Minnesota House , CD3 DFL

Today at 5:30pm: Majority Leader Winkler meets with violence prevention group EMERGE

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA. — House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler is meeting with violence prevention groups to discuss a new state grant program dedicated to innovation in community safety. The new state budget appropriates $800,000 for organizations that provide youth, young adult, and family anti-violence outreach programs; offer community healing and wellness; and help address mental health needs.

Members of the press are welcome to attend and should RSVP to matt.roznowski@house.mn to receive details about location of meetings.

What: Meeting to discuss new grant program for innovation in community safety
When: Wednesday, July 28 at 5:30pm
Who:

Majority Leader Ryan Winkler
Members of EMERGE

Today at 5:30 pm: Majority Leader Winkler meets with violence prevention group We Push For Peace

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA — Starting today, House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler is meeting with violence prevention groups to discuss a new state grant program dedicated to innovation in community safety. The new state budget appropriates $800,000 for organizations that provide youth, young adult, and family anti-violence outreach programs; offer community healing and wellness; and help address mental health needs.

Members of the press are welcome to attend and should RSVP to matt.roznowski@house.mn to receive details about location of meetings.

What: Meeting to discuss new grant program for innovation in community safety

When: Tuesday, July 27 at 5:30 pm

Who:

Majority Leader Ryan Winkler
Rep. Frank Hornstein
Members of We Push For Peace

Minnesota House of Representatives adjourns 2021 special session

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA — Today, the Minnesota House of Representatives finished approving a new two-year state budget and adjourned sine die. The Minnesota House, controlled by Democrats, and the Minnesota Senate, controlled by Republicans, convened for a special session on June 14th to finalize a bipartisan budget agreement for the next two years.

“Despite divided government, we found compromise and made significant investments to help those who sacrificed the most during a challenging year,” said House Speaker Melissa Hortman. “While this agreement does not contain everything we would have liked, we worked together and achieved a compromise that is in the best interests of Minnesotans. House DFLers will continue working to build a Minnesota that works better for everyone.”

“Workers and families are climbing out of an extremely challenging year, and they need their state government to help them emerge stronger with more opportunities to get ahead,” said Majority Leader Ryan Winkler. “The decisions made by the Legislature have real consequences. We can choose to build a state where all Minnesotans have economic security and can live with dignity, or we can choose to rig the system to benefit corporations, the rich, and well-connected.”

House Democrats are proud to have secured many investments in families, workers, students, and small businesses who’ve been hit hardest by the pandemic, including:

A historic increase in funding for public schools and preservation of all day pre-K for 4,000 preschoolers
Financial support for frontline workers who sacrificed their health to keep all of us safe during the pandemic
Investments in access to affordable child care for families and increased funding for providers
Rental assistance for tenants and landlords and expanded access to affordable housing
Tax cuts for workers and small businesses impacted by the pandemic
Investments to improve public health and reduce racial disparities in health care
State aid for small businesses damaged during last year’s civil unrest
Investments in transit, roads, bridges, and rail
Substantial reforms to sexual assault laws to bring justice to survivors
Measures to reform policing and increase accountability
Investments in families who are at risk of or are experiencing homelessness
Delivering an overdue pay raise for personal care attendants and additional support for home and community-based services to help people live independently
Substantial investments to reduce racial disparities and improve equity
Funding for the Market Bucks program to provide healthy and affordable farmers’ market produce to SNAP/EBT users

As a result of a bipartisan deal to end Governor Walz’s emergency powers on July 1, the Legislature will not convene for a July special session or continue meeting monthly as it has done since the pandemic began.

Minnesota House approves bipartisan tax bill

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA — This afternoon, the Minnesota House of Representatives approved a bipartisan compromise with the Minnesota Senate that will provide targeted tax cuts to workers and small businesses harmed by the pandemic, expand the Working Family Tax Credit, and provide new aid for counties to fund services and programs that prevent family homelessness.

