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Legislative Update - April 25, 2019

Thursday, April 25, 2019

Neighbors,

For the next few weeks we'll be debating, vetting and voting on budget bills for each House committee. This week we took up E-12 education, jobs, energy. Today we are debating health and human services and taxes, which includes a number of provisions I authored that increase support for working families and hold corporations and the wealthy responsible for paying their fair share of taxes.

During the jobs debate, House Republicans introduced an amendment that would have preempted municipalities - like Minneapolis - from requiring a $15 minimum living wage. According to the Republicans, paying a full-time worker $31,000 a year to feed, clothe, and keep a roof over the heads of their family members, is too much. I spoke out against this amendment and am proud of our DFL colleagues for defeating it.

 

Other provisions in the jobs and energy budget include access to paid family and medical leave and earned sick and safe time for all Minnesotans; tougher protections for the 39,000 Minnesotans who face wage theft every year; and a pathway to adopt 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2050.

Minnesotans are rightfully demanding that we take action for our children, and for generations to come after us. This budget makes sense for our environment and for our economy, creating jobs while protecting our water, air and land. The House DFL budget does that, because we know that climate change is real and caused by humans. On the other hand, this was the Republicans' response when asked whether "The legislature finds and declares that greenhouse gas emissions resulting from human activities are the key cause of climate change."

The 50 names with red dots next to them are the Republicans who voted to deny the existence of climate change.

 

Education
The Minnesota House passed the E-12 education budget late Tuesday night. Under the bill, the Minneapolis School District would receive approximately $668 in additional funding per student. All Minnesotans deserve a great education, no matter where they live in our state. Our education budget invests in every student in every public school. By making investments in early childhood education, we're allowing all of our state's youngest learners to get off to a great start.

This budget improves the lives and the opportunities afforded to our kids, to our neighbors kids, and to students around the state that are struggling to get a good education. Minnesota suffers from one of the largest achievement gaps in the country. With the mental health support and community resources provided in this bill, we can work to change that.

The bill also:

  • Increases teachers of color and Indigenous teachers
  • Addresses Minnesota’s special education funding shortfall.
  • Protect access to Pre-K programs for 4,000 children.
  • Let schools hire additional student support staff, such as licensed counselors, psychologists, social workers, and nurses.


Thanks for reading, and you can always watch the exciting developments on the House Floor live here. Please let me know if there are ways I can better serve you!

Be Well,

Aisha Gomez
State Representative - District 62B

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