Dear Neighbors,
The Legislative Session is now in its third week, with much of my time being spent in committee meetings and meeting with constituents. When I’m not in committee or on the House Floor, throughout the day I get to meet with constituents visiting the Capitol as many groups and organizations will hold a “Day on the Hill.” These are wonderful opportunities to hear priorities from those in the community, many of whom are interested in a wide array of topics.
Legislation to Aid Veterans
Here at the Legislature, there is perhaps no greater honor for me than to advocate for the veterans in our community and state. We are able to enjoy a high quality way of life in large part due to their sacrifices. It is incumbent upon us to do everything we can to ensure they are able to this same quality of life when their service has ended and they return to our communities.
Many veterans struggle with access to employment, housing and health care. My House DFL colleagues and I introduced several measures prioritizing care and assistance services for our veterans. These include:
- Increased access to mental health services: Funds and allows the Soldiers’ Assistance Fund to cover court-ordered mental health and substance abuse counseling for veterans.
- Financial relief while transitioning to a veteran home: Creates a tax credit for veterans who are staying in private nursing homes to help ease the financial burden while they wait for a bed in a veteran’s nursing home.
- Expanding health coverage for veterans and guardsmen: Creates a feasibility study for providing health insurance to veterans and guardsmen to extend coverage beyond the health insurance programs provided by the federal VA and the Department of Defense.
- Reducing domestic violence: Expands opportunities for veterans to participate in the Change Step Program for veterans who need domestic abuse counseling and education.
- Ending veteran homelessness and honoring those who have served: Increased funding to address veterans homelessness and provides additional money to reimburse veterans service organizations for providing honor guards at veterans’ funerals.
- Increased support for veterans who have struggled to reintegrate: Similar to drug courts, Veterans Courts provide problem-solving treatment and therapy instead of punitive court sentencing. These courts better recognize both the service and struggles many veterans experience.
These are important steps we take to help out those who have already given us so much. Let’s thank our veterans not just with our words, but also with the policies we enact.
Birth to three year olds
Research shows that making early investments in the education of our youngest learners leads to better outcomes later on in their educational paths. I am part of a legislative effort to give all children a strong start in life by making child care more affordable, supporting child care providers, expanding access to care, and increasing infant and child wellbeing. As part of this effort, I’m chief author of a bill to increase the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit.
The time period of birth to three and even before is a critical time to ensure that children are healthy and prepared for success later in life. This package also includes investments and reforms to support child care providers. Some of the reforms include efforts to streamline and simplify regulations for child care providers and requiring that the Department of Human Services make prompt payments to child care providers.
This early childhood legislation aims to increase infant and child wellbeing by increasing funding for home visiting and funding at-home infant care for new parents so more can afford to stay home with their babies. In addition, legislators would fully fund Early Head Start so at-risk children receive targeted care and services to promote healthy brain and social/emotional development.
To check out the details of the package of proposals, click here.
I hope you will stay in touch with your comments and questions, or if I can ever be of assistance to you. It’s an honor to represent the community in which I grew up at the Capitol.
Sincerely,
Connie Bernardy
State Representative