Friends,
I’d like to wish everyone a Happy Easter and a Happy Passover. I hope you have the opportunity to enjoy some time celebrating this weekend with your loved ones. Friday begins a week-long break at the legislature as we take next week off for the Easter and Passover holidays.
This week was the second deadline week at the legislature. In order for a policy bill to continue going through the legislative process and ultimately have a chance to become law, it must be approved by committees in both the House and the Senate by the second deadline. This made for another busy week of committee hearings and many late nights at the Capitol!
Once legislators return from break, we’ll have a clearer picture of the eventual outcome of legislation on some of the major issues, as well as the outcome of some of the bills I am working on personally.
School Safety Package
Today, House Republicans rolled out a legislative package designed to put student safety first. The proposal includes resources for the hiring of more school resource officers, student counselors and mental health professionals, in addition to making critical building security upgrades.
The following bills are currently advancing through the public committee process and will be included in a larger proposal:
- School resource officers, student support personnel, and other school security programs funded through increased Safe Schools revenue, including a floor level of funding for small schools
- School building security upgrades, and expanded use of Long-Term Facility Maintenance revenue for security projects, including emergency communications systems
- School-linked mental health programming to ensure better outcomes for all kids
- Physical security audit grants to provide state assistance to review facility security and crisis management policies
- Suicide prevention training for teachers to help educators learn how to engage and assist students experiencing mental distress
- School-based threat assessment teams established to assess, intervene, and report threats facing students, teachers, and staff
Through my conversations with students, parents, and school faculty, it has become clear that school safety is a priority for everyone. As legislators, we owe it to our children to pass meaningful legislation this session to secure our schools and help stop school violence. These bills have a broad, bipartisan backing, and I look forward to supporting them in the weeks ahead.
Visitors
It was great to see some familiar face at the Capitol this week. On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to take part in some of the events of Gustavus Day at the Capitol. As a proud alum, it was great to connect with current Gusties, faculty, and other alumni!
Kelsey Backer – senior Political Science major at Gustavus
Staff from Augustana Regent Assisted Living in Burnsville
Contact Me
As always, please do not hesitate to contact me at 651-296-5387 or rep.roz.peterson@house.mn if you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding any issue related to state government. I value the input I receive from constituents and would love to hear from you.
Sincerely,
