Conversion therapy, catalytic converter prevention, MMBW bills pass Minnesota House

(KSTP)- The Minnesota House has voted to pass bills banning conversion therapy, setting new catalytic converter requirements and creating an Office of Missing and Murdered Black Women.

The catalytic converter legislation passed by a vote of 113-15 while the Office of Missing and Murdered Black Women was approved 110-19 late Monday afternoon.

The conversion therapy bill passed by a bipartisan 81-47 vote Monday night.

The conversion therapy legislation had been proposed multiple times in past years and while some individual cities in Minnesota already outlaw the practice, it has yet to be banned statewide. Supporters of a statewide ban say conversion therapy involves many harmful practices that often cause anxiety and depression and can lead to suicide while opponents of a ban dispute those points.

The catalytic converter legislation comes in response to the rise in catalytic converter thefts and would require anyone buying a catalytic converter to keep detailed receipts of the scrap metal and the person they bought it from.

The legislation to create an Office for Missing and Murdered Black Women (MMBW) would provide more focus on cases of missing and murdered Black women, as the state has done with its Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office and task force.

The bills will now move to the Senate before they could head to Gov. Tim Walz’s desk to be signed into law.

This story first appeared on KSTP-TV.