Dear Neighbors,
The Legislative break has concluded and we returned to St. Paul on Tuesday to begin wrapping up the 2017 legislative session. Here is an update:
One month to go
We have a full agenda ahead as we complete the budget process before the constitutional adjournment deadline of May 22. Most finance bills have been passed and either are in conference committee or will be shortly. House and Senate conferees were appointed by the Speaker of the House to compare the different versions of each finance bill. Governor Dayton will also be very involved in the process as we seek to reach agreement on the final budget.
List of Conference Committee Members
HF 4 (Davids) - Omnibus Tax Bill: Davids,
Drazkowski, McDonald, Hertaus, and Marquart
HF 861 (Torkelson) - Omnibus Transportation
Finance bill: Torkelson, Runbeck, Petersburg, Koznick, and Howe
HF 888 (Fabian) - Omnibus Environment and Natural
Resources Finance bill: Fabian, Heintzeman, Swedzinski, Uglem, and Ecklund
HF 890 (Loon) - Omnibus E-12 Education Finance
bill: Loon, Erickson, Bennett, Kresha, and Murphy, M.
SF 605 (Anderson, S.) - Omnibus State Government
Finance bill: Anderson, S., O'Driscoll, Dettmer, Fenton, and Nash
SF 780 (Hamilton) - Omnibus Agriculture Finance
bill: Hamilton, Anderson, P., Lueck, Backer, and Poppe
SF 800 (Dean, M.) - Omnibus HHS Finance bill:
Dean, M., Schomacker, Albright, Kiel, and Schultz
SF 803 (Cornish) - Omnibus Public Safety Finance
bill: Cornish, Johnson, B., Zerwas, Scott, and Hilstrom
SF 1937 (Garofalo) - Omnibus Jobs and Economic
Development bill: Garofalo, Newberger, Hoppe, O'Neill, and Mahoney
SF 2214 (Nornes) - Omnibus Higher Education
Finance bill: Nornes, Christensen, Daniels, Whelan, and Omar
Public Safety Bill
I was appointed by the Speaker of the House to the Public Safety/Judiciary conference committee. Yesterday, we heard directly from Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea about the need to increase investments in this important branch of government. Without stable funding, backlogs occur, public defenders become overwhelmed, and it becomes more difficult to provide justice and accountability. I hope we can reach a bipartisan agreement on these and other priorities.
MNCASA AWARE Award
Last night, I received the AWARE award from the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA). Serving on the Public Safety Committee, I’ve worked hard to promote justice for victims and to develop strategies to prevent sexual assault. Much of this work is bipartisan, and my Republican colleague Rep. Marion O’Neill was also recognized.
MNCASA and their member organizations do terrific work to raise awareness of sexual violence in Minnesota. It was a tremendous honor to receive this award, and I look forward to continuing work to stop sexual violence.
Spring Clean Up
Residents of Brooklyn Park, Brooklyn Center, Crystal and New Hope are invited to drop off hard to recycle materials on Saturday, May 6 from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Brooklyn Park Operations and Maintenance center located at 8300 Noble Ave. N. Materials accepted include appliances, batteries, carpet, tires and more. For more information, click here.
Please continue to contact me with any questions or comments, or if I can ever be of assistance.
Sincerely,
Debra Hilstrom
State Representative