Dear Neighbors,
This week’s email update has information on early voting in the presidential primary, jobs available with the 2020 census, and takes a closer look at our State Government budget, which funds effective and efficient services for Minnesotans, including election security funding and support for our veterans.
Early Voting in the Presidential Primary
Minnesota’s presidential primary is March 3rd, but early voting is underway! If you’re in Coon Rapids, you can vote early during normal business hours at City Hall (11155 Robinson Dr NW, Coon Rapids, MN 55433). Brooklyn Park residents can vote early at the Brooklyn Park Water Treatment Facility Conf. Room (5100 Edinbrook Ter N, Brooklyn Park, MN 55443).
Make sure your voice is heard! You can learn more at the Secretary of State’s website.
2020 Census jobs available
The 2020 Census is nearly here! Census results determine the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives as well as how funds are spent on roads, schools and hospitals.
You can help your community! Apply for one of thousands of temporary 2020 Census Jobs. Hennepin County pays up to $27.50 per hour and Anoka County pays up to $22 per hour.
Learn more and apply online here.
State Government, Elections, and Veterans Budget
Here are some of the highlights:
Operational Increases for Agencies and Constitutional Officers: Funding was provided to allow the following agencies and offices to continue providing their services: State Auditor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board, Dept. of Administration, Minnesota Management and Budget, Dept. of Revenue, Amateur Sports Commission, Arts Board, Architecture and Engineering Board, and the Cosmetology Examiners Board.
Census Funding: Efforts to prepare for the once-a-decade census count, which kicks off on April 1, 2020, will get a $1.6 million boost under the budget deal for outreach to hard-to-count communities and to prepare for the first-ever digital census.
Department of Administration’s In Lieu of Rent (ILR) and AMBER Alert Upgrades: ILR receives $500,000 for FY20-21 and $1 million in FY22-23. ILR is used to fund space costs of the Legislature, veterans’ organizations, ceremonial space, the Capitol grounds, and statutorily free space on the Capitol complex in St. Paul. AMBER Alert Upgrades receive $400,000 across FY20-23. This funding will support needed equipment repairs and replacements in rural Minnesota that are essential to radio broadcasts and emergency signals.
Cybersecurity Funding: $20 million is awarded across the next two biennia, with $10 million in FY20-21 and $10 million in FY22-23, to secure our IT infrastructure across the state.
Open Meeting Law Requirements: The open meeting law allows a meeting to be conducted by interactive television under certain conditions. One of those conditions is that each location at which a member of the governing body is present be open and accessible to the public. This bill modifies that condition for a member serving in the military and is attending a required drill, deployed, or on active duty.
Help America Vote Act Election Security Appropriations: Despite a number of unnecessary delays, the Legislature appropriated $6.5 million in federal money to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) for specific security updates outlined by federal law.
Presidential Nomination Primary: This provision restricts public access to a voter’s political party choice. Originally, this only allowed each political party access to the list of its voters. As part of negotiations, the Senate insisted on allowing all four political parties access to how each voter voted.
Elections Equipment Grants: $2 million is appropriated for upgrading outdated election equipment across the state.
Meeting and Exceeding the Legislature’s Commitment to Funding the Department of Military Affairs and Department of Veterans Affairs: This includes Veterans Service Organizations, Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans (MACV), Honor guards, the Gold Star Program, County Veterans Service Offices, State’s Veterans Cemeteries, and the Minnesota GI Bill.
Disabled Veterans Homestead Exclusion: Streamlines the process for disabled veterans applying for a homestead exclusion and removal of the 8 year limit for spouses (included in the Tax bill).
Ensuring our Senior Veterans Nursing Homes are Fully Funded.
Hmong Special Guerrilla Units Remembrance Day: Establishes an important day of recognition for the Hmong veterans who served in Laos.
Other Holidays Created: Veterans Suicide Awareness Day, American Allies Day, Prisoners of War / Missing in Action Recognition Day.
Counseling & Case Management Outreach Referral & Education (CORE): Since 2008, Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota has partnered with the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs (MDVA) to support military members, veterans, and their families in maintaining their well-being through a program called C.O.R.E. (Counseling and Case Management, Outreach, Referral and Education). The first program of its kind in the nation, C.O.R.E. provides free, confidential services statewide for eligible veterans, military members, and their families. It will receive $1.5 million over the next biennium.
Armed Forces Service Center: Funding for construction costs related to the remodeling of the Armed Forces Service Center and for refurbishing the center’s furniture and beds used by service members (moving the nation’s flagship service center inside security from its current location outside).
Medal of Honor Memorial: Funding for the design and construction of a commemorative memorial in the Capitol area to honor all Minnesota Medal of Honor recipients.
