During the interim, I like to take time for more extensive visits with our community leaders. This week I had the opportunity to sit down with St. Louis Park Police Chief Bryan Kruelle and Edina Police Chief Todd Milburn. It is important to me to keep those open lines of communication all year, spending more extensive time to hear what initiatives our cities and school districts are working on and cultivating our partnerships to enhance our communities’ quality of living. I also had the chance to sit down with Paul Meunier and Gaonu Yang from Youth Intervention Programs Association (YIPA). YIPA is a collective of non-profits that have united around the goal of getting our young people on a path to success through a variety of different approaches. You can check out the work that YIPA does here.
When our kids return from summer vacation and head back to school in the fall, there will be a handful of new laws in effect to focus more resources on student success, notably when it comes to reading comprehension and literacy. As I continue my “deep dive” overview of our progress at the legislature, it’s appropriate to focus on education with fall just around the corner.
K-12 Education Investments
In 2023, we enacted the Reading to Ensure Academic Development (READ) Act, accompanied by $92 million in funding toward this groundbreaking student literacy initiative. On July 1, 2024 many of the provisions of the Minnesota Reading to Ensure Academic Development (READ) Act went into full effect. This year we built on that investment with an additional $37.22 million to ensure that all of Minnesota’s students are reading at grade level beginning in kindergarten. The READ Act includes resources for training teachers, purchasing curriculum, and much more. In addition to improving literacy, here are some of the other significant new laws we passed this biennium including:
Increase funding for full-service community schools, special education, and English language learners
Funding to increase school nurses, counselors, psychologists, and social workers
Funding to increase teacher recruitment and retention as well as a pilot program to pay a stipend to our student teachers for the 3 months they are honing their skills in our classrooms
Free breakfast and lunch for students and expanded summer nutrition resources
Annual reviews and revisions of personal learning plans to ensure students are on track to graduate
Allowing school districts to grant parental access to their student’s performance data
A bill I authored enhancing the right to free speech for student journalists and freedom of the press in school-sponsored media
Adding Native cultural practice, observance, or ceremonies to the list of excused religious absences from school
Requiring schools to have a language access plan for students and families who speak languages other than English
Ensuring certain rights and protections for children of Minnesota Army National Guard and Air National Guard members when transferring between public schools
All of this progress is built on the historic investments we delivered in 2023 in Minnesota’s education system, including more than $6 billion over the next four years in our schools. From providing free school meals to all students regardless of income to linking the general education formula to inflation, this legislature has ensured that the needs of students will always come first.
Early Care and Family Supports
Outside of our K-12 schools, we made investments to support children at all stages of development, from ensuring access to food at home to supporting caregivers. Some of these investments delivered:
$2 million for the Minnesota food shelf program
$2.39 million for Minnesota’s regional food banks for purposes of the emergency food assistance program
$1 million for the American Indian food sovereignty funding program
$9.66 million for information technology improvements to the outdated Social Services Information System used by more than 6,000 workers around the state to track and manage child welfare casework
$1.13 million for the childcare improvement grant program
$3.39 million for emergency services grants
$550,000 for the Supporting Relative Caregiver Grants Program
Higher Education Investments
Our team is recommitting to and making significant investments in higher education. The House and Senate worked together to craft a transformative budget in 2023 to help students as well as the systems including:
Fully funding a tuition freeze at Minnesota State for two years, saving students a combined $75 million.
Providing $50 million in one-time funding to address structural deficits across the entire MinnState system, saving jobs and programs.
Providing the University of Minnesota with an additional $100 million over the biennium.
Fully funding the University of Minnesota’s Systemwide Safety and Security request for $10 million in FY 24-25 and providing an additional $2 million ongoing.
Providing an ongoing $1 million per year to each of the three Tribal colleges.
North Star Promise Full Scholarships
A key initiative we got across the finish line called the North Star Promise will provide full scholarships to eligible students to attend a public postsecondary education or Tribal college in Minnesota. To qualify for the scholarship, students must complete the FAFSA or the state aid application, have an adjusted gross household income below $80,000, be enrolled in at least one credit, and meet satisfactory academic progress. Scholarships are for one semester and can be renewed up to 60 credits for a certificate or associate degree and 120 credits for a bachelor’s degree. The program will start for this 24-25 school year and you can learn more about applying here.
