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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Keith Franke (R)

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News from Rep. Keith Franke 4-13-2018

Friday, April 13, 2018

Dear Neighbors,

We just finished up another week in St. Paul. There’s lots happening, and I’ve enjoyed seeing many of you at the Capitol. Here’s a quick update from the last few days.

School Safety Bill

On Wednesday, I presented my bill, HF4299, to the House Education Finance Committee. The bill requires school districts to establish a threat assessment team, which include members in various areas of expertise relating to school safety, who must assess, intervene, and report students that may pose a safety risk to students, teachers, and staff.

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The legislation differs from my previous threat assessment team bill, HF3370, by ensuring students’ private data is protected in the process.

We know that school safety is the number one concern here, and we want to have these threat assessment teams in place to help prevent violence in schools. This bill helps to create a safer classroom environment for our students, teachers, and support staff. I see this as a bill that could make it to the governor’s desk for a signature. This is a positive step in becoming even more proactive in our school safety strategy rather than reactive in tragedy.

Addiction Prevention

I joined Rep. Rick Hansen to testify on a bill that could help treat addiction. The bill would use existing tax dollars to create a substance and alcohol abuse prevention account. I’ve been working this session on bills to prevent and treat addiction, and I think we’re starting to make headway and change the conversation around this disease.

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Olympic Medalist

A highlight of the week was meeting gold medal-winning cross-country skier, Jessie Diggins. She won the first-ever gold in cross-country skiing for the USA. Jessie is also an Afton, MN native, not far from our area. It was an honor to meet Jessie; such an inspirational athlete.

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Playoff Run

Lastly, good luck to the Minnesota Wild in the playoffs! We’d love to see a big Game 2 win tonight!

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Please Contact Me

As always, please call or email my office if you ever need anything. I’m usually back in the district and would love to schedule a meeting. Just give me a call and we’ll set something up.

Best,

Keith