Week-in-Review Video
A message from your Senator
Constituents and friends,
We returned from our mid-session break this week to a busy schedule of budgetary hearings. Our primary job in this year’s legislative session is to reach agreement between the Senate, House, and Governor’s administration on an approximately $50 billion state budget for Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023, which will require significant negotiation given our divided Legislature.
After both chambers pass their own versions of omnibus bills that have been created by nearly every Senate and House committee (an omnibus bill is a single long bill that contains many individual budget/policy proposals related to the committee’s topic of jurisdiction), leaders from the House and Senate committees meet with each other, as well as the Governor and his staff, to discuss their disagreements and negotiate a final product that all sides (mostly) agree on. As you can imagine, this is often a long and contentious process.
My primary focus is on the Transportation omnibus bill, given my position as the DFL vice-lead on the Transportation Committee as well as my engineering expertise in the transportation industry. I’m disappointed with the current version of the Senate bill, which in accordance with Senate rules was created by the Republican majority – in particular, I’m concerned that the bill siphons funding away from the state’s General Fund to pay for transportation needs that are usually financed by dedicated transportation sources (like the Trunk Highway Fund, for example), provides no new dedicated funding to transportation, essentially zeros out the Metropolitan Council budget until 2025 (which includes Metro Transit and Metro Mobility), and earmarks money in a politically-motivated fashion to almost 30 infrastructure projects across the state. I’m looking forward to participating in the negotiation process to address these major problems.
The video above contains my comments from yesterday’s Transportation Committee hearing, regarding one of my primary issues with our current omnibus bill – namely, its shift of all operational costs for Light Rail Transit from the state to individual counties. That’s simply not helpful to the development of a comprehensive and connected transit system in the metro area, and we shouldn’t be imposing these kinds of unexpected financial mandates on counties that are trying to work as our partners, not our adversaries.
I’m also concerned about a portion of the omnibus bill that would prevent the state from spending trunk highway funds on bike lanes, and shared my perspective during the same hearing yesterday, which you can view in the video below. Bicycles are simply a different form of transportation, and we need to encourage biking, not make it less safe and more inaccessible – it’s essential to combatting climate change, results in more forward-looking and creative roadway planning, and extends the lifespan of our roads by getting people out of their cars.
My other committee, the Capital Investment Committee, has not put together a budgetary package. That committee typically passes a very large public works bonding bill in even-numbered years, which they did last year, and only sometimes passes smaller measures during odd-numbered years, during which the Legislature’s focus is instead on setting the state budget. When they do occur, those smaller packages can often come together quickly in the final days of the legislative session, so that remains a possibility this year.
In other news, Minnesota reached the milestone of administering more than 3 million vaccine doses yesterday! If you haven’t yet signed up for the state’s Vaccine Connector, you can do that here, and can sign up for Hennepin County’s own vaccine registration here. You can also search for appointments at pharmacies using the Vaccine Spotter website.
As usual, I had a busy week of meetings, which is my favorite part of being a Senator. Among others, I met this week with some of my district’s restaurant and brewery owners, Moms Demand Action volunteers pushing for action on gun safety legislation, anti-hunger professionals, college students advocating for serious action on climate change, leaders of a theater arts support organization, and the facility director of the Ridgedale YMCA.
Community News & Events
The Minnetonka City Council will meet virtually at 6:30 pm on Monday, April 12th. The agenda and viewing information can be found here.
The Plymouth City Council will meet virtually twice on Tuesday, April 13th. At 5:30 pm, they will hold a special meeting to discuss Ranked Choice Voting – the agenda and viewing information can be found here. Then, at 7 pm, they will hold their regular meeting – that agenda and viewing information can be found here.
COVID-19 Hotlines
- Hotline for health questions: 612-201-3920 or 1-800-657-3903 (staffed 6 am to 8 pm daily)
- Hotline for school and childcare questions: 651-297-1304 or 1-800-657-3504 (staffed 7 am to 7 pm daily)
- Questions for workers and employers: 651-259-7114 or 800-657-3858
- Hotline if you experience or witness bias and/or discrimination: 1-833-454-0148 (staffed Monday-Friday 8 am to 4:30 pm)
Please don’t hesitate to contact me at any time with input, questions, or concerns!
