Dear Deb,
It was great to see so many of you at National Night Out/Night to Unite this week! Special thanks to the Coon Rapids Fire Department for letting me tag along with them!
Read on for updates on gun violence prevention, insulin affordability, and a closer look at this year’s agriculture budget.
Preventing Gun Violence
Our hearts are broken yet again over the recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. This is why we work so hard at the State Capitol to pass legislation that we think will make people safer. The Minnesota House has passed two simple, straightforward, common sense measures to address gun violence: criminal background checks & a red flag provision.
We know we can’t stop all acts of senseless violence. But we also know that these measures can make a difference – because they are making a difference where they’ve been enacted. And they’ve passed in Republican and Democratic-led states. It’s time. It’s not everything, but it’s something. And it’s within our reach.
At a time when people feel powerless, you should know that you do have power. Weighing in as citizens is one way we use that power. Laws change reality, and voters influence what the laws are. Use your power, use your voice.
Even if you think that your state representative or your state senator agrees with your point of view, take the time to weigh in. These measures have passed the DFL-led Minnesota House of Representatives under my leadership. We so far have not persuaded the Republican-led Minnesota Senate to join us so we can put these measures on Governor Walz’s desk. I especially encourage you to weigh in with your senator in the Minnesota State Senate, but weigh in with your state representative as well.
Alec Smith Emergency Insulin Act
Minnesotans shouldn’t lose their lives because they can’t afford lifesaving medications they need, like insulin.
The House passed the full Alec Smith Emergency Insulin Act in our Health and Human Services Budget in April. Our proposal would create a statewide insulin assistance program to help Minnesotans who struggle to afford the insulin they desperately need. It would be funded through an Insulin Manufacturer Fee, asking the three largest insulin manufacturers to share in solving a crisis they helped create and from which they have made billions in profits. Senate Republicans killed our proposal during end of session negotiations.
In June and July, a bipartisan, bicameral group of legislators met to discuss the Alec Smith Emergency Insulin Act with consensus emerging on the framework of an insulin assistance program, including eligibility and the parameters of how a program would work. These legislators did not reach consensus on the funding mechanism for the program, however.
I appreciate their work, and it’s encouraging that they helped work out some details on how a program would function. The funding source remains the sticking point — as it did during the regular session. Republicans have resisted holding the pharmaceutical industry accountable and instead want taxpayers to foot the bill. Insulin costs have nearly tripled in the last two decades and I believe the corporate greed fueling this crisis is unconscionable. That’s why the DFL majority in the Minnesota House passed and sent to conference committee a complete plan that would help Minnesotans, holding the pharmaceutical industry accountable for funding the program.
The DFL Majority in the Minnesota House remains ready to move forward. I’m hopeful in the coming weeks we will be able to get an agreement with Senate Republicans on funding.
The DFL-led House would like to hear directly from Minnesotans about how this issue affects them and how Minnesotans would like us to address it. To that end, Minnesota House DFL legislators will be holding a series of Community Conversations, with the first one coming up on Wednesday, August 14th at 10:30am in Room 120 of the State Capitol. Please participate if you would like to!
We will announce details on future events as they are finalized.
Agriculture Budget
This is an extraordinarily difficult time to be a family farmer in Minnesota, and in America. Minnesota’s family farmers deserve better than the uncertainty they face from trade tensions coming out of Washington DC.
This session, Chair Jeanne Poppe’s Agriculture & Food Committee in the House created a respectful and constructive space to address the needs of Minnesota’s farm families and rural communities.
In the end, the Legislature succeeded in passing a good, bipartisan Agriculture Policy & Finance bill. Provisions in the bill will help current farmers stay on their land, open new markets to existing and beginning farmers, and help bring more Minnesotans healthy food by expanding agriculture in both rural and urban settings.
The final Agriculture Policy & Finance bill increased state investment in agriculture by $4.5 million and contained new policies. Here are some of the highlights:
The Rusty Patched Bumble Bee. This year’s Environment Budget Bill established this endangered pollinator as the official bee of the State of Minnesota. Photo by by Johanna James-Heinz, The Xerxes Society.
Protecting Pollinators: The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) will be required to provide recommendations on the regulatory oversight of plants labeled as “pollinator-friendly” and report on their ability to test nursery stock for the presence of chemicals harmful to pollinators. The final agriculture budget also increased penalties for damaging public lands with unauthorized pesticides or herbicides.
Supporting Farmer Mental Health: Strengthens farmer mental health counseling services and supports the work of Farm Advocates and mental health programming at MDA.
Helping Dairy Farmers: I’m very pleased we were able to invest $8 million to help family dairies enroll in federal Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC). This federal program is designed to help protect Minnesota’s milk producers from dairy market volatility. Our Dairy Assistance, Investment, and Relief Initiative (DAIRI) helps farmers obtain this federal insurance coverage.
To qualify, farmers must:
- Be the principal operator of a Minnesota dairy cow operation that produced less than 16,000,000 pounds (160,000 cwt) of milk in 2018, and
- Sign up for five years of coverage through the DMC during the enrollment period of June 17, 2019 to September 20, 2019.
To participate in the program, farmers must submit the following four documents to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture:
- Completed application form with signature
- Statement(s) from processor(s) that show quantity of milk produced between 1/1/2018 and 12/31/2018. (Self-completed worksheets and sales records will not be accepted.)
- Completed copy of DMC enrollment form
- Completed IRS Form W-9
Applications must be postmarked no later than October 1, 2019. Late applications will not be accepted.
Application materials should be sent to:
Minnesota Department of Agriculture
Attn: DAIRI
625 Robert St N
St Paul MN 55155
More information is available at https://www.mda.state.mn.us/dairi.
Expanding Markets: Maintains and expands markets for Minnesota farm products during a period of record low commodity prices and an ongoing trade war with our largest trade partners by adding funding for an additional trade and marketing staff at MDA. Also invests $5 million in 2021 in a new Soy Innovation Campus in northwest Minnesota.
Agriculture Emergency Preparedness: Increases funds to prepare for catastrophic disaster events at MDA and the Board of Animal Health, such as the possible future outbreak of African Swine Fever, or future avian flu events.
Improving Food Access: Increases grant funding to Good Food Access, Urban and Youth Agriculture, and Farm-to-School programs at MDA to support farmers and provide more Minnesotans with access to fresh, healthy and local food.
Fighting Noxious Weeds: Increases funding to fight the spread of invasive plants like Palmer amaranth by adding staff at MDA.
Expanding Industrial Hemp: Funds the industrial hemp development program at MDA and expedites rulemaking to allow farmers to access new hemp markets and sell products derived from hemp.
Supporting Beginning Farmers: Supports beginning, urban and minority farmers as they become more established in the Minnesota agriculture economy by requiring MDA to study ways to bring new farmers into the career, and to make changes to existing programs to accommodate the unique needs of emerging farmers.
Grain buyers/warehousers: The final agriculture budget includes the recommendations of the Grain Advisory Task Force that convened to prevent future grain elevator financial disasters that have harmed farmers in recent events in Porter and Ashby, MN.
Farm Disaster Recovery Loan Program: House DFLers also acted swiftly this year to provide low interest emergency loans to Minnesota farmers who were impacted by catastrophic snow events which led to barn collapses throughout the state.
As always, please contact me anytime with your input. I appreciate hearing from you! You can reach me at 651-296-4280 or rep.melissa.hortman@house.mn. You can also keep up with what’s happening at the Capitol by liking my legislative Facebook page. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Melissa Hortman
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