Dear Neighbors,
On Monday, the House passed a bill repealing Minnesota’s ban on Sunday liquor sales. This has been an issue in St. Paul for years and it always receives a lot of attention in the media. I voted against the bill because it is being driven by big box stores in an attempt to drive out locally-owned liquor stores.
We’ve already lost our local department stores and our local pharmacies; the effect this would have on more small businesses is unacceptable. I believe I have a duty to protect those businesses as best I can, which is why I voted the way I did.
The bill still must pass the Senate – which I expect will be a tighter vote – before going to Gov. Dayton.
Real ID
On Thursday, a bill is coming to the House floor that would prepare Minnesota to become Real ID-compliant. This is something that needs to happen quickly, since Minnesotans may be unable to board airplanes or access federal buildings as of January 2018 if it isn’t passed.
The Republican majority is now using yet another deadline as leverage, this time introducing unnecessary language that turns a simple compliance issue affecting Minnesotans’ ability to travel around the country into a broader debate over immigration practices.
It wasn’t a problem in the Senate, where there is a clean bill that only addresses Real ID. Hopefully the House will pass a similar version. If Republicans want to raise another issue, they should leave it out of the Real ID bill so it can be debated separately.
Town Hall
I wanted to let you know about a couple town halls coming up this Saturday. They’ll be hosted by myself, Rep. Clark Johnson, and Sen. Nick Frentz. Details on the meetings are below:
9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. – Mankato Room of the Intergovernmental Center, 10 Civic Center Plaza, Mankato
11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. – Room 219 at the St. Peter Community Center, St. Peter
These town halls are a great opportunity to voice your concerns and ideas on the topics important to you.
Sincerely,
Jack Considine
State Representative