Last Update
Whether seeking reelection or not, legislators cannot send certain unsolicited communication during an election period which starts 60 days after we adjourned this year’s legislative session. Therefore, this will be my last legislative update until after November 5. I still encourage you to contact me if I can ever be of assistance with a state-level issue or if you’d like to share your input with me at rep.cheryl.youakim@house.mn.gov or 651-296-9889. Please note my new office address is: 5th Floor, Centennial Office Building, St. Paul, MN 55155.
I hope that everyone is weathering the heat and the scattered storms in Minnesota this week. I have been at an Education Commission of the States event this week in D.C. The weather here has ben hot and muggy, but the education and networking experience has been worth it. Senator Kunesh and I joined Education Commissioner Willie Jett, Reagan Greene from the Governor’s office, and others from Minnesota to hear about trends in Education Finance, dealing with absenteeism rates, approaches to teaching English Language Learning, and much more.
My husband and I had a chance to head out to D.C. a few days earlier to visit the amazing Smithsonian Museums, the inspiring monuments, and to tour the beautiful U.S. Capitol building. Thank you to Charles Huang from Senator Tina Smith’s office for the informative tour! If you have a chance to visit Washington D.C., you can contact any of our Congressional members or US Senators for a Capitol tour.
As I mentioned previously, I’m continuing to provide “deep dive” email updates to summarize our work in various areas of the state budget. This week’s newsletter contains more information about our collective work in Agriculture, Commerce, Transportation, and Environment and Energy.
Agriculture
Minnesota’s vast farmlands and agricultural production are a cornerstone of the state’s economy and a source of pride for our residents. We came away from this legislative session with solutions to address challenges and initiatives aimed at ensuring clean water for future Minnesotans while increasing statewide equity in agriculture. Our investments in Minnesotans who go to bed hungry reflect our commitment that everyone should have access to fresh, nutritious food.
With much of our landscaping workforce primarily being Spanish-speaking Minnesotans, we helped individuals who have been unable to receive commercial pesticide applicator licenses, not due to a gap in skills, but strictly due to the unavailability of a Spanish version of the exam. This year, we made a change that removes a major barrier that artificially prevents Spanish speakers from higher wages in their current jobs and from obtaining the qualifications needed to start businesses of their own.
We also expanded eligibility for the popular Farm to School program, which currently provides a guaranteed produce buyer for farmers while ensuring our children are provided with healthy school meals, to childcare centers and home-based childcare providers.
Transportation
The 2023 transportation budget package was transformative with the DFL delivering desperately needed sustainable revenue for our underfunded multimodal transportation system and enacting important safety and equity measures that had been previously blocked under GOP Senate control under a divided legislature.
We helped usher the incoming federal funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) that passed with broad bipartisan congressional support in 2021. Along with matching funds for federal grants which will allow us to continue building out a strong infrastructure system, we took important steps forward to advance climate mitigation measures not only to protect our air quality and our environment, but to also provide consumers with more electrification choices.
As a result of our work in 2023, we are addressing growing safety concerns on the Metro Transit system by providing more eyes and ears on the trains to conduct fare enforcement (while bringing violations into line with parking tickets), and working with social services providers to connect riders with the housing/addiction/mental health services they need.
We also finally restored the right for all Minnesotans, regardless of immigration status to obtain a state driver’s license or ID. Despite the negative rhetoric around federal immigration policy, this state law will help ensure safe roads, family stability, and greater economic opportunity by requiring all applicants to learn and know the rules of the road. In fact, recent data has shown a large number of Minnesotans are taking the test.
Environment, Climate, and Energy
We are also focused on protecting and preserving our environment so our kids and grandkids can enjoy the same beautiful Minnesota landscape we do. Notably, we invested $79.64 million of revenue from the Minnesota Lottery in more than 100 projects as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources to protect, conserve, preserve, and enhance Minnesota’s air, water, land, fish, wildlife, and other natural resources. Other new laws protecting our climate and environment include:
$20.3 million for land acquisition and recreation projects, including more than $5 million to develop state trails and $4.7 million for local parks, trails and natural areas
$11.3 million for 22 environmental education projects such as $410,000 to support a naturalist and intern at a nature center in Austin and $459,000 to create a mobile earth science education lab in northwest Minnesota
$6.9 million directed toward water resources research projects such as state flood and drought modeling and nutrient recovery from wastewater treatment plants research
$4.83 million for five projects addressing air quality, climate change and renewable energy, such as one to develop and test low-cost biofilters
Minnesota continues to be one of the fastest-warming states in the country and is already experiencing climate change impacts. Federal and state lawmakers are taking bold and transformative action to address the climate crisis making the 2023 legislative session the most impactful year for climate and energy policy in state history. Over the biennium, DFLers enacted 100% Carbon-Free Electricity standards by 2040, created a State Competitiveness Fund to put Minnesota in the best position for federal energy grants, and provided local matching funds for the IIJA or IRA for energy projects, and provided technical assistance for smaller entities (cities, electric co-ops, tribes, others) so to apply for grant programs and take advantage of these federal dollars.
