Story by Karysa Brown, Carlton; Edited by Lale Akkin, Mounds View; Image by Lindley Johnson, Shakopee
Capital
Lucas Vasquez’s bill was the first to be signed and passed at the capitol today at 10am. Vasquez’s bill proposed an amendment to the Minnesota constitution to lower the age limit of serving in The Minnesota House of Representative and Senate from 21 to 18 years of age. Because if someone can vote, they should also have the ability to represent their own state.
“I feel that this is important because we’re a democracy, which means that everyone should have a voice and 18 year olds have a vote but they don’t have a voice in their legislature. That means that they can’t represent themselves, with no opportunity to stand on the floor and debate about things that impact their lives. I feel extremely grateful [that the first bill was signed] and I’m so glad for all the support that everyone has given me and I’m really excited, happy to see that everyone is in agreement for it,” said Lucas Vasquez from the Como Delegation.
Hotel
Asher Engle’s bill was the first to be signed and passed at the hotel today at 1:30pm. Engle’s bill gives schools more funding so that students can have more opportunities within school activities.
“My bill is an act to restructure how schools are funded in Minnesota. I’ve noticed that our district and other districts across the state with funding are sometimes hard to come by and they have to make cuts a lot. So I got the idea to make a system where funding is proportionally distributed to the schools to allow better and equal education to students. Well I noticed the different funding situations and I wanted to make a bill on funding, so I asked my dad on the way home from a delegation meeting what would be some good ways to do that. I figured out how to restructure it from there,” said Asher Engle from the Northfield Delegation.
Two of the first bills were signed and passed at the Hotel and Capitol buildings. Bills are reaching the end of their journey increasingly faster, making bills move through the system easier. Congratulations to our first two delegates who had their bills passed, and hopefully more bills will be signed soon.