Dear Neighbors,

This has been a difficult week in the state of Minnesota following the tragic death of Daunte Wright last Sunday in Brooklyn Center. This was yet another instance of a Black man being senselessly killed by law enforcement. This tragedy highlights how much more work we need to do so all Minnesotans can feel safe in their communities.

Last summer following the killing of George Floyd, we worked together to quickly advance a series of police accountability reforms, but this was just the first step. Our 2021 House DFL Public Safety and Judiciary budget includes some thoughtful reforms including those to:

• Strengthen the role of local citizen oversight councils in matters of police misconduct;
• Fund local organizations working to prevent crime in their communities while addressing the need for community healing after a traumatic event;
• Prohibit white supremacists from becoming peace officers;
• Restrict the use of no-knock warrants;
• Prohibit altering or destroying body cam footage, and require footage to be shared with family no more than 48 hours after a deadly force incident;
• Strengthen the police officer misconduct database to build a more effective early warning intervention system to keep bad officers off the streets;
• Require 911 operators to refer calls involving mental health crises to mental health crisis teams when appropriate;
• Require development of a model policy on police response to public assemblies;
• Require the Peace Officer Standards Training Board to prioritize the goal of promoting public safety, including the promotion of human rights — i.e., maintaining the basic rights, freedoms, and privileges that belong to every person including the right to dignity, fairness, equality, respect, and freedom from discrimination;
• Eliminate the statutes of limitations in cases involving an alleged sexual assault or alleged act that results in a wrongful death by a peace officer.

Every Minnesotan deserves to make it home at the end of the day. We’re committed to providing public safety for all Minnesotans — no matter what we look like or where we live — and we will continue our work toward reform and accountability.

Budget Bills on the House Floor

Much of our committee work is complete and we’re on the House Floor discussing and voting on the bills that make up our House budget. We’re working to ensure our new two-year state budget can help workers, families, small businesses, and students. Everyone should have the tools they need to emerge from the difficulties of the past year, and succeed and thrive once we’ve put COVID-19 in the rearview mirror. Last night, we adopted the Legacy and Housing bills, and today we’re discussing the State Government Finance, Elections, and Veterans and Transportation bills. Here’s some information about this legislation:

Legacy

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.

The 2021 Legacy bill reflects our commitment to ensuring that Legacy Amendment funds benefit all Minnesotans and takes important steps to address racial and cultural inequities.

Housing

Last night the House of Representatives approved the Housing Bill, which funds a variety of programs aimed at helping create more affordable housing, and provisions to ensure Minnesotans can have the safe, secure, and affordable housing they deserve. Minnesota was experiencing an affordable housing crisis well before COVID-19. Now, that crisis has intensified, and we need to invest in innovative solutions to take on housing insecurity.

Measures in the bill include those to:

• Fund the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA) for specific programs;
• Establish the lead safe homes grant program;
• A task force on shelter resident rights and shelter provider practices;
• Investments in various affordable housing related programs;
• Provisions related to the Minnesota Bond Allocation Act, residential rental housing/landlord and tenant law, and manufactured housing.

State Government, Elections and Veterans

As our state continues to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the State Government, Elections, and Veterans bill includes investments in the responsive state government Minnesotans deserve to meet this moment and assist in our economic recovery. Now is no time to cut critical services that are going to help us build back better. The bill also invests in Minnesota’s veterans with additional funding for our state veterans homes, funding to help end veteran homelessness, strategies to prevent veteran suicide, and a pathway for veterans who have been charged with crimes stemming from service-related trauma to get mental health or substance abuse help as an alternative to incarceration. The bill also includes several provisions to strengthen our democracy and elections including those to solidify and expand Minnesota’s nation-leading election administration system. These measures include provisions restoring the vote to ex-offenders on probation, making Minnesota’s Automatic Voter Registration more efficient and effective, and reforming Minnesota’s campaign finance disclosure system to make it more transparent.

Transportation

Minnesotans expect our roads and bridges to be safe and efficient, but all across the state, our transportation infrastructure continues to deteriorate. Many bridges are near collapse. Our transportation budget makes direct investments in transportation to address the long-term safety risk posed by our aging roads, bridges, and transportation infrastructure. The bill helps Minnesota grow our multimodal transportation system to help people get where they need to go no matter where they live, with investments in including pedestrian and bike infrastructure, transit investments in both the metro and greater Minnesota, road safety improvements, rail projects, and more.

COVID-19 Update

Statewide, 50% of Minnesotans 16 or older have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. In St. Louis County, the number is 56%. If you haven’t yet, please sign up for the state’s Vaccine Connector to get connected with an opportunity to get your shot.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 cases are trending upward, as are hospitalizations. We need to stay the course and continue taking precautions like physical distancing, getting tested if needed, and wearing a mask around others. Some cases are connected to travel, and just today the Minnesota Department of Health issued a notice urging Minnesotans to be cautious and get tested when returning from a trip. The finish line is in sight; let’s all commit to crossing it together.

Please continue to stay in touch with your viewpoints, ideas, or if I can ever be of assistance. Thank you for the honor to work as your public servant.

Sincerely,

Jen Schultz
State Representative