Bills to combat violence against Black women and girls, catalytic converter theft, conversion therapy advance at Minnesota Capitol
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota lawmakers debated three plans to combat crime and protect our neighbors at the State Capitol Monday.
Democrats in control of the Capitol are moving more quickly than in recent sessions. They've already sent several bills to the governor's desk for signature in the first month-and-a-half of the session.
Monday night, they are on track to move several more bills over to the Senate. Three passed earlier in the day.
The first one would create an Office for Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls tasked with focusing on addressing violence against that community.
The second aims to crack down on catalytic converter thefts by creating new rules for scrap dealers and new penalties.
And the third is a bill to ban conversion "therapy" on LGBTQ youth and vulnerable adults, which tries to change a person's gender identity or sexual orientation.
"These bills are about making sure our community members are safe and making sure we have equity in all of the representation we have in our state so everyone feels welcome and everyone is equally protected," said Rep. Jamie Long, DFL-Minneapolis.
On Tuesday, the Senate is set to pass a bill restoring the right to vote for people with felony convictions and allowing undocumented immigrants to get a driver's license.
If passed, both of those bills would go to the governor's desk for him to sign into law.
