Minnesota House 5 , CD3 DFL

Minnesota House Advances Transportation Budget

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – The Minnesota House of Representatives advanced a comprehensive transportation budget bill on a vote of 69-62.The legislation seeks to balance addresses urgent transportation needs, and builds a stronger and more sustainable post pandemic transportation system.

“For far too long, our transportation infrastructure has not kept up with Minnesotans’ growing needs,” said House Transportation Chair Rep. Frank Hornstein (DFL-Minneapolis). “Minnesotans deserve a dependable, sustainable, transportation system that leaves no one behind. Our plan creates jobs, and provides opportunities for communities throughout Minnesota.”

The DFL House Transportation Budget does not contain a traditional gas tax increase, but instead indexes the gas tax to the Federal Highway Administration highway construction cost index. Indexing will cost the average motorist about $9 per year and will ensure critical investments are made to our roads and bridges so they can be safely maintained. Under the bill, Minnesota’s 705 smallest cities with a population under 5,000 will receive a first ever dedicated funding stream for their roads by reallocating a small portion of the auto parts sales tax. The Small Cities Assistance Program was created to address a gap in the state funding structure for road projects.

Housing Omnibus Bill Approved by Minnesota House

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Yesterday, the Minnesota House approved the Omnibus Housing Bill, which funds a variety of programs aimed at helping create more affordable housing, and provisions to ensure Minnesotans are safely and stably housed. The bill passed on a vote of 69-62.

“Housing insecurity negatively impacts economic security, health outcomes and educational achievement. This proposal addresses the persistent and long-term needs in every corner of Minnesota,” said Rep. Alice Hausman (DFL-Saint Paul), Housing Finance and Policy chair. “All session, we heard personal testimony and those stories made an impression on every committee member. Advocates helped us craft a bill which will have meaningful impact across the state, to help ensure everyone has a safe place to call home.”

More than 572,000 Minnesotan households pay more than they can afford for housing, more than 1 in every 4 households in the state. On any given night, over 10,000 Minnesotans experience homelessness, a number that has only grown since 2015, and greatly impacts Black, Indigenous, and Minnesotans of color. All of these are numbers that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Access to affordable, safe, and secure housing is critical for the health and wellbeing of our families and our communities,” said House Speaker Melissa Hortman. “Minnesota is facing a housing crisis that has been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our budget takes significant steps to create more affordable housing opportunities, get more Minnesotans into homeownership, provide support and stability for those at risk, and address our inexcusable racial disparities.”

“Time and again, we’ve seen Republican politicians pursue policies that would kick Minnesotans out of their homes and apartments to the streets during a global pandemic,” said Majority Leader Ryan Winkler. “The last thing Minnesotans need is being rocked by a housing crisis on par with the 2008 economic collapse. Minnesota has the resources to provide safe, affordable housing for everyone, but we’ll never meet that goal if Republican politicians keep putting the rich and well-connected ahead of renters and homeowners.”

Provisions of the bill include:

Funding for the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA) for specific programs.
Establishes the lead safe homes grant program and a task force on shelter resident rights and shelter provider practices and contains amendments to other various programs administered by MHFA.
Funding for various programs related to affordable housing.
Provisions related to the Minnesota Bond Allocation Act, residential rental housing/ landlord and tenant law and manufactured housing.

“Minnesota faced a housing crisis – and that was before a global pandemic illustrated just how vital a safe home is to our health, happiness and economic security,” said Rep. Michael Howard (DFL – Richfield) vice chair of the Housing Finance and Policy Committee. “There is no place like home, yet in Minnesota an affordable place to live is out of reach for hundreds of thousands of families. We are working to create a Minnesota where everyone can afford the roof over their head and this bill takes important steps to build that future.”

A spreadsheet of the investment made in the Omnibus Housing Bill can be found here. A video recording of today’s floor debate is available on the House Public Information YouTube channel.

Minnesota House approves Legacy Amendment investments

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed legislation that invests $648.6 million in protecting and enhancing Minnesota’s outdoor heritage, clean water, arts and cultural heritage, and parks and trails. Authored by Rep. Leon Lillie (DFL – North St. Paul), the bill outlines how funds generated by the state’s Legacy Amendment would be allocated to benefit people and communities across Minnesota.

“Minnesotans care deeply about our state,” said Rep. Lillie, chair of the Legacy Finance Committee. “We are proud of Minnesota’s great outdoors, clean water, and arts and culture, and we want to preserve and enhance them. Investing in these priorities will make our state an even better place to live for current and future generations.”

