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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Todd Lippert (DFL)

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Legislative Update - April 5, 2019

Friday, April 5, 2019
 

Dear Neighbors,
 
This week’s work at the Minnesota House largely consisted of committee meetings to finalize our proposal for the state’s budget. I serve on two finance committees that were shaping their budgets, Agriculture and State Government, but I have legislation that I’m working on in multiple committees. Here’s a quick update on our work from this week.
 
 
Minnesota Values Budget
 
The start of finalizing our budget process largely began with the House DFL’s release of our Minnesota Values Budget this month. This gave our committees financial targets to worth with, and we started the process of deciding what we could invest in with the resources we had.
 
The Minnesota Values Budget is a product of conversations with Minnesotans all over the state, discussing our shared priorities and goals, and translating that into funding policies that work for everyone. With significant investments in education, affordable health care, and safe and inclusive communities, the budget also offers increases in much-needed areas for the next few years.

 

 
Budget Legislation
 
For this year’s session, getting your legislation in a committee’s finance bill, often called an omnibus bill, is a major step in securing a spot for your ideas in the next steps of the legislative process. As is the nature of government, and any form of budgeting, there’s never enough resources for all the good ideas, which can make crafting these finance bills especially difficult. I’m grateful my colleagues saw the importance of some of my proposed policies that have made it to this next step. Here are some examples of my policies to keep an eye out for:
 
  • In the Agriculture and Food Committee, my Farm-to-School legislation made the cut. I’ve talked about this in a previous update, but as a reminder, this legislation is a win-win for our local farmers and students. Farmers have access to a stable, consistent source of revenue, and students have access to fresh, healthy produce.
  • For Health and Human Service’s finance bill, several pieces of legislation I sponsored were included in the House’s proposal. The Drug Repository ProgramCommunity Action grants, additional staff for the Ombudsman officefor Long Term Care, and Recovery Community Organization grants are currently part of the proposal, though committee debate and amendments on this bill are still ongoing.
  • The House Transportation committee finished their omnibus legislation last night, and I’m happy to say my language on electric vehicle infrastructure for both the Metro and Greater Minnesota was included.
  • Environment and Natural Resources just finished their committee work, and my bill on setting a Forest Carbon Sequestration Goal was included. If passed, we would plant an additional million trees per year over the next four years! Also included in this bill is funding for the much-needed Roberds Lake cleanup.
  • In the Jobs and Economic Development committee’s bill, we secured Opportunity Reboot funding that invests in Northfield’s very successful TORCH program.
  • Finally, the Climate and Energy finance bill includes my study to restore prairies on state lands for carbon sequestration.
 
The next step for these omnibus bills will be to get approval from the Ways & Means committee before being sent to the House floor for a vote. Our budget bills will be different from the ones coming from the Senate, so the remainder of this year’s legislative session will be spent negotiating policies with our Senate colleagues before compromise legislation is sent to Governor Walz for his signature.
 
 
State of the State Address
 
This week also saw Governor Walz’s first State of the State Address. In a speech that focused on the stories of real Minnesotans, Governor Walz grounded us in the needs of the people who sent us here. Speaking to the only divided legislature in the nation, he reminded us that we’re here to come together and get work done for the people of Minnesota.
 
You can watch The State of the State Address below. 

 

ISAIAH Minnesota in Northfield
 
On Sunday, April 7, at 2:30pm, Sen. Draheim and I will be attending a public meeting hosted by ISAIAH Minnesota. The meeting will be held at St. Dominic’s Catholic Church in Northfield. I hope to see you here.
 
 
Stay In Touch!
 
As always, you can contact me at rep.todd.lippert@house.mn, or at (651) 296-0171. Government is at its best when it’s open and collaborative, and I look forward to hearing your questions and comments on the legislative process.

Sincerely,
 


Todd Lippert