Hello neighbors!
Immigration
This week the President of the United States signed executive orders calling for the construction of a wall on the U.S.-Mexico Border (and then insisting Mexico pay for it), increased border patrols, increased deportations of undocumented immigrants, and an end to sanctuary cities. I can think of a lot better use of our taxes-national health care relief, education, supporting cities’ infrastructure, a new water system for Detroit... the list goes on. I applaud the coalition of state and local lawmakers who spoke out on Wednesday against this divisive action regarding immigration. It is imperative that we not back away from our commitment to building inclusive communities and that we continue Minnesota's proud history of welcoming immigrants and celebrating our diversity.
Update on Governor Dayton
Monday night was to be a night to remember as my first State of the State Address, but I will certainly remember it for a different reason. As we all know, Governor Dayton fainted as he neared the end of his 40 minute speech. We later learned from his doctors that he was overworked and probably dehydrated. I was glad to see Governor Dayton at the Capitol presenting his proposed budget the next day and meeting with other legislators throughout the week.
Health Care
The House and Senate passed the premium relief bill yesterday, after a compromise was reached. Thousands of Minnesotans who buy their health insurance on the individual market were facing up to 60% premium increases. DFLers fought hard to support Governor Dayton’s proposal to provide a 25% reduction on a person’s premium for those experiencing the drastic increases. Unfortunately, House Republicans were pushing for some very troublesome provisions. We were able to stop a provision that allowed insurance companies to sell policies that wouldn’t cover cancer treatment, emergency services, Lyme disease and nearly 100 other conditions or services.
This isn’t the perfect solution and it does include some changes to Minnesota’s health insurance laws that will allow for-profit HMO’s to operate in Minnesota-which I don’t support. However, thousands of Minnesotans were hurting and we needed to provide relief. Those incurring large premiums are getting help and we stopped the worst parts of the original bill.
Interested in tracking a bill?
Many of you have contacted me with your views on many of the bills that are starting to be heard. I appreciate your input on different issues and encourage you to continue sharing your thoughts with me. There are a number of ways to get background information and track bills as they move through the system. Here are several ways to stay informed and keep track with some much legislation being considered and debated everyday:
- Bookmark the Minnesota State Legislature page where you will find up-to-date activity for both the House and Senate.
- Sign up to track specific bills using the MyBills link. MyBills allows you to track House and Senate bills by bill number and topic. When you log in, you can select which bills are of interest to you. You can track them by logging in to the webpage or just receive their email notifications when the bills you have selected receive official action.
- Sign up to receive the
electronic House meeting schedule update or House Public Information Listserv
alerts when news from the House warrants.
- To listen to House Audio and watch video, click here.
Best,
Mary Kunesh-Podein
State Representative 41B