Friends, below I’m sharing our final legislative update for the 2024 legislative session. Because of God’s faithfulness, I’m humbled to say it was full of wins for life, family, and religious freedom. Stopping the so-called “Equal Rights Amendment” was our top priority this session because of what a clear and present danger it presented to people of faith, children and the unborn.
If enacted, it would have added constitutional protections for abortion up to birth and for individuals to self-identify their “gender identity and expression.” And there was no protection for religious freedom, meaning individuals and organizations who could not comply with these constitutional protections because of their faith could be punished for it.
Passing this was a top priority of the radical left, and with DFL control of the House, Senate and Governor’s office, it was a reasonable expectation. Nevertheless, by the grace of God, the legislation failed!
We build relationships across the aisle for times like this. We bring the light of the gospel into the halls of power, but we do it wisely and with genuine, earnest care for the human beings that we might disagree with 95% of the time.
So they’ll often listen to us when we ask for a minute of their time, and if we can find that 5% we do agree on, we won’t waste that. And, as it turns out, some of our so-called opponents do care about religious freedom. And those folks weren’t entirely sure that the ERA being considered in Minnesota was a good idea without religious liberty protections.
Despite some dissension in their own ranks, the far left did everything in its power, and some things brazenly not in its power, to ramrod this through. In the House, where the progressive left has a sizable majority, the ERA was passed at 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 19th, which was the last day of session. It was preceded by 10 hours of debate!
And we were there for most of it – representing your voice and your values. That’s why we exist – for times like this.
Next, with less than 20 hours left in the session, it was on to the Senate. The short version of what happened next is that they ran out of time and the bill never came up for a vote in the Senate. The back story is that there was a great deal of uncertainty about whether they had the votes to pass it.
But what you saw if you were watching it all unfold was nothing less than, well, chaos. The left was refusing to follow rules of order, ignoring those on the right who wished to speak, and the result was a cacophony of objections, points of order, etc.
When the dust settled, this terrible bill was dead. At least until next year.
That was the biggest victory of the session, but not the only one. Three other pieces of legislation that we opposed failed to pass, including:
- Physician-assisted suicide. There were four separate committee hearings on the House side with lots of heated debate, but the bill never came up for a vote on either the House or Senate floors, and there was never any official committee movement in the Senate at all. Physician-assisted suicide is fraught with dangers to the elderly and infirm because it degrades the value of life.
- For-profit surrogacy, which, at the base level, is the buying and selling of babies, and also a way for people of means to circumvent the adoption process, passed the House but did not come up for vote in the Senate.
- Mobile sports betting was not passed by either body this year, but like the two above, is sure to be brought up again next year. This kind of sports gambling has negatively impacted many families, but young men and underprivileged communities are especially vulnerable. Increasing access online and through phones without common sense protections only exacerbates the problem.
We also saw a major victory that is nothing short of a miracle, given the balance of power in Minnesota. Against all odds, a religious exemption was restored in the Minnesota Human Rights Act! Near the end of session, through the diligent and shrewd efforts of True North Legal and our allies at the Minnesota Catholic Conference and other faith-based organizations, the legislation was passed by both chambers and signed into law by Governor Tim Walz!
These protections were removed just last year, but the removal caused a huge uproar, and made it abundantly clear that the far left’s intent was to remove any and all protections for religious freedom that hinder imposition of their extreme agenda for Minnesota. While we thank the Lord for this victory, we must not be complacent -- we will continue to engage and stay vigilant in our defense of religious freedom.
Finally, there was one defeat and one mixed bag. A bill was passed that shifts responsibility for determining health standards for public schools from local districts to the state, meaning parents and local leaders will have far less influence over what is taught.
And a law was passed that requires all medical plans offered by insurers in Minnesota to cover abortion and “gender-affirming care.” But we were able to help secure exemptions for religious organizations and closely-held for-profit organizations, which was a major victory within that loss.
Now I hope you can see why I called this a “story of victory.” Not ultimate victory, but the sort of victory that has been making people do a “double-take.” After all, this is Minnesota in 2024! Will you thank God with me for His faithfulness? And would you consider a donation so that we can continue this crucial work?
