Dear Neighbors,
The legislature wrapped up its business at midnight on Sunday, passing a flurry of “consensus” legislation related to education and healthcare policy. However, once it became widely understood that there would almost certainly be a special session on June 12 to address the governor’s ongoing emergency declaration, the deadline pressure was relieved and we adjourned on Monday with much left undone, most notably the biennial “bonding bill” which finances capital improvement projects around the state. The House version of the jobs and local projects or “bonding” bill includes my bill which provides funding for an ongoing project to renovate the original 51-year-old section of the Normandale College campus. Here are some additional projects in our area:
- a portion of $20 million for flood mitigation in Bloomington;
- a portion of $55 million for the D line bus rapid transit from Brooklyn Center to Bloomington;
- $2 million for work designing and planning the Riverview Corridor Transitway
- $2 million for the South Metro Public Safety Training Facility in Edina
I will continue to advocate for these local projects that our community needs. The language of the proposal is available here. A spreadsheet of included statewide projects can be found here.
A major housing bill is still on the table, as well, and I’m playing a key supporting role in the effort to include housing affordability provisions in the final version of this bill. Here is a list of legislation that we’ll continue to work on during the interim:
- $100 million in housing assistance for all Minnesotans; Minnesotans all across the state are facing difficulty paying their rent and mortgages, in order to fight this virus everyone needs a stable home;
- increased Minnesota Family Investment assistance for Minnesota families that need the most help;
- temporary wage increase for personal care assistants who are taking care of our most vulnerable;
- ensuring full pay for hourly school workers; these workers are helping to raise and care for our children, they deserve to have financial assurance in these trying times;
- emergency loans for state small and minority owned businesses; these businesses form the backbone of our community and they need our help.
Among the healthcare bills that did pass this year are Representative Mike Howard’s Alec Smith Insulin Affordability Act and two of Representative Kelly Morrison’s healthcare bills. One of them requires health plans to provide speedier and more transparent “prior authorization” decisions for expensive drugs and medical procedures; while the second one requires drug manufacturers to provide justification for drug pricing increases. Both of these have been signed into law. Two of my bills requiring hospitals and drug manufacturers to publish their list prices were introduced too late to make it through the abbreviated hearing schedule this year. I’ll be working with Dr. Morrison and others next year in a continuation of our efforts to make the healthcare purchasing process fairer and more transparent to patients.
There were several bills which passed the House this year but didn’t receive a single hearing in the Senate, including our two gun safety bills, universal background checks and the red flag law; as well as our Paid Family and Medical Leave bill. While we passed an Elections bill which grants local election authorities more leeway in processing absentee ballots, our Republican colleagues blocked our attempts to pass universal mail-in balloting, redistricting reform, and my local option Ranked Choice Voting bill.
By the way, you can now request an absentee ballot for the August Primary Election and the November General Election online from the Secretary of State’s website by following this link.
Monday afternoon was devoted to the retirement speeches of the 14 representatives who are retiring this year. As these colleagues recapped the highlights of their legislative careers I was inspired to redouble my efforts to leave a significant legacy of my own. While my own legislative accomplishments were meager this year – I passed two relatively minor bills as compared to 12 last year – I take a great deal of satisfaction in my behind-the-scenes successes in fostering reform of the State’s Information Technology management policies by working through the governor’s Blue Ribbon Council on IT reform. My own ongoing initiatives for next year include additional healthcare pricing reforms, consumer data privacy, and housing affordability.
Additional Info
- Minnesota’s COVID-19 Dashboard remains the best source for accurate, updated information. House Speaker Melissa Hortman announced the formation of a Select Committee on Minnesota’s Pandemic Response and Rebuilding to explore the pandemic’s impacts and address any issues that may arise, which had its first meeting this week. You can follow the committee’s work here.
Keep in Touch
Now more than ever, please contact me anytime with questions, input, or ideas. Don’t hesitate to reach out if I can provide any assistance. This situation is evolving constantly and I will be sure to update you with any changes. Please follow me on my Facebook page for further updates and invite your friends and family to do so as well.
Thanks for the honor of representing you at the Capitol.
Sincerely,
Steve Elkins
Representative, District 49B
Minnesota House of Representatives
515 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
(651) 296-7803