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Legislative News and Views - Rep. John Lesch (DFL)

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Capitol Update - May 18, 2019

Saturday, May 18, 2019
Dear Neighbors,
 
According to the Minnesota Constitution, the Legislature must adjourn for the year by Monday at midnight. Governor Tim Walz and leaders of the House and Senate are working toward an agreement on an outline for a two-year state budget. Meanwhile, House/Senate conference committees are meeting to review differences between the House and Senate’s budget packages.
 

Judiciary/Public Safety Budget

 
As the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, I’m one of five members from the House working toward a resolution on a compromise budget for Judiciary and Public Safety. The House passed a strong Judiciary and Public Safety budget focused on fairness and justice. It includes fair funding for our courts, including cybersecurity improvements and funding for more public defenders, who are right now grossly overworked. It increases investments in our prisons, to better ensure the safety of correctional officers and offenders alike while allowing programming to continue which reduces recidivism. It also includes strong protections against sexual harassment, assault, and other forms of gender-based violence. Among other items, the budget includes a task force to study cannabis legalization, a ban on private prisons, overdue reforms to probation sentences, three new statewide offices for the Department of Human Rights, a new Legislative Commission on Intelligence and Technology and much more.
 
For those with low incomes, fines and fees for traffic tickets and other minor offenses can often snowball into more fines, driver’s license suspensions, and loss of jobs. Our budget includes my proposal to give judges the power to cut people a break when they deserve it, and this can be a ladder out of poverty.
 
The House DFL budget also contains two overdue measures to prevent gun violence. One would expand criminal background checks prior to gun sales, and another would provide for “red flag” laws which would allow law enforcement officials to temporarily restrict access to firearms if a judge determines someone may pose a threat to themselves or others.

These are both supported by as many as 90 percent of Minnesotans. Despite this, Republicans on the conference committee voted against these, meaning they were defeated on a 5-5 vote. While the NRA and offshoot groups in the gun lobby work to protect the status quo, I’ll continue to stand with the families of those who have been impacted by gun violence in pushing for these common-sense changes.
 

Prescription Drug Prices

 
A bill to deliver much-needed regulation of a little known cause of the high prescription drug prices Minnesotans face is on its way to Gov. Walz’s desk. The House and Senate have passed HF 728, which will ensure oversight of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM), middlemen which develop and maintain lists of covered drugs (formularies) that they offer to pharmacies. Drug makers then give PBMs rebates to encourage the PBM to place their products on the formulary. This is a clear conflict of interest, and these kickbacks give PBMs an incentive to remove less expensive drugs from formularies, and encourage companies to raise list prices. As a result, Minnesotans pay more. The bill would give the state Dept. of Commerce licensing authority of PBMs and require them to notify health carriers whenever an activity presents a conflict of interest, and to look out for the financial interests of their customers by seeking out deals that provide the lowest price
 
Many Minnesotans count on prescription medications to live healthy lives every single day, and this is just one step we can take to reduce the costs. PBMs aren’t the only ones responsible for high drug prices, and I’m still working to end prescription drug price gouging outright. My legislation to do this is included in our House DFL Health and Human Services budget. I also serve on Attorney General Keith Ellison’s Advisory Task Force on Lowering Pharmaceutical Drug Prices.
 

Protecting Health Care for Minnesotans

Another key piece of the House DFL HHS budget is protecting funding for the state’s Health Care Access Fund. This is the source of funding for MinnesotaCare and Medical Assistance, programs which ensure low- and middle-income Minnesotans can access quality health care. Revenue from the Health Care Access Fund comes from a two-percent tax on medical providers, and this is set to end this year. DFLers have made extending this tax a priority to protect health care funding for those Minnesotans who most need it, including seniors and people with disabilities.
 
Unfortunately, Republicans in the Senate aren’t just content seeing this funding sunset; in terms of a state budget agreement, they’ve indicated extending it is “off the table.” Health care for 1.2 million Minnesotans should never be “off the table,” and it’s important for Minnesotans to keep making their voices heard on this critical issue.
 
If you or anyone else is interested in receiving updates in languages other than English, here are some links to subscribe:
 
Somali language e-update sign up page: http://eepurl.com/gjxKHH
Hmong language e-update sign up page: http://eepurl.com/gjxCHH
Spanish language e-update sign up page: http://eepurl.com/gjxIaf
 
Please continue to reach out with your ideas, input, or if I can ever be of assistance. It’s an honor to represent our community at the State Capitol.
 
Sincerely,
 
John Lesch
State Representative
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