Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
Capital IconMinnesota Legislature

Legislative News and Views - Rep. Steve Green (R)

Back to profile

Legislative update

Thursday, April 7, 2022

Dear Neighbor,

Before we get to the latest news from the Capitol, I want to invite area residents to town hall meetings I have scheduled next week in our district.

The first town hall will be 6 to 8 p.m. this Monday at West Forty Restaurant, 906 First St., Park Rapids.

The next one will be 6 to 8 p.m. this Thursday at D&R Cafe, 27 Center St., Bagley.

No RSVP is required to attend, and the meetings will be conducted in an informal setting. This will be a good chance to look ahead at what remains for the remainder of the 2022 legislative session – including priority issues such as using the $10 billion state surplus to provide meaningful, permanent tax relief and improving public safety in our state amid a rampant spike in violent crime.

Again, we can discuss these issues in more detail during the town halls, but I would like to share a little more on public safety in this letter because there is a glaring lack of action by the House majority on that issue. In fact, House Democrats have done little more than provide lip service.

Meanwhile, House Republicans earlier this session assembled a package of bills that would aim to reversing the dramatic increase in crime our state on three different levels: by holding criminals responsible for their actions, helping recruit and retain peace officers, and providing transparency to prosecution’s charging decisions and the court’s sentencing decisions.

These measures could make a real difference in tamping down the unacceptable wave of violent crime in our state. Unfortunately, House Democrats chose not to conduct hearings for our bills. On the other hand, the DFL’s solution seems to revolve around giving more money to violence interrupters and growing the state government bureaucracy by tens of millions of dollars while adding dozens of new full-time employees in St. Paul.

The kicker is that, in addition to the public safety package House Republicans are offering, a handful of Democrat-authored bills were authored to address violent crimes and issues related to recruiting and retaining law enforcement officers. But, once again, the dysfunctional House Democrats would not even hear these Democrat-authored bills.

Time will tell how this plays out, but Senate Republicans have been moving a public safety bill which features many of the initiatives House Republicans support. The priorities include criminalizing the offense of carjacking, which has spiraled out of control the past two years, along with increased penalties for violent crimes by repeat offenders and increasing transparency when prosecutors dismiss charges on a case.

Time is running short before the Legislature is scheduled to adjourn in late May. The House majority needs to forget about wasteful spending that will not result in safer communities and instead focus on passing a public safety omnibus that focuses on reducing crime rate in Minnesota for the sake of law-abiding people in our state who deserve to be safe.

-Steve