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Dear Neighbors,
We’re wrapping up our special session here in St. Paul today, passing the last of our budget bills. It’s been a busy few weeks, but we’re coming out of it with a bipartisan budget that ultimately does many good things for Minnesota.
Being the only divided state legislature in the nation, this is a budget built through compromise, with many important proposals being left behind for now. Minnesotans faced numerous struggles this past year, and though there were varied opinions in how to address these issues at the legislature, the consensus we reached on investments and policies will help aid in our state’s recovery.
I’m happy to share that many of my proposals made it into our final bills, including $70 million in the Health and Human Services budget for a new rate framework for Personal Care Assistants. This will ensure that these essential care providers for people with disabilities and older adults are on the path to a living wage.
In our Agriculture budget, where I served on the bicameral conference committee and working group that crafted the legislation, my proposals in the bill include an extension of the Farmer Lender Mediation Act, doubling the size of the Farm to School Program, and an increase in funding for Ag Best Practice Management (BMP) loans. Ag BMP loans help farmers buy the equipment needed to put more soil health building practices on the land - practices that make the land more resilient in the face of extreme weather due to climate change, preventing erosion, and helping the land retain more water as well.
In the Environment bill, I worked to secure $1.35 million to fund soil health grants for farmers, and nearly $5 million for accelerated tree planting to sequester carbon and respond to the damage caused by emerald ash borer.
You can learn more about all our other budget bills from the nonpartisan coverage conducted by House Public Information Services, which you can read below. I’ve also added notes on some of my provisions included in the bills
An End to the Peacetime Emergency
This week, after passing an off-ramp to the eviction moratorium and securing a deal with the US Department of Agriculture to continue emergency food assistance, we were able to set up a safe and orderly end to the COVID-19 peacetime emergency, which will end tomorrow, July 1.
When the peacetime emergency ends, so do the executive orders put in place by Governor Walz. Though the majority of these orders had already ended, measures like the off-ramp to the eviction moratorium ensure that ending these orders don’t replace the pandemic with a different crisis. Our off-ramp provides renters and landlords with the time and resources they need to ensure both parties are made whole and taken care of. If you or someone you know has been struggling with rent payments because of the pandemic, I highly encourage you to check out renthelpmn.org.
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