“This is a tax bill that helps both workers who lost their jobs and the small businesses that fell on hard times during the pandemic,” said Rep. Paul Marquart (DFL-Dilworth), chair of the House Taxes Committee. “As Minnesota rebounds from a global pandemic, there is more work to do to level the playing field, bring about more fairness in our tax system, and fund important investments in people.”

The Legislature’s bipartisan tax bill uses federal aid from the American Rescue Plan to provide targeted tax cuts for workers who received unemployment insurance benefits and small businesses that received federal Paycheck Protection Program loans. Democrats say a deal without benefits for both workers and small businesses would have been unacceptable.

House approves compromise Public Safety and Judiciary Budget

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Yesterday, the Minnesota House passed the compromise Public Safety and Judiciary budget bill and amended it to include sign and release warrants. In addition to funding the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Corrections, the Department of Human Rights, and the judicial branch, the bill includes several criminal justice and police accountability reforms which House DFLers have been advocating for all session. However, Senate Republicans rejected many other meaningful changes Minnesotans have been calling for to ensure communities can receive justice.

“Our budget agreement advances several important solutions to help Minnesotans experience public safety in their communities, but it’s incredibly disappointing Senate Republicans refused to accept some of the most meaningful reforms we put forward, including those with bipartisan support,” said Rep. Carlos Mariani (DFL – Saint Paul), chair of the House Public Safety & Criminal Justice Reform Committee. “One conviction and one prison sentence of one police officer doesn’t heal the trauma with which our communities continue to live. It’s not acceptable for a system that has failed too many Minnesotans to allow peace officers – with the solemn duty to protect and serve – to largely continue operating with impunity and a reckless disregard for human rights. As a result of the shortcomings within the budget compromise, we commit to continue this important work until we ensure all of those who betray the public’s trust can be held accountable, and Black, Indigenous, and Minnesotans of color can be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. We welcome the Governor’s executive actions, which are necessary due to the Republican Senate’s failure to respond to Minnesotans’ calls for greater accountability for law enforcement.”

POCI Caucus Statement on Public Safety and Judiciary Budget Bill

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA — On Tuesday, June 29, the Minnesota House passed a Public Safety and Judiciary state budget. DFL POCI members negotiated until the very end with the Senate Republicans to add more police accountability measures to the bill. The negotiations led to the following outcome that makes progress to prevent more Minnesotans from dying at the hands of police.

The bill includes:

No Knock Warrant Regulations: Prevents an officer from seeking a “no-knock” warrant without an application. Prevents these warrants in drug possession-only offenses.
Sign & Release Warrants: In certain situations, police officers who pull over someone with a summons for court must inform them of the court date, have them sign a statement of acknowledgement, and release them without arrest.
Police Officer Misconduct Database: Expands information in the database to include private information about police officer misconduct.
Removes funding for body camera grant program without accountability policies attached.

The POCI Caucus is pleased that Governor Walz has committed to taking action on further police accountability measures. The Governor has promised the following:

$15 million from American Rescue Plan funds to support community violence prevention grants.
Increased transparency and accountability at the POST Board.
Body camera footage available within five days for families whose members have been killed by law enforcement. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigates deadly use of force by police officers, meaning families will not be stymied in receiving that critical information.

Many of these measures would not have been included if not for the dedicated work of POCI members Chair Carlos Mariani, Chair Jamie Becker-Finn, and Rep. Cedrick Frazier who stood up for our communities against a Republican Senate who would have preferred the status quo.

We realize there is much more work to do. The POCI Caucus is committed to more police accountability measures next year. The fight for true justice for Minnesotans, especially our BIPOC communities, is long, but we are making progress.

