Dear Neighbor,
We are in the thick of budget work in the House as we finish up work on finance bills in their respective committees and prepare to hear them and vote on each as a full House.
I have mentioned this in previous letters, but I am not a fan of these omnibus bills, which are packages of bills bound together under one title. The reason I oppose omnibus bills is more philosophical than political. Article 4, Section 17 of our Constitution reads: "No law shall embrace more than one subject, which shall be expressed in its title." That means bills should be considered as stand-alones, judged on their own merits and voted up or down accordingly.
The problem with omnibus bills is things get so muddled people end up voting for provisions they do not support in order to approve other things that are worthy. That is a recipe for bad laws and, since we have been doing these omnibus bills for many years, may be a contributing factor with some of the issues we face today.
In any case, those omnibus finance bills should be coming to the House floor soon. One of the biggest news items from the House floor this week is that we passed a series of four gun-related bills. One of them is legislation I authored to allow suppressors. Here is a news release we issued on that subject:
ANDERSON BILL TO PERMIT GUN SUPPRESSORS PASSES HOUSE
ST. PAUL – A bipartisan bill Rep. Mark Anderson, R-Lake Shore, authored to legalize the use of suppressors on guns in order to mitigate ear damage caused by firearm blasts passed the House 89-40 Thursday.
Suppressors are allowed in 39 states and Anderson's bill ensures an extensive background check occurs prior to permitting.
"It's a simple proposal to protect hunters from potentially permanent hearing damage," Anderson said. "All we are doing is providing a slight sound reduction from 145-165 decibels to 130 decibels. To put it in perspective, a chainsaw is 110 decibels. This is not a Hollywood-style silencer, just a suppressor and a way we can eliminate some of the damage gun blasts cause to our ears."
The federal process that would take place prior to permitting a suppressor includes a background check by a local chief law enforcement officer, the federal government, and the standard national instant background check.
A second part of the bill requires that Minnesota chief law enforcement officers meet the federal requirement of certifying that the applicant is not a prohibited person.
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I will keep you posted as things transpire at the Capitol. Until then, please keep sending me your thoughts on the issues. And, if you haven't done so already, now is the time to participate in my legislative survey. It will be closed down soon so we can tabulate the results, so click here to weigh in on the issues.
Sincerely,
Mark