In 2008, Minnesotans voted to adopt the Legacy Amendment, which increased sales taxes by three-eighths of one percent. The revenue this constitutional amendment generates is divided between four funds. Sixty-six percent of the revenue is split evenly between the Outdoor Heritage Fund and the Clean Water Fund, 19.75 percent goes to the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, and the Parks and Trails Fund receives 14.25 percent. All of these funds are appropriated every two years except the Outdoor Heritage Fund, which is appropriated annually.

“Investing in the outdoors, clean water, arts and culture, and parks and trails is an investment in our future,” said House Speaker Melissa Hortman. “For more than a decade, the Legacy Amendment has funded initiatives to benefit people and communities across our entire state, and today’s legislation continues building on that success.”

“Our state created a dedicated, voter-approved fund for investments in the arts, culture, and the outdoors because Minnesotans understand these are things that should not get swept up in partisan politics,” said Majority Leader Ryan Winkler. “The Legacy fund means that our parks, trails, museums, and artists cannot be used as a bargaining chip by Republicans to pass their agenda of tax cuts for the biggest corporations and wealthiest Minnesotans.”

Outdoor Heritage Fund

The bill invests $130.8 million from the Outdoor Heritage Fund in Minnesota’s prairies, wetlands, forests, and habitat for fish, game, and wildlife. It provides funding for projects including native prairie protection, wetland restoration, wildlife enhancements, forest fragmentation prevention, shoreline restoration, and strategic land acquisition. The bill follows project recommendations offered by the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council (LSOHC) and emphasizes ways that the Outdoor Heritage Fund can more broadly impact BIPOC communities.

Clean Water Fund

$256.7 million from the Clean Water Fund would be used to protect and restore lakes, rivers, streams, groundwater, and drinking water sources. The bill delivers funding for assessing and monitoring water quality, preventing contamination, improving sewer systems, studying agricultural impacts, managing the water supply, assisting local governments, and more. It also includes measures to protect Minnesotans’ health, such as amending the health risk limit for PFOS.

Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund

The legislation provides $149.7 million to support the arts, arts education, and arts access and to preserve Minnesota’s history and cultural heritage. Almost half of these funds would go to the Minnesota State Arts Board, which distributes funds to several hundred artists and organizations each year. The bill also supports the Minnesota Historical Society, libraries, public television and radio, museums, cultural organizations, zoos, county fairs, and Native American language preservation initiatives.

Parks and Trails Fund

The bill includes $110.6 million to support parks and trails of regional and statewide significance. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources would receive $43.8 million for state parks, trails, and recreation areas and $21.9 million for parks and trails in Greater Minnesota. The Metropolitan Council would receive $43.8 million for parks in the metro area. Additional funding would be used to develop a statewide plan for parks and trails outside the metro and to fund restoration and maintenance work.

The Legacy bill addresses racial and cultural inequalities to ensure that these funds benefit all Minnesotans. It directs state agencies and other funding recipients to ensure employment, educational, and engagement opportunities are available to Minnesotans from underrepresented communities, particularly children and young adults. It also encourages potential applicants from a greater diversity of organizations and requires assessments on whether the funding celebrates cultural diversity or reaches diverse communities.

Video of the floor session will be available on House Public Information Services’ YouTube channel.

Four hours of debate — and 50 proposed amendments — but climate and energy omnibus approved

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Is renewable energy cheaper, cleaner and capable of making Minnesota a more self-sufficient state? Or is it dirty, inefficient and expensive?

It depends upon who you ask. But it seems to be the direction the vast majority of electrical utilities are going. And moving Minnesota’s energy production and use toward a carbon-free future is the overriding focus of the omnibus climate and energy finance bill.

The bill, as amended, was approved by the House Climate and Energy Finance and Policy Committee Friday, but not before navigating through 50 proposed amendments and four hours of debate that stretched over two days. Continue reading.

House Early Childhood and Workforce Committees Pass Historic Investments in Early Care and Learning

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today, two Minnesota House committees, Early Childhood Finance and Policy and Workforce and Business Development Finance and Policy, finalized budget bills to increase investments in the youngest Minnesotans and their caregivers by nearly $600 million in state and federal funds.

“The early care and learning sector was in crisis even before the pandemic,” said Rep. Dave Pinto (DFL – St. Paul), chair of the Early Childhood committee and author of that committee’s budget bill. “The opportunity gaps in our state start in the earliest months and years. But the economics of this sector are broken, unaffordable or inaccessible for families, with poverty wages for providers – our most important teachers. The ambitious agenda we’ve passed today will take great strides toward addressing these needs.”

“Increasing access to child care is crucial to sustaining and strengthening our state’s economic stabilization, economic security, and economic recovery,” said Rep. Mohamud Noor (DFL – Minneapolis), chair of the Workforce and Business Development committee and author of that committee’s budget bill. “Our Workforce and Business Development budget increases investment in child care business development in underserved areas, complementing the Early Childhood budget, which invests in early childhood initiatives that will help improve our current and future workforce development in Minnesota.”