The House People of Color & Indigenous (POCI) Caucus includes Reps. Esther Agbaje (59B), Jamie Becker-Finn (42B), Cedrick Frazier (45A), Aisha Gomez (62B), Hodan Hassan (Vice- Chair 62A), Kaohly Her (64A), Athena Hollins (66B), Fue Lee (59A), Carlos Mariani (65B), Rena Moran (65A), Mohamud Noor (60B), Ruth Richardson (52B), John Thompson (67A), Samantha Vang (Chair, 40B), Jay Xiong (67B), and Tou Xiong (53B).

Minnesota House, Senate approve significant investments in early childhood

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – On Saturday, the Minnesota House of Representatives and Minnesota Senate approved a compromise Health and Human Services (HHS) budget pursuant to a bipartisan agreement. The budget, which now awaits an expected signature from Governor Walz, includes investments, funded through President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, targeted at the youngest Minnesotans and those who support them.

“Investments in the earliest years have the biggest payoff for both individuals and society,” said Rep. Dave Pinto (DFL – St. Paul), chair of the House Early Childhood Finance and Policy Committee. “While there is much more to do in this area, these investments will stabilize and reform this critical sector, so that parents can work, employers can expand, and children and communities can thrive, now and long into the future.”

Early care and learning was in crisis even before the pandemic – unaffordable and inaccessible for families and paying poverty wages to providers, Even as many families struggle to afford this critical service, providers operate on thin margins and child care professionals receive poverty-level wages, hampering their ability to provide high-quality care.

The approved HHS budget uses the federal funding to address these challenges in multiple ways. To stabilize providers, it invests approximately $300 million in monthly grants over two years, 70 percent of which must be used to increase compensation for workers. An additional investment of more than $30 million will expand the supply of child care, through facility improvements and equipment, training, workforce development, and a new grant program for child care for children with disabilities.

To help low-income families and those who care for their children, the budget raises reimbursement rates for the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) to the 40^th percentile of market rates for infants and toddlers, and the 30^th percentile for older children. This represents a significant increase from current rates, at the 25^th percentile, though is still far below the federal standard of the 75^th percentile.

To support professionals who remain in the field and expand their skills, the budget invests in Teacher Education and Compensation Helps (TEACH) and Retaining Early Educators Through Attaining Incentives Now (REETAIN) grants. TEACH grants will help child care workers earn college credits and degrees with scholarships of up to $10,000 per year and incentives for those who remain in the industry. The REETAIN program offers competitive grants for well-trained child care workers. These investments will provide more stability for workers and the children and families they serve.

Several provisions aim to improve maternal and infant health and close persistent racial disparities in these critical areas. Investments in Integrated Care for High-Risk Pregnant Women (ICHRP), for example, will expand services for Black women in the metropolitan area and create additional regional care collaboratives for Indigenous women, and the Supporting Healthy Babies grant program provides community-driven education on supporting healthy development during pregnancy and postpartum. The Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act requires hospitals to offer a course on anti-racism and implicit bias to employees and contractors who regularly work with patients who are pregnant or postpartum. The budget also expands home visiting programs and extends health coverage for low-income women following birth from the current standard of 60 days to a full 12 months.

Finally, the HHS budget points the way toward significant reforms of early care and learning. It creates a Great Start for All Minnesota Children Task Force, which is directed to develop a ten-year plan for affordable, high-quality early care and learning for all families, with livable wages for teachers. The budget also requires that the Governor’s Children’s Cabinet study early childhood governance and the possible consolidation of programs, which are currently spread over four state agencies. It funds the modernization of regulations, many of which date to the 1980s. It focuses particular support on family child care providers, including establishing a regulatory ombudsperson and one-stop regional assistance network, among many other reforms.

Health and Human Services is not the only budget area addressing early care and learning. While the E-12 Education budget does not expand investments in this area, it does preserve 4,000 voluntary pre-kindergarten slots that were set to expire. In addition, the Workforce Development budget contains more than $10 million in funding to support child care supply, including major renovations ineligible for the federal funds contained in the HHS budget.

