Dear Neighbors,
I hope you’re enjoying the warmer weather. The pace of the legislative session continues to pick up. We unveiled our budget targets this week, and now committees will begin crafting their budget bills. Here’s a quick update.
Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Liberians Extended
Standing with community members, Governor Walz, and Attorney General Ellison in support of our Liberian community.
On Thursday, President Trump announced a one-year extension of the Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Liberians. These protections were scheduled to end on March 31st.
Last week, I sent a letter to President Trump and members of Minnesota’s Congressional Delegation asking them to extend Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) for Liberians.
I joined Governor Walz, Attorney General Ellison, and community members on Thursday to discuss the good news of this extension, but to also call for long-term solutions. Without a solution, our Liberian neighbors will be in the same place again in a year. Liberians protected under DED need an opportunity to apply for permanent residency.
We talk a lot of about Minnesota Values — and this is part of that. We care about each other in Minnesota. Our Liberian neighbors are Minnesotans. And we are going to continue to stand with them.
You can learn more here.
Minnesota Values Budget framework released
Announcing the framework for the Minnesota Values Budget
Earlier this week, we released the framework and targets for the Minnesota Values Budget. The budget includes significant investments in education, affordable health care, and safe & inclusive communities.
We are investing in the people of Minnesota, because everyone deserves the opportunity to succeed.
Years of Republican trickle-down economics and tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy have exploded income and wealth inequality. This inequality is bad for our economy. At the same time, investments in public services like education have stagnated and, in some cases, fallen.
The House DFL budget restores tax fairness and makes historic investments in education. The Minnesota Values Budget will build a state that works better for everyone.
Making prescription drugs more affordable and accessible
House DFLers are working on a package of bills to make prescription drugs more affordable. According to a recent report, 30 percent of Minnesotans say they have not taken their medicine as prescribed due to costs, or have reported skipping doses, cutting pills in half, substituting with over-the-counter drugs, or not filling a prescription in the past year.
The legislation ensures Minnesotans with diabetes can get insulin, increases transparency for drug manufacturers, improves public scrutiny of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs), leverages the State of Minnesota’s purchasing power to cut health care costs, puts more power back in the hands patients and their doctors to decide what medication is best suited to treat an illness, and addresses price gouging.
Minnesotans shouldn’t lose their lives because they can’t afford the lifesaving medications they need.
School Snow Day Forgiveness
On Thursday, we passed the conference committee report on SF 1743, a bill to forgive snow days for our schools that have had to deal with this year’s challenging winter.
Schools can now provide clarity to students and families on the school calendar for the rest of the year. The legislation also ensures hourly employees who missed wages due to snow days receive compensation.
It was great to see compromise and collaboration in conference committee. This is exactly how the process is supposed to work. I hope to see more of this as session continues.
You can learn more about the agreement here.
As always, please contact me anytime with your input. I appreciate hearing from you! You can reach me at 651-296-4280 or at 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