This year, we passed a permitting reform package that will speed up our clean energy transition that had the support of environmental organizations and labor unions. Minnesota is leading the clean energy transformation to create jobs, strengthen our economy and community, and protect and preserve our environment.
Commerce
We made strong consumer protections that will last generations. To protect the pocketbooks of Minnesotans, DFLers are capping fees on payday lenders and creating an official advocate for students taking out student loans. We are also taking on the high costs of prescription drugs by creating a drug price affordability board, prohibiting generic drug price gouging, and capping co-pays on drugs and supplies for chronic disease such as asthma, diabetes, and epi-pens.
Share your Input on Prescription Drug Pricing
DFLers are interested in hearing from Minnesotans about how prescription drug prices impact their health care, what affordability concerns exist, and which drugs might benefit from pricing transparency. If you are interested in providing your insights, you can complete the Public Input on Prescription Drug Price Transparency in Minnesota form to share your experiences and help guide the Minnesota Department of Health’s ongoing drug price transparency work.
Keep in Touch
Please continue to reach out anytime at rep.cheryl.youakim@house.mn.gov or 651-296-9889 with input or questions. I appreciate hearing from you! Thank you for the honor of representing our Hopkins, St. Louis Park, and Edina neighbors at the Capitol.
I hope this email finds you well and you have been able to enjoy some of summer in between the rain showers. My thoughts have been with our Minnesota neighbors who have been experiencing flooding. There have been 22 counties that have been approved for federal disaster relief dollars to help with clean-up. If you have friends and family in these areas, they can find information here.
Last week I spent five days at three back-to-back conferences focused on education hosted by the National Council of State Legislators. It is always helpful to hear investment approaches to education funding and policy from legislative colleagues around the country. There were sessions on literacy, absenteeism, artificial intelligence, funding formulas, and more. It was very informative! And while they kept us busy from 7:30 am to 8:30 pm in meetings, I was to enjoy a bit of Park City, Utah’s beautiful views in the evening. Senator Mary Kunesh, Chair of Senate Education Finance Committee, joined me for part of the conference as well.
As we celebrate July 4th, we reflect on Americans’ ability to enjoy their life with dignity, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I would like to lay out how some of these fundamentals are reflected in the work we’ve delivered to Minnesotans in the areas of health and human services, veterans affairs, and state and local government.
Health and Human Services
In 2024, DFLers in the legislature took meaningful action to enhance health insurance coverage, improve health care access, and help address mental health in Minnesota. Legislators did this work in ways that consistently put patients first and protect the public interest. Everyone in the wealthiest country in the world, regardless of age, sex, gender, race, creed, or zip code, deserves access to affordable, quality, health care. That’s why we are now expanding insurance coverage to include reproductive care, wigs for cancer patients, prosthetics, and gender-affirming care. As other states become more hostile to LGBTQ+ people, we banned “conversion therapy” and made Minnesota a place where people can live their true selves. We also delivered new investments in services for people with disabilities, and other vulnerable Minnesotans.
DFLers are addressing health staffing shortages without compromising patient safety and making it easier for people to get support by reducing unnecessary paperwork. In 2023, legislators achieved a bipartisan agreement delivering an additional $300 million to nursing homes over the next four years. We’re also requiring that nursing homes must disclose costs associated with leases, rent, and use of land or other real property, along with who owns the property they are leasing to increase transparency. One key measure we got across the finish line for our seniors this year includes enhancing counseling and planning services for seniors and their families who are considering moving into long-term care facilities.
Mental health care is health care. Many of our loved ones struggling with their emotional wellbeing, addiction, and more. To address these needs, we worked together to quickly went to increase access to mental health services, substance use disorder treatment, develop a covered benefit under MA to provide residential mental health crisis stabilization for children, more investments in respite care services, and school-linked behavioral health grants.
After the Dobbs court decision and the overturning of Roe. V. Wade, we quickly went to work in early 2023 establishing landmark reproductive freedoms. The first state bill in the entire country to protect these rights was in Minnesota, by passage of the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act. The PRO Act specifies that every individual has a fundamental right to make autonomous decisions about the individual’s own reproductive health, including the fundamental right to use or refuse reproductive health care.
