislation to protect the safety of Minnesota’s female high school athletes. How sad.
MAKING ATTORNEY GENERAL’S DATA PUBLIC
This week, the House debated a bill that would make more of the attorney general’s data available to the public. The change is necessary due to a Minnesota Supreme Court interpretation.
This bill is particularly necessary because many special interest groups try to influence the AG to file motivated litigation. As the bill author explained, there currently are nonprofit institutes funding anti-gun and anti-energy litigation, and the AG is misusing a provision in the Data Practices Act to shield that from public view. They don’t want people to know how lawyers in that office are being funded by outside, left-wing, dark-money groups. They don’t want people to know what communications are taking place within our government and are hiding behind the Data Practices Act.
We need to make sure citizens can get that information and hold the AG’s office accountable no matter who is occupying it and what nonprofits or dark-money groups are involved. This is data that had been available for 40 years until the Supreme Court spoke up. Without the change, the attorney general’s office would be the only law enforcement agency in Minnesota to not make its non-investigative data public. At this time in our history when government fraud is a major priority at both the state and federal level, we should not be taking sunlight away from public transparency that had been present for decades.