Wednesday, March 13, 2013
The MN Senate Judiciary Committee sent a same-sex marriage bill to the full Senate on a 5-3 vote, and just hours later, the House Civil Law Committee approved the companion bill 10-7.
District 46 legislators Sen. Ron Latz and Rep. Steve Simon are among the state legislators who helped send a pair of same-sex marriage bills to the Senate and House floors Tuesday. The Minnesota Senate Judiciary Committee, on which Latz is chairman, approved Senate File 925, a bill extending marriage rights to same-sex couples, on a party-line 5-3 vote Tuesday afternoon. To watch video of the committee's discussion and vote on the bill, click on the video at the top of this post or watch it at the UpTake's Livestream webpage. A highlight of the debate was extended back-and-forth between opponent Sen. Warren Limmer (R-Maple Grove) and Sen. Scott Dibble (DFL-Minneapolis), the bill's co-author. Sen. Terri Bonoff (DFL-Minnetonka) also co-…
Sunday, February 24, 2013
District 46 Sen. Ron Latz oversaw a 4 ½-hour-long hearing on the subject Friday.
District 46 Sen. Ron Latz’s position as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee gave him a prominent seat at the table as chamber took up gun legislation last week. That discussion capped off with a 4 ½-hour-long hearing Friday about the proposals. As Latz promised a week ago, the committee did not consider proposals to ban assault weapons or limit magazine sizes. Check out the hearing and share your thoughts in the comments below.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
The proposal would eliminate the statute of limitation in civil cases for sex abuse victims.
Local legislators are among the lawmakers pushing to end the statute of limitations that requires victims of sexual abuse to file a lawsuit within six years of becoming an adult. If the bill becomes law, victims could file a lawsuit at any time, regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred. Sen. Ron Latz (District 46) and Rep. Steve Simon (District 46B) appeared at a news conference Wednesday to build support for the “Minnesota Child Victims Act.” Latz, who’s chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the proposal recognizes a healing process that can sometimes take decades for victims to confront abuse. “The Minnesota Child Victims Act is pretty simple and straightforward,” he said. "It gives an opportunity for victims of child …
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
The District 46 legislator provides an update from the Capitol.
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Wednesday, January 30
Editor’s Note: The following weekly update comes from Sen. Ron Latz (DFL-District 46). Click on the PDF to the right of this introduction to read a detailed look at specific issues before the Legislature. Hello Everyone, On January 8, the 88th session of the Minnesota Legislature began with the fanfare of swearing in ceremonies and pictures with families. I would like to thank you for the opportunity to represent Golden Valley, Hopkins, Plymouth, St. Louis Park and Medicine Lake. I am in the process of meeting with the local city councils and school boards to discuss their legislative agendas and will be scheduling Town Hall meetings very soon. During the first few weeks of session, committees have been meeting to have policy and …
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
The District 46 senator was part of a bipartisan group of policy makers that pushed for a discussion on the issue Wednesday.
DFL Sen. Ron Latz joined Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek, the Minnesota Sheriffs’ Association, Hennepin County Judge Jay Quam and other officials Wednesday in a push for stronger measures aimed at keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. “The confluence of mental health issues and dangerous products, like guns, in particular, is very unnerving,” said Latz—whose district includes Golden Valley, Hopkins, Plymouth and St. Louis Park, where the family of slain Accent Signage owner Reuven Rahamim lives. “And we need to focus on solutions like are being proposed here so that we can all be safer and so that the people who are victims of their own mental illnesses can also then be prevented from victimizing others in other more …
Friday, January 11, 2013
The Senate Judiciary chairman—whose district includes Hopkins, Golden Valley and St. Louis Park—declined to back any specific gun control measure.
Gun control discussions will take a back seat to setting the state’s budget, Senate Judiciary Chairman Ron Latz (DFL-District 46) told Senate Media Services in an interview published Friday. “Our first job is to deal with the budget—and to deal with the jobs and economy in Minnesota,” Latz said. “And this is a budget year. So this is the year that the Legislature will set the budget for the next two years. That’s our first task.” Watch the full video in the player above. Latz's interview starts at the 3:36 mark. Latz—whose district includes Hopkins, Golden Valley, Plymouth and St. Louis Park—said his committee is starting this year’s session by examining funding for the Judiciary, the Department of Corrections, public defenders and other …
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Incumbents Latz, Winkler and Simon all won their re-election races.
District 46 incumbents will hold on to their seats for another term. Sen. Ron Latz and Reps. Ryan Winkler and Steve Simon, who are all members of the DFL, easily toppled their Republican challengers in Tuesday’s election. Latz defeated Paul Scofield 67 percent to 33 percent. Winkler beat John Swanson in the House District 46A race 66 percent to 34 percent. In the District 46B race, Simon took 70 percent of the vote compared to David Arvidson's 30 percent. Said Latz: “I’m very excited to be able to go back to the Senate and continue working on the issues and community values." The results were not a surprise. The Senate district leans toward the DFL by a whopping 32 points, according to MinnPost. Democrats have an even larger 36-point …
Thursday, November 1, 2012
The candidates discuss intelligent design, school boundary changes and why they deserve your vote.
On Monday, candidates who represent districts within Hopkins Public Schools boundaries gathered for a forum hosted by the school district’s Legislative Action Coalition. Those present included candidates for District 46, which covers the Patch towns of Hopkins, Golden Valley and St. Louis Park. The event offered in-depth discussion on education issues—as well as the candidates’ individual philosophies on governance. Patch is publishing segments of the forum so voters have the information they need on the candidates. Listen to the audio above then check back to hear the candidate’s thoughts on the following issues: Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
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Eisenhower Community Center
1001 Highway 7, Hopkins, MN
/articles/audio-district-46-candidates-discuss-education-part-iii
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Monday, October 8, 2012
Two House races and a Senate race will be on the ballot this November.
With the Nov. 6 election fast approaching, Patch wants to give you the chance to pose a question to the District 46 candidates. In the Senate District 46 race, incumbent Sen. Ron Latz (DFL) is taking on Republican challenger Paul Scofield. There are two local House races—in 46A, Democratic incumbent Rep. Ryan Winkler faces Republican John Swanson, and incumbent Rep. Steve Simon (DFL) takes on Republican challenger David Arvidson in 46B. In the comments below, we welcome you to post your questions. If you'd like to just question one particular candidate, please note that. Otherwise, we'll assume all questions are intended for all the candidates. Please keep questions civil and respectful. We'll gather some of the best questions we receive …
Friday, June 29, 2012
The District 46 senator discusses what the Legislature accomplished—and what it didn’t.
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Friday, June 29, 2012
Editor’s Note: Sen. Ron Latz (DFL-District 46) published the following end-of-session report recapping the 2012 legislative session. Minnesota’s 2012 Legislative Session was a combination of missed opportunities and a contrast in priorities. One of the biggest missed opportunities was a bonding bill that included only $496.4 million of the $2.1 billion in total statewide requests that were made. The legislative majority was focused on protecting corporate tax breaks at the expense of homeowners, students, seniors and small businesses. The biggest omission in the bonding bill was the $25 million request for the Southwest Light Rail Transit Line (SW LRT) that would run from Minneapolis through St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka and Eden…
Dan Johnson
11:36 am on Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Expert testamony from Hawaii Supreme Court" Dr Eggebeen (witness against marriage equality) also conceded that "gay and lesbian couples can, and do, make excellent parents" "that they are capable of raising a healthy child", and "that children of same sex couples would be helped if their families had access to or were able to receive benefits of marriage". Dr. Charlotte Patterson: there was "no … more ›