Neighbors,
With less than a week left in the legislative session, we're spending most of our time trying to find bipartisan compromises between the House and Senate.
Last week, we passed legislation to bring down the cost of prescriptions. The bill, which was widely supported by Republicans and Democrats, would regulate and require transparency from middle men in in the health care industry, Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs).
The PBMs take a commission from drug manufacturers and in return they offer the drugs to pharmacies. The system incentivizes PBMs to advocate for higher-cost drugs, and all their transactions are trade secrets. We need to increase transparency and accountability in health care to make sure that Minnesotans can afford the medications they need to stay healthy, and that's what this bill does.
Education
The House DFL is making education a top priority. A cornerstone of our budget would increase per-pupil funding by 3% in 2020 and another 2% in 2021. The Senate proposal would lead to programming cuts, teacher and aide layoffs, and larger class sizes. Here’s a breakdown of what the House and Senate funding differences look like for Woodbury area schools:
Housing
A new report shows that housing prices in Minnesota's seven-county metro area are higher than comparable cities across the country. It concluded there is not enough housing in the Twin Cities to accommodate a growing workforce. One in five workers in our area are spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing alone — that's a real hardship for all of our workforce. The House last week passed a housing bill to address those challenges and support our growing economy. It invests in new development and affordable housing so that all our families have the basic necessities to thrive. Read more here.
Thanks for reading! Please reach out with questions and let me know if there are ways I can better serve you and our community.
Sincerely,
Steve Sandell
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