Dear Lakeville Neighbors,
Wine and Beer Means Jobs
Cheers! The Minnesota House of Representatives approved my legislation that temporarily allows bars and restaurants to offer wine and beer with take-out food orders. It passed with near-unanimous support 129-1!
It was amazing to see the results and to take leadership as the original bill author of this bipartisan legislation, and pass it into law in about four days. At its core, the legislation is a jobs bill that will provide local restaurants and bars more flexibility to help pay some bills and keep more Minnesotans employed.
Click the photo below to watch my short speech on the House Floor during debate on the bill. Yes, I did make it to Sawa Japan for a delayed birthday celebration.
Please, if you can, continue to support Lakeville’s amazing restaurants during this uncertain time, it helps support your friends and neighbors and keeps our local economy and community moving!
Emergency Insulin Bill Supported and Approved
Last week, I supported, and the legislature approved a bill providing emergency access to insulin.
This legislation sets up two programs: one that allows Minnesotans to get up to a three months’ supply of insulin-free in an emergency and the other helps folks access affordable insulin on an ongoing basis.
The bill represented a compromise agreement that makes insulin more affordable for Minnesotans and ensures that insulin is available in emergencies.
I was proud to vote “yes” on this bill.
Information for Frontier Customers
Recently, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission ordered rebates and bill credits to Frontier Communication customers (both current and former) for inadequate services, based on negotiated terms between the Minnesota Department of Commerce and Frontier.
Customers of Frontier should have received a direct mailing starting on April 13th, 2020 but I wanted to make sure that as many consumers are aware of the rebates and credits as possible.
Applications for refund or bill credit have been mailed to Frontier customers and are also available online at: https://frontier.com/forms/minnesota-bill-credit.
Relief for Self-Employed and Independent Contractors
On Friday, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) announced that the agency has started making Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) payments to self-employed people, independent contractors, and other eligible recipients who are not eligible for regular unemployment benefits.
Additional information, including answers to many commonly asked questions, can be found here: COVID-19 information for self-employed people and independent contractors.
Lakeville Cares
We are a community of caring, loving, hardworking citizens, and neighbors. The challenges we face are harder for some, but together, we can take care of each other as we always have. I’m proud to share the work of some of our organizations to help meet the needs we all have.
The City of Lakeville, Hosanna Church, the Lakeville Chamber of Commerce and others, have started a network to coordinate the logistics of those with needs to those who have resources and can help. Take a minute to visit www.lakevillecares.org and see how you can help or be of service to others or how to get some extra help.
Additional resource links are also listed below.
Dakota County has put together a webpage with several county-specific resources. Click here to visit that page.
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has hotlines available to assist Minnesotans, including a public line (651) 201-3920 and a line for questions specifically related to schools and/or childcare (651) 297-1304. Several online resources also are available to help individuals stay up to date:
Staying Connected
If you have a Lakeville neighbor that would like to stay updated, please forward this email and encourage them to sign up for the KOZNICK CONNECTION on my house page or this link.
My staff and I remain available to assist you in with any questions or concerns you may have. I receive emails from across the state, so please be sure to include your name and address when you contact my office so we can make sure to prioritize you, Lakeville constituents. I know working with the state bureaucracy can be very frustrating at this time, but we are glad to try and connect you with the answers and resources needed.
Jon Koznick
Assistant Minority Leader
State Representative, Lakeville, 58A