 Neighbors, The second week of the legislative session is complete, and we hit the ground running, hearing many bills in our committees. My committees remain the same as last session, including serving as vice chair of Behavioral Health Policy Division. My other committees are Human Services Finance & Policy, Labor, Industry, Veterans and Military Affairs Finance & Policy and Transportation Finance & Policy. Our priorities continue to be helping Minnesotans recover from the challenges brought on by the pandemic. Committee Work The entire behavioral health hearing this week focused on my substance use disorder (SUD) bill. Read the Mankato Free Press article for more on this measure. My efforts continued this week to advance my bill to make jury selection more trauma informed. For more information you can read the MFP article I included in a recent update. I am partnering with the Minnesota Department of Military Affairs to enable them to offer enlistment incentives for service men and women who have served more than 12 years. Current law doesn’t allow it as it was assumed our service personal would want to hit 20 years for pension eligibility. Congress back in 2016 phased out the pension to a different retirement plan that doesn’t have the same enticement to stay up to 20 years. This bill will be introduced on Monday. I attended a virtual Minnesota Social Services Association breakfast and met with area social service professionals. Stemming from those conversations, I will meet with them again to hear how the state can be better partners as they conduct their social service work. Just today in Labor committee we heard the House frontline worker bill, one part of the House DFL’s overall proposal on Economic Security. HF 2900 appropriates $1 billion for bonus payments to thousands of frontline workers We’re working as hard as we can to be as inclusive as we can to support the workers in Minnesota and I was excited to vote in favor of this bill! House DFL UITF Proposal Advances HF 1035, which would appropriate $1.2 billion to settle the state’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund (UITF) debt passed a key committee this week. The Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund (UITF) legislation would pay back the UITF’s $1.2 billion debt, owed to the federal government, while also providing for no additional assessments in 2022, making hourly school workers eligible for UI in the summer months, and increasing the period from 20 days to 60 days for UI applicants and employers to appeal when the Department of Employment and Economic Development decides on UI eligibility. The UITF legislation would be largely funded with the remaining American Rescue Plan funds, about $1.15 billion, with the remainder coming from the General Fund. With the enormous amount of UI benefits paid to laid-off workers due to the pandemic, the balance in the state’s UITF went from $1.6 billion in February 2020 to -$1.2 billion as of Feb. 1, 2022. Video of the hearing is available on the House Public Information Youtube Page. COVID-19 Update Getting the COVID-19 vaccination and booster can keep you and your family safe. If you’re not feeling well, get tested. You can still order up to 4 free COVID tests from the government. Go to https://www.covidtests.gov/ to get your test kits and many more resources. _________ Stay connected with the Legislature I welcome your questions and comments anytime. You can send an email to rep.luke.frederick@house.mn or can call my legislative assistant, Blake Wilcox, at 651-296-8803. Also, please visit and “like” my Facebook page for more Capitol and community updates. Thank you for the privilege of representing you in the legislature. Sincerely, Luke Frederick State Representative District 19B – rep.luke.frederick@house.mn
487 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd
St. Paul, MN 55155
(651) 296-3248 Committee assignments:
Vice Chair: Behavioral Health Policy Division
Human Services Finance and Policy
Labor, Industry, Veterans and Military Affairs Finance and Policy
Transportation Finance and Policy Legislative assistant:
Blake Wilcox 651-296-8803 blake.wilcox@house.mn |