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Neighbors and Friends,
The Stay at Home order has been extended until May 18, and a few more restrictions have been eased. Starting May 4, retail businesses and other non-critical businesses may begin offering curbside pick-up. This will put up to 30,000 Minnesotans back to work in a safe, coordinated way. Businesses must:
- Develop and publicly post a plan for how to open safely.
- Use online payment whenever possible.
- Employees and customers should wear masks and protective equipment.
- In curbside pick-up scenarios, social distancing guidelines apply. If possible, customers should not leave their vehicle.
- In delivery scenarios, items should be deposited outside a customer’s residence.
In the time Minnesotans have bought by staying home, Minnesota has:
- Announced a landmark testing strategy that will allow us to complete up to 20,000 tests a day and test every symptomatic Minnesotan.
- Built hospital capacity and finalized a lease on an alternate care site to make sure that all Minnesotans who need care can receive it.
- Worked to acquire more personal protective equipment to protect our frontline workers.
Also, as part of his Executive Order yesterday, Governor Walz strongly encouraged all Minnesotans to wear a manufactured or homemade mask whenever they go anywhere social distancing is difficult.
Read more on all of Governor Walz’s Executive Orders here.
Top COVID-19 priority bills advance
This week the House and Senate DFL outlined our COVID-19 economic security plan, focusing on the following priorities:
- Keeping Minnesotans safe in their homes with a $100 million investment in housing assistance. This is a bill I authored and will help keep those who have lost their income due to COVID-19 from becoming homeless.
- Providing economic security for our education professionals by ensuring full pay for our hourly school employees
- Providing economic security for the personal care assistants who care for vulnerable Minnesotans through a well-deserved and long-overdue wage increase
- Keeping Minnesotans connected by ensuring all Minnesotans have access to the broadband they need to go online
- Helping families make ends meet by using available federal funding to boost payments for low-income working Minnesotans in the Minnesota Family Investment Program
You can read more in this Session Daily story.
Today, four of the top bills, including $100 million for housing assistance, were approved in the Ways and Means Committee. You can read my news release here.
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I welcome your questions and comments anytime. You can call me at (651) 296-3824 or send an email at rep.alice.hausman@house.mn.
Thank you for the privilege of representing you in the legislature.
Sincerely,
Alice
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