Tag: Senate District 48

September, 2018

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Ringing in the New School Year

This is one of the most special times of the year: school getting back underway. Some students will just be starting for the first time, many will begin a year of meeting new faces and and making new friends, and some will be soaking up their last year of high school as they get ready to take on the world.

If you are a parent, educator, support professional, or any other staff person that makes it possible for our children to learn, thank you for the work that you do.

Most importantly however, if you are a student reading this, know that this is a time of your life that’s full of possibilities. A simple chance meeting or a spark of inspiration can change the rest of your life for the better, in ways that you cannot imagine.

You can view more of my thoughts in a video by clicking HERE.

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Reuniting at the State Capitol

Marilee Rozowski, longtime friend of mine, visited the capitol last week. It had been years since we had seen each other, and reuniting at the capitol was the perfect mix of old and new: reminiscing and catching up on each others’ lives, touring the historic state capitol and sharing the our hopes for the future of the state.

I also got to reunite with a former student, Steve Yi after 30 years of being apart. He brought along another former student, as well as his kids. We had a wonderful time touring the capitol, and I can already tell that those kids will be exhibiting the same sense of civic virtue as their father.

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Touring the new Optum Experience Center

Several of my fellow legislators and I recently went on a tour of the New Optum Experience Center in Eden Prairie. It was a thoroughly educational experience, learning about new innovations in healthcare technology.

Another Wonderful Year of The State Fair

I was thrilled to spend multiple days of this year’s State Fair in the education building at the Senate Information booth. Listening to what is on peoples’ minds is one of my favorite parts of the job, and there are few better opportunities for this than being at the fair. To make one of my days even better, I ran into a former student of mine. Joe Lenczewski is a legislative assistant in the House, and was also there to represent his respective chamber at the fair.

I also got the chance to talk with Capitol Report, and answer some of their questions. That video can be found by clicking HERE. My segments are shown at 3:42, 8:11, 11:46, and 15:53.

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Celebrating America’s Newest Citizens

Last week I had the remarkable opportunity to welcome over 900 newly naturalized citizens into our great country at St Paul’s Rivercentre. A news story on this event, along with a short excerpt of my speech, can be viewed by clicking HERE.

After the ceremony I met Rasa Bagdonaite, a woman who immigrated from Lithuania just like my grandmother did 100 years ago to seek a better life. Seeing so much enthusiasm for the chance to participate in our democracy was yet another reminder that we cannot ever take what we have for granted.

My grandson Elliott is already taking that lesson to heart, and is absolutely astounded by how Minnesota’s constitution so eloquently enumerates the responsibilities of state government.

August, 2018

Education Committee Meets to Discuss Special Education

In mid-July, the Senate Education Policy Committee held its first meeting since session ended to discuss how we can improve our state’s special education programs. We heard a recap from the legislative auditor on a report they did back in 2013, and on the progress they have observed in the time since then. It was an incredibly informative meeting, and I am grateful to have so many experts who are willing to help us serve our state as best we can. Continue reading “Sen. Steve Cwodzinski (SD48) Update: August 3, 2018”

July, 2018

End of Session Column: 2018 Legislative Session Serves As a Teachable Moment

Below is a column that appeared in early June in several local papers:

The 2018 legislative session ended at midnight Sunday, May 20. During the past several weeks, I spent a lot of time reflecting on what happened.

Political pundits are framing the session as a failure in which everything came crashing down and nothing got done. Depending on who you ask, some would blame Republican legislative majorities for the dysfunction, while others would attribute it to DFL Gov. Mark Dayton. An “us vs. them” narrative overlooks members of the public who for months poured their hearts and souls into the causes they care about. Continue reading “Sen. Steve Cwodzinski (SD48) Update: July 2, 2018”

June, 2018

Governor Dayton Takes Action On Legislation

Governor Mark Dayton has officially signed the last bill of his career: a bipartisan pension plan that passed the Senate unanimously and will secure retirement benefits for generations to come. He also signed a bonding bill into law, which helps establish a new facility for the Hennepin County Medical Examiner in Minnetonka near Glen lake and provides funding for metro parks.

