Dear Neighbors,

With the global spotlight on Minnesota, it’s been a difficult week for many of us. While Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd, another Black man, Daunte Wright, was put to rest this week after he was senselessly killed by a Brooklyn Center police officer. We must do more work protecting Black lives, addressing inequities, and building trust between communities of color and law enforcement.

Meanwhile, we’re working at the State Capitol to advance a state budget that will truly help all Minnesotans recover from the difficulties of the past year, and once again succeed and thrive. Here’s an update.

Major Budget Bills Advance

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve had lengthy House Floor sessions to debate and pass our budget bills. Here are recaps of some of them:

Public Safety & Judiciary

The House DFL Public Safety Budget bill contains necessary reforms moving Minnesota in the right direction on the path toward justice. The budget makes significant new investments in tools for law enforcement, including for local police to issue body-worn cameras, reform-focused training, and updating policies. The budget builds upon the work of the Minnesota Police Accountability Act, enacted in 2020 following the killing of George Floyd, to further strengthen the police officer misconduct database in building a more effective early warning intervention system to eliminate and correct harmful practices. It also allows local units of government to establish civilian oversight councils and funds community organizations working to prevent crime in their communities while addressing the need for community healing after traumatic events. The bill includes many other important provisions, including a series of reforms to Minnesota’s criminal sexual conduct laws to better provide justice for survivors.

E-12 & Higher Education

The House DFL E-12 Education Budget makes investments in students at all levels of learning. This critical funding will help students catch up from last year's challenges, close the opportunity gap and other inequities, and put school districts on the path to having the sustainable, predictable resources they can count on to provide all students a world-class education. The bill also continues our critical investments in early learning to not only ensure students can get a great start in life, but to boost our economy. When early care and learning opportunities are available, parents can work, businesses can hire, and communities can thrive.

The House Higher Education Budget holds tuition flat at Minnesota State campuses, increases funding for the state grant program, contains several measures to reduce opportunity gaps and improve outcomes for Black, Brown, and Indigenous students, and expands the ranks of career and technical education instructors in our high schools.

Labor, Workforce, & Business Development

Our House DFL Labor, Workforce, and Business Development budget will help workers have economic security, strengthen health and safety in the workplace, and help businesses recover from the adversity of the past year.

The bill includes Paid Family & Medical Leave and Earned Sick & Safe Time so all Minnesotans can care for themselves, their loved ones, or a new baby without forgoing a paycheck. It helps laid-off hospitality workers get back to work, protects meatpacking workers, updates our unemployment insurance system, and provides assistance to those small businesses most impacted by the pandemic. Our economy is turning the corner, and these important measures will help workers, families, and businesses succeed over the long-term.

Commerce & Energy

The House DFL Commerce & Energy Budget protects Minnesotans’ economic security with safeguards and reforms to crack down on bad actors who take advantage of others for financial gain. It addresses price gouging, advances solutions to address high prescription drug prices, protects student loan borrowers, and takes action to deter the plethora of catalytic converter thefts. Within the energy portion of the bill, it contains solutions to keep Minnesota a leader in the fight against climate change by continuing our transition to cleaner, cheaper energy like wind and solar. The bill also has measures to develop clean energy jobs and address the disproportionate impacts of pollution on communities of color.

Taxes

The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t impacted everyone equally. While many workers, families, and small businesses have continued to struggle, large corporations and the wealthiest are doing better than ever. Our House DFL tax proposal will help level the playing field while investing in opportunities for a better and stronger Minnesota into the future.

The legislation expands the Working Family Tax Credit, exempts COVID-19 unemployment insurance payments and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans (exempting up to $350,000 per loan) from state taxes, and provides aid for small businesses that didn’t receive a PPP loan or didn’t profit in 2020. To fund important investments in students, families, and small businesses, the bill creates a new 5th Tier income tax rate for those earning more than $1 million per year; that’s over $20,000 per week. It also prevents multinational corporations from sheltering profits in offshore tax havens like Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. In turn, the bill provides direct property tax assistance to more than one million homeowners and renters, so qualified homeowners would receive bigger Homestead Credit refunds and qualified renters would receive bigger Renters Property Tax Refunds.

Rent, Utility, and Heating Assistance Available

Minnesota has received about $375 million from the federal government toward emergency rental assistance. Minnesota Housing has launched RentHelpMN, a portal for low- and moderate-income renters to get assistance to catch up on overdue rent and utilities. Renters can apply directly or learn more about the application process by visiting renthelpmn.org. Download the Renter checklist to see if you’re eligible and find out what documents you’ll need in order to be ready to apply. There are also resources available for landlords. I encourage you to take advantage of this assistance if you’re eligible.

Many Minnesotans are also struggling with heating bills. On top of the difficulties Minnesotans were already facing due to the pandemic, February’s polar vortex in the southern United States led to a nationwide spike in natural gas prices, which unfortunately too many people are now facing on their heating bills. Help is available from the state’s Energy Assistance Plan, including for utility payments, help with disconnections or fuel deliveries, and repair or replacement of heating systems. Visit the Minnesota Department of Commerce for more info.

Vaccine Update

COVID-19 vaccines continue to go into the arms of Minnesotans at a good pace, with 54% of Minnesotans age 16 or older having received at least one dose, representing 2.3 million people. Of these, over 1.7 million of them have received the full vaccine series.

Please make plans to get a shot if you haven’t already. St. Luke’s has vaccine available, with walk-ins welcome, and Essentia Health has walk-in vaccine opportunities at the Miller Hill Mall location as well. You can also sign up for Minnesota’s Vaccine Connector to learn about other opportunities to get vaccinated.

Please continue to stay in touch with your viewpoints, ideas, or if I can ever be of assistance. Thank you for the honor to work as your public servant.

Sincerely,

Jen Schultz
State Representative