Minnesota House approves compromise HHS budget with historic investments in Minnesotans’ health and wellbeing

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Saturday, the Minnesota House approved the compromise Health and Human Services (HHS) budget following a bipartisan agreement with the Senate. The budget includes significant advancements to protect Minnesotans’ health and wellbeing after the COVID-19 pandemic, with investments and solutions to strengthen public health, enhance economic security for Minnesotans, close health inequities, and expand access to affordable child care.

“The COVID-19 pandemic created a crisis unlike anything Minnesotans have ever experienced. To help Minnesotans recover and to rebuild our health system after the past year’s profound challenges, we’ve assembled the most robust HHS budget bill in a generation,” said Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL – Rochester), chair of the House Health Committee. “The budget includes a wide variety of investments to secure a healthier future for Minnesotans in every community. I’m excited for our legislation to receive the governor’s signature and once it’s law, to see the many ways we are able to help Minnesotans.”

After an unprecedented reliance on public health throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the HHS budget significantly increases investments to strengthen public health throughout the state. The budget includes $15 million for local public health grants and $15 million under a new local public health funding distribution framework. Through solutions such as expanded Medical Assistance coverage for postpartum care, services for children with asthma, and periodontal dental services, the budget tackles a variety of Minnesota’s persistent health inequities. The budget also fixes the so-called “family glitch,” under which Minnesotans are unable to enroll in MinnesotaCare because they have access to employer coverage through a family member, even though the coverage is unaffordable. To increase cultural and ethnic diversity within Minnesota’s mental health workforce, the bill includes a variety of provisions to attract more Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to the field. After many Minnesotans found telehealth valuable during the pandemic, the budget agreement expands many of these services.

Minnesota House Approves E-12 Education Budget

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today, the Minnesota House of Representatives approved the E-12 Education Budget on a vote of 105-20. The legislation makes the strongest level of investment in public schools in 15 years, preserves 4,000 pre-K slots set to expire without action, makes historic investments in increasing the number of teachers of color and Indigenous teachers in Minnesota, and holds down special education and English Language Learner budget shortfalls.

“This compromise was a hard-fought win for Minnesota students and families, especially after an unprecedented year of COVID-19,” said House Education Finance Chair Jim Davnie (DFL-Minneapolis). “Despite being the only divided state legislature in the country, House Democrats fended off harmful private school vouchers and secured the strongest state investments in public education in 15 years. We’re making progress in closing the opportunity gap by hiring and retaining more teachers of color and Indigenous teachers to better reflect our student population. Our education budget delivers students and families the tools they need to recover from the pandemic challenges and thrive well into the future.”

Due to the diligence of House DFLers, “Education Savings Accounts” were not included in the final education budget, which would create a voucher-type program where parents could withdraw their child from the public system and take the state funding with them to a nonpublic school. Instead, the compromise bill includes the strongest level of investment in public education in 15 years with a 2.45% increase to the general formula in 2022, and another 2% in 2023.

House approves compromise Jobs, Economic Development, and Labor Budget

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed the compromise Jobs, Economic Development, and Labor budget following a bipartisan agreement reached with the Senate. The budget delivers resources for workers, families, and small businesses to recover from an incredibly challenging year.

“The resilience of Minnesota workers, families and small businesses are rooted in our community values. Despite every challenge thrown our way this year, I have witnessed incredible leadership, service and most importantly, compassion from Minnesotans across our state,” said Rep. Mohamud Noor (DFL – Minneapolis), chair of the Workforce and Business Development Committee. “With our bipartisan Jobs, Economic Development, and Labor Budget, we will be able to strengthen these values through critical solutions that will expand economic opportunity, invest in the health and security of our workers, and extend a helping hand to small businesses recovering from both an unprecedented pandemic and civil unrest.”

