Dear Neighbors,
On Tuesday, the 2016 Legislative Session officially kicked off. Due to the ongoing construction, the State Capitol is closed to the public except for the House Chamber itself, and access to the public and the press is extremely limited. In the Minnesota House, we’ve always had a tradition of open, transparent and accessible government. While we will only be in session about 10 weeks, the current arrangement unfortunately conflicts with this principle of openness.
With a short session, there will be a sense of urgency as we attempt to make progress on important priorities including strong investments in public education (pre-K through higher education), affordable housing, increased access to high-speed broadband, addressing racial inequities and funding for our crumbling transportation infrastructure. There are other immediate needs we need to address, too. Specifically, many steelworkers on the Iron Range are counting on us to pass a bill extending unemployment benefits. Due to idling mining operations, over 2,000 of them are out of work and many have exhausted all available unemployment benefits. Some of them haven’t seen a paycheck since November.
In these times of crisis, the Legislature has always come together to lend a helping hand. This time, however, on the opening day of session the House majority had a different idea by insisting on attaching a $272 million tax cut for large corporations to this critical assistance. Making this political is both unprecedented and unconscionable. Families are struggling to keep current on their mortgages and to put food on the table. I hope we can focus on these real, urgent priorities, and provide relief as soon as possible.
I attended Gov. Dayton’s State of the State address at the University of Minnesota this week. Throughout his speech, I was pleased to hear the Governor highlight what should be the top theme for every legislator this session: building a state economy that works for all Minnesotans. While our situation has certainly recovered over the past few years, we need to take steps to protect the fiscal integrity of our state while taking action to give families what they need to succeed.
One of these steps is Paid Family Leave, and a bill providing for this was introduced last week. This bill would provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave for pregnancy or a long-term medical condition. Additionally, it would be available to care for a child, spouse, parent, grandchild, grandparent or sibling if they were to become seriously ill. Some may say we can’t afford to enact this, but I’d argue that we can’t afford not to. In fact, we’re the only nation in the world with an advanced economy that doesn’t guarantee this. Only 13 percent of employees have access to full pay through their employers while out on this leave and just 40 percent of private industry workers have access to short-term disability benefits. Low income, part time, and workers from diverse populations have this available even less frequently.
As the session progresses, please stay in touch with your questions and comments. I can be reached by phone at 651-296-2228 or email at rep.jennifer.schultz@house.mn; I’d love to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Schultz
State Representative