Domestic Abuse Prevention: $400,000 was appropriated for a program that provides interdisciplinary, trauma-informed treatment and evidence-informed intervention for veterans, active military, and their families affected by domestic violence (included in the Public Safety bill).
Legislative Coordinating Commission (LCC): The LCC is fully funded with $10 million across the next two biennia. The LCC serves as the umbrella organization for legislative commissions, joint agencies, and other boards.
Here are some measures that House DFLers urged Senate Republicans to accept in negotiations did not become law:
Equal Rights Amendment: House Democrats proposed an amendment to the Minnesota Constitution similar to the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It would have put the following question to the voters in the 2020 election: “Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to provide that equality under the law shall not be abridged or denied on account of gender?” This bill passed the House, but did not pass the Senate.
Office on the Economic Status of Women: This provision would have reversed past cuts to enable the Office to rent out space and hire one director to look at the challenges women have faced in finding good-paying jobs in Minnesota. The Council on the Economic Status of Women was created in 1976 — a time when women were entering the workforce in huge numbers but being paid far less than men.
Establish Working Group on Legislature’s IT Accessibility Measures: This provision would have required the Senate, House, and the joint offices and commissions of the Legislature to comply with the information technology accessibility standards adopted by the state’s chief information officer, unless an exception has been granted. The 12-member working group would submit a report to the chairs and ranking minority members of the relevant legislative committees along with the chair and vice-chair of the LCC by January 15, 2020.
Expand Small Business Certification for Procurement Programs: This would have authorized the Commissioner of the Dept. of Administration to allow small businesses to be certified by a nationally-recognized certifying organization in order to participate in the state’s small business and small targeted group business programs. These programs provide a percentage-based bid preference in state contracting for goods or services for businesses participating in the program. Targeted group businesses include those where the majority ownership is women, persons with a substantial physical disability, or specific minority communities. Veteran-owned small businesses, and businesses located in an economically disadvantaged area, also receive a bid preference when participating in the program.
Restoration of Voting Rights: This provision would have restored the vote for people who have been released from prison. It would have also required the Secretary of State’s office to prepare an informational publication on voting rights for individuals convicted of a crime, and required each state and local correctional facility to designate an official to give notice to individuals whose voting rights have been restored along with a voter registration application. It also required updates to the certification signed by voters in a polling place attesting to their eligibility to vote, reflecting the restoration of the civil right to vote provided by this bill.
Redistricting Advisory Commission: This provision would have established a Redistricting Advisory Commission that includes five retired judges and 12 members of the public selected through an extensive application process to ensure political balance. The commission would have been responsible for drawing and recommending new congressional and legislative district boundaries after each decennial census.
Electronic Transmission of Absentee Voting Materials: This bill would have allowed people who have a temporary or a permanent disability to request to fill out an absentee ballot and vote using accessible software or a device. It still would have required that the completed ballot is to be returned to the county auditor in a sealed envelope.
Automatic Voter Registration: This bill would have established an “opt out” voter registration process for applicants for a Minnesota driver’s license, state identification card, or learner’s permit. All applicants who did not opt out would be registered by the Secretary of State following a review to determine the applicant’s eligibility to vote. Applicants who are already registered would have their registrations updated.
Expressly Advocating: This bill would have expanded the definition of “expressly advocating” to include certain types of communications that are susceptible of no reasonable interpretation except as a campaign-related communication, even if the communication doesn’t use the “magic words” of a campaign, such as a “vote for” or “vote against.” This definition is used to determine when expenditures supporting a communication are subject to reporting and oversight by the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.
Electioneering Communications: This bill establishes a campaign finance reporting structure for “electioneering communications.” An electioneering communication is one that refers to a clearly-identified candidate, within a short time before an election (30 days before a primary or 60 days before a general election), that is targeted to the relevant electorate, and which is made without the authorization or participation of the candidate or the candidate’s committee.
Elections by Mail: This bill would have removed an existing restriction that limits the use of mail balloting to only qualifying towns and cities located outside of a metropolitan-area county. HF 1603 would allow all Minnesota towns and cities with fewer than 400 registered voters to apply for and conduct their elections entirely by mail, regardless of their geographic location.
Assisting Voters in a Polling Place: This bill eliminated the three-voter limitation on assistors. This change would allow a qualified person to provide help to any voter who asks for it, without concern about the number of other voters that person may have assisted at the same election.
Veterans Restorative Justice: The Veterans Restorative Justice provision is an alternative sentencing option for veterans with service-connected trauma, substance abuse, or mental health condition who commit certain crimes that fall below a severity level and whose crimes are deemed related to their military service, plead guilty, and agree to the veterans programming.
This was a cornerstone of the House approach to helping veterans address the emotional consequences of their service and to make addressing veterans mental health a major priority. While the C.O.R.E. expansion helped address this issue, the exclusion of the restorative justice provisions is something that the House will revisit in future sessions.
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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