Dear Friends,
This has been a busy week at the Capitol filled with calls to action and protests for change! This has been a week filled with power and I have several updates to share with you.
Town Hall Tomorrow with Senator Dziedzic
Please join me and Senator Kari Dziedzic for our Town Hall Listening Session tomorrow, March 10th from 10:30-11:30 a.m. at Matthews Park, 2318 29th Ave S. We'd love to hear your concerns, thoughts & ideas for the Legislative Session. See event details here.
School Safety and Gun Violence
After a disappointing committee hearing last week where Republicans tabled common sense gun safety proposals for background checks and gun violence protection orders, I was so proud to see highschool students from around the metro take action by walking out of class to march to the Capitol for action on Wednesday. They give me hope that we still have momentum to change our laws and stop the epidemic of gun violence in our country.
On Wednesday Governor Dayton released his Safe and Secure Schools Act, and on Thursday Protect Minnesota joined with legislators to call for treating assault weapons like handguns, requiring a minimum age to purchase or possess them.
Minnesotans deserve safe communities and they expect us to act to keep them from being gunned down while they go about their daily lives. That’s a core function of my job here and I’m committed to ensuring we take meaningful action on that this year.
Supporting the Survivors of Sexually Violent Crimes
On Thursday, I unveiled my bill to repeal the statute of limitations on criminal sexual misconduct and sex trafficking (HF 3434) with Senator Sandy Pappas at a Capitol press conference. I was joined by Asma Mohammed from Reviving the Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment (RISE), Sarah Super from Break the Silence, Caroline Palmer from Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA), Katie Eichele from the Aurora Center at the University of Minnesota, and Jeff Anderson from Jeff Anderson & Associates, who has extensive experience in this area of the law. For more on their powerful stories about sexual assault, you can read the MPR coverage of the press conference here. I was so proud to stand with them, and together we will pass this bill to ensure our legal system helps survivors seek the justice they deserve, whenever they are ready.
International Women’s Day and ERA Day at the Capitol
Hundreds of Minnesota Women came to the Capitol on Thursday, to demand that we pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the US Constitution. It was a powerful day to celebrate women’s equality as it was also International Women’s Day. Governor Dayton also proclaimed March to be Women’s History Month in Minnesota.
Last year, I authored a bill (HF 189) to put a constitutional amendment before Minnesota voters which would put full gender equality into our state constitution as well. The bill never got a hearing, and so I joined my colleague Rep. Rena Moran to send an official letter to the Republican chairs of the committees that are stopping our ERA and gender equality bills. You can read more about the letter we sent here.
Please contact me if you have questions at 651-296-4257 or rep.ilhan.omar@house.mn and sign up for my email updates here.
Sincerely,
Ilhan Omar
State Representative