Dear Neighbors,
The Star Tribune published a commentary I authored with Sen. Chris Eaton, Sen. Julie Rosen and Rep. Dave Baker on the bipartisan efforts to address the opioid epidemic. Our bills, referred to as the Opioid Reform Act, will specifically address the over prescription of pain medication in Minnesota.
Attorney General Lori Swanson and Anoka County Attorney Tony Palumbo have done tremendous work to provide resources to schools, health care professionals, and others in our local communities to combat this problem. They have started a program called “Dose of Reality,” and I encourage you to visit their website.
Budget Targets
This week the House Republicans announced their budget targets, which outline their spending priorities. I’m troubled that overall, these prioritize corporate special interests with tax breaks instead of the interests of working families in Minnesota. They lack adequate funding for our priority areas including our early learning, K-12 and higher education, health care, and transportation infrastructure. In the coming days, we will have more details on these proposals.
Private Prisons
This week in the House Public Safety Committee, we discussed a measure to direct the Dept. of Corrections to reopen the private, for-profit prison in Appleton, Minn. In private facilities, staff is at a tremendous safety risk and studies show for-profit prisons actually produce higher recidivism rates. When it was open, the Appleton Prison had a particularly poor track record.
I offered an amendment to ban the state from contracting with for-profit prison facilities. Our criminal justice system simply should not be driven by a profit motive. Disappointingly, this was not adopted by the committee. I hope we can develop other strategies to address our state prison population problem.
MPR and KARE 11 both covered this issue.
Town Hall Meeting
I’d like to remind you about the Town Hall Meeting coming up next Saturday with Rep. Nelson and Sen. Eaton. I hope you will be able to attend and share your thoughts on the state budget and other issues.
WHAT: Legislative Town Hall Meeting
WHO: State Rep. Debra Hilstrom, Rep. Michael Nelson, Sen. Chris Eaton, interested members of the community
WHEN: Saturday, April 1 from 10:00 a.m. to noon
WHERE: Brooklyn Center Community Center, Cohen Room, 6301 Shingle Creek Pkwy, Brooklyn Center, MN 55430
Legislative Survey
If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to do so, I hope you will take my survey. I appreciate you taking a few moments to share your thoughts with me; you can find the survey online here.
Budget bills will start moving through the legislature very quickly. Please feel free to call or email me anytime.
Sincerely,
Debra Hilstrom
State Representative