Session has ended. Where are Catholics helping to transform our state? Where will the Catholic voice still be needed?

This past session, the Minnesota Catholic Conference engaged on policy proposals in both the House and Senate even though we knew that finding bi-partisan support on a given issue could be difficult.  The principles of our faith provide the proper footing to avoid falling into today’s deeply partisan trenches while also building bridges across those trenches to bring people together.

So, where did these bridges lead to the passage of laws that will transform our state and where will Catholics need to continue building those bridges?

Issues where Catholic voices helped pass laws to help defend life, dignity, and the common good:

• The Minnesota Family Investment Program - Annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) for MFIP families and an additional $50 per month housing benefit. The budget agreement also includes a one-time $435 emergency cash payment to MFIP families.
• Medical Assistance – An extension of postpartum coverage under Medical Assistance from 60 days to 12 months to help ensure the physical and psychological well-being of moms which in turn supports families and their newborns.
• Emergency Services Program – Additional funding of $6 million/year, ongoing ($12 million/biennium), with funding beginning FY22 to help address the needs of those experiencing homelessness.
• Driver’s license suspension reform –The penalty for unpaid fines and fees for minor traffic violations will be a civil collections process rather than suspension of the individual’s driver’s license.
• Stopping a statutory counseling ban on those offering and on those seeking the help of psychological sciences to address unwanted gender discordance.

Disappointing outcomes:

• No school choice legislation in the form of education savings accounts or tuition tax credits.
• No new nonpublic pupil aid programs to assist nonpublic school students were passed into law. Among the proposals that were denied are an extension of counseling services to primary school students, fixing transportation aid problems, and appropriating money for school safety initiatives.
• No creation of nonconforming driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants.
• No increased support for workers in the form of mandated earned sick and safe time.
• No new protections or interest rate caps against predatory payday lenders.

Issues where Catholics can advocate during the 2022 legislative session:

• Preventing physician-assisted suicide from gaining any momentum – Join our partner organization the Minnesota Alliance for Ethical Healthcare to support critical advocacy efforts.
• Opposing a constitutional amendment constitutionalizing the right to an abortion and undermining religious freedom in the name of “gender equality”.
• Stopping the legalization of recreational marijuana – Learn more: Fact Sheet, Interview w/Smart Approaches to Marijuana, Interview w/Bishop Cozzens, Testimony on the impacts of marijuana use, The basics of the bill
• MCC will monitor the progress of the Page Amendment, to ensure it does not undermine school choice efforts or threaten parental rights in education.
• Funding the Palliative Care Advisory Council to improve access to real care at the end of life.
• MCC will track education mandates that indoctrinate or sexualize children in public schools.