“House DFLers believe that all of our children deserve a great start in life,” said House Speaker Melissa Hortman. “Our budget will make significant investments in early care and learning to expand availability, address our inexcusable opportunity gaps and ensure our children have the opportunity to succeed.”

In earlier hearings, the Early Childhood committee found that providing high-quality early care and learning to the low-income young children who need it most would cost approximately an additional $1 billion. The committee’s budget closes that gap significantly by investing:

more than $200 million to raise reimbursement rates for the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), finally getting Minnesota closer to the federal standard,
nearly $40 million in early learning scholarships directed to the very youngest and most vulnerable Minnesotans, and
more than $300 million in monthly payments to providers and frontline workers, in recognition of the fundamental need for ongoing public support.

The two committees’ budgets also expand the supply of child care, including grants for:

$10 million through the Department of Employment and Economic Development
$10 million through the Department of Human Services
$2 million through the Minnesota Initiative Foundations

Additional funds are used for a wide variety of evaluation and reform efforts in this critical sector.

More information about the hearings at which the budget was approved, including supporting documents, can be found on the Early Childhood committee webpage. and Workforce & Business Development committee webpage. Videos of the hearings are available on House Public Information Services’ YouTube channel.

Minnesota House DFL Releases Tax, Education, Labor and Workforce Budget Bills

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA — Minnesota House DFL leaders and legislators released tax, education, labor, and workforce budget bills today. The legislation includes significant ongoing investments in education, prioritizes economic assistance to those most impacted by COVID-19, and asks big corporations and the wealthiest to pay their fair share in order to fund these needed investments.

“The House DFL budget assists those most impacted by COVID-19: our students, workers, families, and small businesses,” said Speaker Melissa Hortman. “Our budget raises progressive revenue to fund the priorities that Minnesotans value, help them weather what’s left of the pandemic and then thrive once it’s behind us. Minnesotans deserve a budget that will help them recover, not a Republican plan that makes unnecessary cuts and prioritizes those who did the best during COVID.”

“Minnesotans have been working hard and making enormous sacrifices to survive the pandemic, and they need their state government to be there for them so they can emerge stronger,” said Majority Leader Ryan Winkler. “The rich and well-connected are doing better than ever, and they can afford to be part of the solution. Under the House DFL budget, the biggest corporations and richest Minnesotans will pay their fair share to help families and workers emerge stronger from the pandemic.”

2021 House Veterans & Military Affairs bill earns committee approval

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today, the House Labor, Industry, and Veterans Affairs Committee unanimously approved the 2021 House Veterans & Military Affairs Finance & Policy Bill. The legislation, authored by committee chair Rep. Rob Ecklund (DFL – International Falls), contains a variety of funding and policy initiatives to help Minnesota veterans, including significant investments to address veteran homelessness and prevent veteran suicides.

“This past year has been difficult for Minnesotans as a result of COVID-19, and throughout it all, our dedicated military veterans and service members continue to make sacrifices and face challenges,” Rep. Ecklund said. “I’m proud of the bipartisan, thoughtful work we’ve done in this committee to deliver solutions to help ensure those who’ve served can have the healthy and successful future they deserve.”

The legislation includes $6.33 million in few funding toward addressing veteran homelessness. The Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs (MDVA) estimates there are approximately 150 Minnesota homeless veterans who aren’t eligible for housing services through the VA. The new funding will be used to provide housing vouchers and help the MDVA work with the Interagency Council on Homelessness to identify individuals on the Homeless Veteran Registry and provide them with necessary help.

The bill also invests $1.65 million to prevent suicides among veterans, the funding from which will go toward hiring new staff at the MDVA devoted to preventing veteran suicide, increasing outreach, training, and marketing efforts to raise awareness, and strengthen partnerships with local units of government, mental health care providers, state agencies, and other partners. MDVA would also perform an intensive review of records of veterans who have died by suicide to identify trends and warning signs.

Overall, the bill contains a $16.7 million increase in the MDVA’s budget, mainly to fund increases for the state’s five veterans homes. Other provisions in the bill include:

The Veterans Restorative Justice Act, which creates alternative sentencing options for veterans who commit certain crimes resulting from service-related trauma. The measure builds upon the Veterans Court model to help eligible veterans receive chemical dependency or mental health treatment as opposed to incarceration
Numerous changes to the state’s Code of Military Justice, which addresses court martial proceedings and criminal violations by members of the armed forces
Authorizes MDVA to share data with the Minnesota Interagency Council on Homelessness and Homeless Veteran Registry partners to quickly help veterans experiencing homelessness
Several changes regarding the process for selecting the Adjutant General for the Minnesota National Guard
Creation of a task force to recognize the 20^th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks
Technical changes to the Minnesota GI Bill
Authorization of Adult Day Care and Dental Services at VA homes
Changing Veterans Suicide Awareness Day to Veterans Suicide Prevention and Awareness Day
A technical change to the Personal Needs Allowance calculation for residents of VA homes
Authorization for the MDVA to contract for public relations

The legislation now goes to the House Ways and Means Committee for further consideration.

