Senator C.

Tagen-Dye
Minnesota
Senate Committee of Judiciary Branch
To the great state of Minnesota,
As your senator, I feel it is my righteous duty to keep the general
public informed of the legislation and ties that our great state is involved
with. With that said, it is my honor to keep you apprised of the recent news
from the 114th Congress this past week. I have tried my hardest to keep our
states best interest in mind while making the decisions that I did. We have
had many successes with the passing of many influential bills, and like
always, continue to face many challenges.
My primary goal in this Congress was to bring attention to an issue that
has been daunting our state for over a year now: our sex offender program.
Our state legislators, and many of our citizens, are well aware of the issues
we have been facing with this. Federal Judge Donovan Frank ruled the way we
handle these convicted criminals was unconstitutional, and while it had been
brought to the attention of our policymakers, nothing was done about it. My
hopes were that by bringing attention of this issue to our federal courts, some
changes could be made. With that in mind, I proposed the Sex Offender
Rehabilitation Program Act. The main goal of this bill was to ensure a better
environment for clients of not only our states sex offender programs, but to
the eighteen other ones around the country. This legislation was designed to
ensure less restrictive settings and to employee more specialists to help
clients once again become functioning members of society.
Unfortunately, and much to my disappointment, my proposed bill was
tabled in committee. We did not have enough time to truly go into detail over
my proposed legislation, and since more of the focus of the judiciary
committee was on drug use, my bill was deemed as unimportant at the time.
However, I can ensure all of you, my devoted Minnesotans, that I will
continue to push back and fight harder to get our voices heard. We all
understand how much of a problem the insides of these rehabilitation
programs are bringing it to the federal court and ensuring the rights of our
people at the next Congress is my biggest priority.
Nonetheless, there were many other great bills seen through
committee and into Congress. One that sticks out in my head as the most
memorable was Bi-Partisan Mental Illness and Firearm Information Act, which
was proposed by senator Charles Goldman of Michigan. This bill was designed
to create tighter rules and evaluations when selling guns, particularly to the

mentally ill. Information must be implemented into the National Instant

Criminal Background Check System, the FBI and states must be required to
run background checks for previous involuntary institutionalization, and many
other amendments were also proposed to this bill. I am proud to say that I
voted to pass this proposed legislation, as I feel that background checks on
mental stability when buying firearms should be taken into great
consideration. The safety of our state is something that is always at the on
my mind, and ensuring stricter laws to try and prevent horrendous tragedies
like the ones we have seen in the past year is a monumental move in the
right direction.
Secondly, we had the Zika Protection and Prevention Act, proposed by
Representative Olivia Gonzalez of Hawaii, which was brought over to use from
the House for debate. This bill was designed to bring awareness to the Zika
virus by doing many things, such as including it in the Tropical Disease
Priority Review Voucher at the FDA, relocate the Unites States leftover Ebola
funding to research and creating a CDC task force to help develop a vaccine.
It was an almost immediate reaction of mine to show my support for this bill
and vote to pass it. The Zika virus is something that is slowly becoming more
of a threat to the United States. It is extremely important to take the right
precautions to help keep our citizens healthy and to advance the research
needed to find a cure. I continue to be strongly in favor of this bill, and hope
that you all support my decision on voting for it.
One last bill that certainly left an impression was the Help All
Americans Thrive Act. Senator Benjamin Miller of Louisiana proposed this bill.
The proposed legislation was designed to repeal the Affordable Care Act in its
entirety and to cut funding for all similar ACA programs effective as soon as
2017. There were some miscommunications with this bill. Some proposed
legislation was misunderstood, and it was given a second opportunity to be
heard. While it indeed did pass through the Senate, the HAAT Act failed the
House. I voted against this bill, because I do not believe in cutting funds for a
program that millions of Americans use. I know that many in our own state
depend on this program, and cutting funds to support it was the wrong
decision in my mind. My main goal is to give all citizens the equal chances
they need to strive, and taking away certain opportunities is not the way to
go.
I hope that you, my great state of Minnesota, are proud of the work I
have accomplished on your behalf. Although my proposed bill never made it
of committee, I do believe that many other great ones have been seen
through Congress. We will just have to work harder next time. I plan to
continue my lobbying and to speak my mind in future sessions. It is my goal
to represent our state well and to ensure the rights and happiness of our

citizens. With that in mind, I can only hope that you will continue to support
me on our long journey to come.
Sincerely,
Senator C. Tagen-Dye
Esq.