The governor also vetoed two major pieces of legislation: the omnibus spending bill and the omnibus tax bill. Both bills had good bipartisan pieces of legislation, however they also contained provisions that the governor had promised to veto. I believe that the root of our problem was in having bills that were simply too large. Provisions we all agreed on were lumped in with bills we were still debating, and so bipartisan agreements on elder care and opioid overdose prevention end up not getting signed into law. I believe that this session provided our state with a teachable moment about how we can better serve the people of Minnesota. We need to follow our state constitution’s single-subject clause. Continue reading “Sen. Steve Cwodzinski (SD48) Update: June 1, 2018”

The following article by Patty Dexter was posted on the Eden Prairie News website May 29, 2018:

The 2018 legislative session ended on Sunday, May 20.

The newspaper contacted Sen. Steve Cwodzinski for a Q&A reviewing the session

What are your thoughts about how this year’s legislative session went?

I love going to work at the Capitol and working with all the amazing people there, so in that sense it was great. However, I feel like we had a lot of missed opportunities. No action was taken on gun-violence prevention or distracted driving. Legislation on opioid abuse and elder care could have passed unanimously, but instead they were included in a 990-page document that the governor had promised to veto. Our state constitution has a single-subject clause stating that a bill can only be about one issue. Following our constitution may have led to a more successful session. Continue reading “Legislative Q&A: District 48 Sen. Steve Cwodzinski”

End of Session 2018

Senate Adjourns Sine Die

The state legislature has officially adjourned for the year, and my first biennium as a state senator is completed. Most of the legislation that we worked on this year was wrapped up into a 990-page supplemental budget, and while there are a lot of items in there that I have concerns with, I am incredibly proud to say that one of my top priorities made it into the bill. Continue reading “Sen. Steve Cwodzinski (SD48) Update: May 21, 2018”

Week of May 7th – 11th

Celebrating Teacher Appreciation Day

Our nation celebrated Teacher Appreciation Day this Tuesday, and I am incredibly grateful to have spent my career working with some amazing educators. You can check out some of my thoughts in this week’s video by clickingHERE

This picture was taken during my first year of teaching at Eden Prairie High School!

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Continue reading “Sen. Steve Cwodzinski (SD48) Update: May 11, 2018”

Week of April 30th – May 4

Governor Dayton Proposes Emergency School Aid

On Tuesday this week, Governor Dayton called for emergency school aid as many Minnesota school districts are facing budget shortfalls. Without aid, hundreds of educators and staff will be laid off at the end of the school year. I was honored that Governor Dayton asked me to speak at the press conference announcing his proposal, and you can view those comments by clicking HERE.

I even got a good laugh out of the governor during my speech. Continue reading “Sen. Steve Cwodzinski (SD48) Update: May 4, 2018”

Week of April 23rd – 27th

Senate Takes Up Supplemental Budget

On Thursday this week, the Minnesota Senate took up this year’s supplemental budget bill. An amalgam of provisions from all subject areas, this is probably the most expansive bill of the biennium. For nearly twelve hours we had thought-provoking debates on a wide variety of subjects, and I would like to focus in on three of them in this week’s newsletter. These were our discussions on Southwest Light Rail, Gun Violence Prevention, and Academic Balance. The topic of Southwest Light Rail was the first of these to come up.

I cannot believe that we are still fighting over Southwest Light Rail in Minnesota. This year’s supplemental budget contains a provision that would effectively end the project, and forfeit one billion dollars in federal funds. I offered an amendment to remove this language, but it was voted down along party lines. You can view a video of me speaking to this amendment by clicking HERE. Continue reading “Sen. Steve Cwodzinski (SD48) Update: April 27, 2018”

Week of April 16th – 20th

Continuing Work on Gun Violence Prevention

Wednesday was Moms Demand Action’s day at the capitol, and they organized another impactful day of advocacy to lobby legislators for sensible gun laws. I was visited by the single largest group of constituents that I have met with during my two years in office. We discussed background checks, gun violence protective orders, and many other ways that we can keep our society safer. Continue reading “Sen. Steve Cwodzinski (SD48) Update: April 20, 2018”