Video of the hearing will be available on House Public Information Services’ YouTube channel. More information, including documents from the hearing, is available on thecommittee webpage.

Legislation to Expand and Improve Hate Crime Reporting Advances in the House

SAINT, PAUL, MINNESOTA – Legislation to expand and improve reporting of hate crimes has advanced out of the House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Division. The bill expands the categories crimes motivated by bias to include bias against a person due to the person’s gender, gender identity, or gender expression, and bias against a person who associates with someone in a protected group.

“This important measure will raise awareness of the urgent need to update our hate crime statutes in Minnesota,” said Rep. Hornstein (DFL-Minneapolis), the bill’s chief author. “It gives law enforcement and communities the tools they need to address this mounting concern. All Minnesotans deserve to feel safe. Our communities should expect no less.”

The legislation also directs the commissioner of human rights to collect supplemental data on crimes motivated by bias and appropriates money for grants to assist in collecting the data and to provide support services for victims of those crimes.

Rep. Samantha Vang (DFL-Brooklyn Center) is a co-author of the legislation.

“This bill will go a long way toward giving us the data and full understanding needed to track our rising hate crime problem so we can actively work to put an end to stop hate,” said Rep. Vang, chair of the People of Color and Indigenous Caucus. “We will still have to overcome language, culture, and trust barriers to get a true picture of what our communities of color and indigenous communities are facing, but this bill will be a fantastic help in our fight against hate.”

The bill awaits action in the Minnesota Senate.

Minnesota House passes Earned Sick & Safe Time legislation

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – On Thursday, the Minnesota House approved legislation authored by Rep. Liz Olson (DFL – Duluth) to extend Earned Sick and Safe Time benefits to all Minnesota workers. The legislation would ensure, at a minimum, one hour of paid Earned Sick and Safe Time for every 30 hours worked, up to at least 48 hours per year.

“No one should have to face economic hardship for choosing to stay home if they’re sick or take their child to the doctor, but right now that’s the unfortunate reality for too many workers,” Rep. Olson said. “As we work together to build a better future for Minnesotans following COVID-19, this is one of the most important steps we can take at this pivotal moment in time to strengthen economic security and make sure workers and families can be healthy.”

While Minnesotans have been asked repeatedly to stay home when they’re sick during the COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated 900,000 workers – especially those in low-wage positions and those in the service industry – don’t have access to sick days or any other paid time off. Under the bill, Earned Sick and Safe Time could be used for the following purposes:

Minnesota Supreme Court ruling regarding rape victims creates urgency for Legislature, says Rep. Moller

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – This morning, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled under the state’s criminal sexual conduct (CSC) statute, the definition of “mentally incapacitated” doesn’t include a person who became intoxicated after voluntarily consuming alcohol.

State Rep. Kelly Moller (DFL – Shoreview) is the chief author of legislation to comprehensively update Minnesota’s CSC statute, which includes recommendations of the CSC Statutory Reform Working Group, including one to close the intoxication loophole.

“Victims who are intoxicated to the degree that they are unable to give consent are entitled to justice. Our laws must clearly reflect that understanding, and today’s Supreme Court ruling highlights the urgency lawmakers have to close this and other loopholes throughout our CSC law,” Rep. Moller said. “Prosecutors, survivors, and advocates have identified the problem and the CSC Working Group did incredibly tough work to identify the solutions. Minnesotans who experience unthinkable trauma deserve to see the Legislature take action on this immediately.”

As the Supreme Court’s opinion notes: “nearly half of all women in the United States have been the victim of sexual violence in their lifetime—including an estimated 10 million women who have been raped while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.” Nevertheless, the court found that for purposes of a CSC conviction, “a person is mentally incapacitated only if under the influence of alcohol administered to the person without the person’s agreement.”

The opinion went on to note the Legislature’s “unique institutional capacity” to address the issue, specifically citing the CSC Working Group and Rep. Moller’s legislation as a remedy.

The House Public Safety Committee approved Rep. Moller’s legislation on February 18 and the House Judiciary and Civil Law Committee approved it on March 11.

The bipartisan bill has not received a committee hearing in the Senate.

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