Dear Neighbor, We are making our way through another busy week in the 2025 session, with committees in high gear and bills making their way through the committee process. Here is a look at my latest notes from the House: Fixing hole in law regarding engaging in prostitution with minors  Thank you, Chair Novotny, and members of the House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee for recently conducting a hearing for a bill I've authored to increase penalties for engaging in prostitution with minors. It is important we enact my bill (H.F. 128) to protect minors and fix a problem with existing state law. A nonpartisan researcher while reviewing several sections of statutes surrounding criminal sexual conduct and prostitution over the interim found a lower penalty for prostitution of a minor than for rape of a minor. So, if you're going to sell a minor or buy a minor for sex, the penalty is actually lower. I took the advice of the researcher and incorporated his findings into my bill which increases penalties for someone who engages in prostitution with minors. It adds clarity to the language and increases penalties based on the age of the victim. My bill was received well by the committee. Click the above image for more details from my committee presentation. Judicial accountability  I sit on the House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee and we had our first meeting on February 11. The meeting included testimony from the Minnesota Board of Judicial Standards regarding its workings, responsibilities, and state budget request. This board is an independent state agency that receives and acts upon complaints about Minnesota judges for judicial misconduct or wrongdoing. I have received inquiries from constituents asking how they can find information on judges in our state, including previous disciplinary actions, and how to file a complaint electronically. Click the image above to go to the board’s website to find helpful information on filing complaints and conducting background research. House Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee  Thank you to Chief Dan King, Red Lake Nation College; Dr. Helen Montgomery, Leech Lake Tribal and Community College; and President Anna Sheppard, White Earth Tribal and Community College, for testifying at the Capitol. As Chair of the House Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee, I appreciated receiving input from tribal colleges during a hearing this week. Minnesota has three independent tribal colleges: Leech Lake Tribal College (Cass Lake), Red Lake Nation College (Red Lake), and White Earth Tribal and Community College (Mahnomen). There is a fourth, Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College (Cloquet), which is part of the Minn State system and operates not only as a tribal college but also as a state community college. Leech Lake, Red Lake, and White Earth are independent, accredited institutions. They are chartered, administrated, and overseen by their corresponding tribes and are subject to Federal, not State, oversight. They recently received $1 million per year of State funding for operations and maintenance. But I was told that at least one school hasn't received a dime due to the bureaucracy within the Walz Administration. I will be digging into the issue to get it resolved. They also receive federal funding. It was great to hear the successes all these institutions are having, with increasing graduation rates and growing enrollment. Red Lake, for example, has seen enrollment spike by 47 percent in four years, and its graduation has climbed to the top 10% in the nation for two-year schools. The schools all teach the native language, history, values, and culture making this a successful educational institution for native kids who haven’t found their home in traditional schools. They are also educating in the areas of business, early childhood education, and other workforce development training. The House Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee also conducted a hearing this week for H.F. 10, legislation which prohibits immigrants here illegally from receiving state-funded benefits like free college through the North Star Promise. Currently, immigrants here illegally qualify through the Dream Act for financial aid before some legal Minnesota residents. Click here for video of the hearing.  Enjoyed meeting with students from the U of M-Duluth during their recent Day on the Hill event. Work on fraud continues  The newly formed House Fraud and Agency Oversight Committee continues doing its work to unwind the fraud, waste and abuse that is taking place in Minnesota. Meanwhile, this week House Republicans sent a formal request to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to launch a comprehensive investigation into fraud and mismanagement that has cost taxpayers over $610 million. The request follows years of documented mismanagement and significant losses to fraudsters in human services programs and other state-run programs. Despite numerous reports from the Office of the Legislative Auditor detailing oversight failures, legislative Democrats have refused to hold a single hearing on the issue in six years. Keeping men out of women’s sports President Trump recently issued an executive order entitled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” to uphold fairness and safety. House Republicans share President Trump’s position and have authored H.F. 12, which states: “Only students of the female sex may participate in an elementary or secondary school athletic team or sport that an educational institution has restricted on the basis of sex to women or girls.” Those two moves are in line with polls showing 80 percent agree that biological sex should determine participation in sports, and that those born male at birth should be excluded from women’s sports. Meanwhile, the Minnesota State High School League has not confirmed it will comply with President Trump’s recent executive order prohibiting men from playing women’s sports. House Republicans sent a letter to the MSHSL Director expressing concern. The big question is where House Democrats will stand on this bill when it comes to the floor for a vote.  Return surplus dollars to taxpayers House Republicans have put forward a bill (H.F. 4) that would stop the last biennium’s history from repeating itself. Minnesota’s $18 billion surplus in the last biennium provided a golden opportunity to deliver meaningful tax relief amid historic price increases in our state. Instead, Democrats went on a spending spree, expanding government programs and creating new ones. It resulted in a reckless 40-percent increase in the state budget and an unnecessary $10 billion tax increase to top it off. To make sure that never happens again, House Republicans propose establishing a Minnesota tax relief account, with the legislature appropriating funds each biennium into this fund to return excess tax collections back to taxpayers via refunds. Any projected revenues that go over 5 percent of projected expenditures according to the last biennial budget forecast will be used to fund the account. This would protect taxpayers from future overreach and ensure financial accountability in state government. |