Legislative Update - May 3, 2019

Neighbors,

We've finished our marathon House floor sessions where we voted on major components of our budgets, which means it's time to sit down with the Senate to hash out differences between the budgets we passed, and theirs. 

Education
The House education budget is inspired by parents, students, teachers, staff, and administrators who've told us how budget cuts and growing class sizes have impacted the quality of instruction, support, and education in schools. Our budget would make significant investments in education to strengthen our workforce and support our students, while the Republican budget would continue shorting our schools the resources they need.

Here's how the House and Senate budgets would impact the School Districts in 52B:

Transportation
Our transportation budget makes responsible investments to fix our state's roads, bridges, and transit. The American Society of Civil Engineers rated Minnesota’s roads as “D+” on their most recent infrastructure report card. Bridges received a “C” and transit was awarded a “C-.”

I'm honored to have been appointed to the transportation conference committee - where representatives from the House and Senate will go over the budgets we've put together to fund our roads, bridges and infrastructure. 

Here's how cities in our District would benefit from the DFL plan: 

Eagan: $871,000 in additional funding for 2020-2021
Sun Fish Lake: $21,000 in additional funding for 2020-2021
Inver Grove Heights: $462,000 in additional funding for 2020-2021
Mendota Heights: $166,000 in additional funding for 2020-2021

These are the projects in our district the additional funding would invest in.

Public Safety

We passed a public safety and judiciary budget that includes two significant measures to prevent gun-related deaths in Minnesota. One would require criminal background checks on all gun sales; the other is my bill, which would allow law enforcement to petition the court to temporarily remove guns from individuals that a judge finds at risk of harming themselves or others. Red Flag laws have been in effect for almost 20 years in U.S. and this tool has already saved lives.

We can't wait for the heartbreaking death of another child, teacher, police officer or neighbor. We can empower people to take action when they see signs of a threat to their safety or their community's safety.

Press conference discussing gun safety legislation.

I met with high school students participating in a program of Equity Alliance MN called the Youth Executive Board. The program focuses on leadership, racial and cultural understanding, and educational equity.


Thank you to the Metropolitan Economic Development Association for convening minority business owners at the Capitol!

We have several manufactured housing communities in our district. This week I met with a bipartisan group of state representatives and senators to discuss legislative initiatives.

Quick break from floor session this week to connect with a constituent on supporting affordable housing.


About 35 neighbors gathered at the Isaiah Town Hall at Amazing Grace Lutheran Church to discuss legislative issues. Thank you to all the staff and volunteers pictured here who planned the event.