“The last year has been devastating for many Minnesotans, and it compounded struggles that many workers, families, and small businesses were facing even prior to the pandemic,” said Rep. Rob Ecklund (DFL – International Falls), chair of the House Labor, Industry & Veterans Affairs Committee. “Our Jobs and Labor budget delivers strong investments to help businesses bounce back, improve economic security for workers, strengthen workplace safety, and includes a robust investment in high-speed broadband so more Minnesotans can have the reliable internet access they deserve. I’m proud we were able to reach a bipartisan budget compromise with the Senate that will create more opportunities to succeed in a post-COVID-19 Minnesota.”

The budget invests $70 million in grants to small businesses harmed by COVID-19 – up to $25,000 – with the smallest businesses prioritized, as well as BIPOC, women or veteran-owned businesses. Other business support in the bill includes $10 million in technical assistance for new businesses, $5 million for the Launch MN initiative to support high-tech startups, and funding for the Emerging Entrepreneur Loan Fund and the Northeast Entrepreneur Fund. Additionally, the legislation invests $80 million to help businesses rebuild following last year’s civil unrest, including those along the Lake Street, University Avenue, and West Broadway corridors. To help address the child care gap across the state, House DFLers were also successful in securing a historic $8 million investment to expand access to affordable child care. The budget also invests $70 million of federal funding over the next two years in broadband infrastructure to help more homes, businesses, and schools have access to reliable internet access.

“The burden of the COVID-19 pandemic has hit some harder than others. Our bipartisan budget provides assistance to small businesses that struggled through no fault of their own, more workplace protections, and expanded access to child care” said House Speaker Melissa Hortman. “This bill helps provide a measure of the economic security that Minnesotans deserve.”

To help connect Minnesotans with training for good-paying jobs, the legislation invests $34 million in several different nonprofit organizations from the Workforce Development Fund as well as additional funding for the Department of Labor and Industry’s apprenticeship program. The legislation also strengthens safety in workplaces through additional investments in the Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and funding for a logger safety program. The bill also protects renters by requiring high-rise public housing buildings to be retrofitted with automatic fire sprinkler systems.

The legislation includes workplace protections for new and expectant mothers. Employers must give nursing mothers space and time to pump while requiring workers to be paid for the time. Workplace accommodations for pregnant mothers will now apply starting on a worker’s first day on the job rather than after 12 months of employment.

To protect workers and communities around the facilities, the House voted to add a measure requiring workers at oil refineries to have apprenticeship-level training. The Senate had previously added this provision to its version of the bill on a broad bipartisan vote, only to later remove it.

“It is critically important that refineries in Minnesota operate consistent with the highest safety standards possible, and that they employ skilled workers who are well-trained to manage the extreme risk that refinery accidents pose to our communities,” added Speaker Hortman. “Fires, spills, and accidents at refineries threaten surrounding communities with devastating harm. It’s no surprise that the Minnesota House of Representatives voted in favor of high safety standards and skilled workers to protect our communities. We will continue our efforts to achieve bipartisan agreement with the Republican majority in the Minnesota Senate and to send this provision to the Governor’s desk.”

While the House included them in its original budget, Senate Republicans blocked Earned Sick & Safe Time and Paid Family Leave, two important priorities for the health, wellbeing, and economic security of workers and their families. Senate Republicans also refused to accept DFL-led measures to help hospitality workers laid off during the pandemic be rehired, to improve safety at meatpacking facilities, to prohibit the use of credit reports when hiring, and to prohibit employers from reducing worker tips to pay for credit card fees.

“Workers and families need time to care for newborn babies, aging parents, and all sorts of events that happen over the course of our lives,” said Majority Leader Ryan Winkler. “Democrats will continue to fight for a universal paid family and medical leave program because having time to care shouldn’t be a privilege for only those who can afford it.”

The budget agreement contains several changes to Unemployment Insurance (UI) law. After an 80-year prohibition, high school students will be eligible for unemployment benefits starting July 1, 2022. The bill also eliminates an outdated policy requiring an offset in UI benefits for seniors who receive social security benefits.

A spreadsheet of the investments contained within the legislation can be accessed here. Video of the House Floor session will be available on House Public Information Services’ YouTube channel.

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