Veterans and State and Local Government Affairs
Our democrat majority is reversing decades-long spending cuts in our constitutional offices, our legislature, and across our state government agencies. We also invested in a more robust state grants management system to safeguard our taxpayer dollars while still providing needed support for programs in our communities that reach Minnesotan’s most in need.
Together we passed meaningful policy changes across our state and local government. We’re making sure elections are free and fair financed and decided by Minnesotans- not corporate special interests. We also are addressing problems caused by pension disinvestment and the growing crisis of PTSD-related duty disability claims affecting our first responders.
The DFL prioritized a portion of the surplus in our state budget of 2023, fully funding Veterans and Military Affairs, as well as providing funding to tackle veterans’ homelessness and expanding the post-9/11 veterans’ service bonuses.
New Laws Take Effect July 1
Our supplemental budget, which reflects many of the initiatives I mentioned above, took effect into law on July 1st. Summaries of all laws passed by the 2024 Legislature are available online from nonpartisan House Public Information Services at www.house.mn.gov/newlaws/#/search/2024.
I hope this email finds you well and staying dry! While the rain was much needed, I’m hoping for sunnier days ahead. The weather didn’t dampen spirits in St. Louis Park or Hopkins last Saturday. I started out the morning marching in the Parktacular Parade in St. Louis Park. Despite the drizzly weather, the parade route still had families and residents excited to see the floats and marching bands. Then it was on to Hopkins’ 2nd annual Pride Festival with of unique vendors, live music, and support for the LGBTQ+ community.
Over the next month, I would like to highlight some of the new measures DFLers passed into law under the highly productive 2023-2024 biennium. This week’s edition will start with how we’re putting Minnesota values into action by building an economy that works better for everyone including in the areas of housing, taxes, labor and workforce.
Housing
The historic $1 billion investment across the entire housing continuum we delivered in 2023 is the largest appropriation for housing in the state’s history. With this investment, we are creating homeownership opportunities for more Minnesotans, helping struggling renters, building more homes, preserving and rehabilitating affordable housing, and creating ongoing stable housing support. Of the new initiatives I’m especially glad we got the $50 million in housing infrastructure bonds across the finish line, which will allow for the construction and rehabilitation of permanent supportive housing, preserve federally assisted rental housing, create affordable senior housing, develop single-family homes, build deeply affordable rental housing, and improve manufactured home infrastructure.
This year, we established a plan to use most of the $10 million supplemental committee budget target to primarily address emergency rental assistance. This funding will make a major difference in the lives of so many Minnesotans who are cost-burdened and at risk of homelessness. We lived up to the “a little goes a long way” approach of using smaller amounts of money to better set us up for progress and success in 2025. And we took important steps to address the power imbalance between landlords and tenants that can have significant impacts on our most vulnerable Minnesotans.
Tax Savings
In 2023, the DFL delivered tax cuts to our Minnesota families and small businesses. You may recall we started at a sprint in January of last year with the passage of a critical federal tax conformity package that included $100 million in cuts for businesses and ensured that federal student loan forgiveness would be exempt from Minnesota taxation. We also passed critical provisions which will benefit Minnesotans in every corner of the state for years to come – investments that will make good on the efforts to make Minnesota the best state in the nation to raise a family and retire.
One of the most significant of these is the Child Tax Credit, which impacted nearly 400,000 children across the state with families receiving an average credit of $2,508. We also cut the tax on Social Security for 75% of Minnesota seniors and combined the renter’s credit on income taxes simplifying the process with 310,000 filers receiving an increased credit. For Minnesota homeowners who saw huge spikes in their property tax bills, we delivered a special targeted property tax refund payment which has impacted about 164,000 filers.
This year, we also built on this historic progress by including taxpayer assistance and outreach grants to further help Minnesotans adjust to the new updates to our tax laws that took effect in 2023.
Paid Family and Medical Leave & Earned Sick and Safe Time
PFML During the 2023 legislative session, DFLers passed into law a new Paid Family & Medical Leave (PFML) program in Minnesota, which authorizes workers to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave to bond with a newborn child, for the worker’s own serious health condition, or the serious health condition of a family member. The new law, which takes effect on January 1, 2026, establishes eligibility requirements, an application process, benefit amounts, premiums paid by employers and employees, and an opportunity for employers to opt out with their own private plan.
The new PFML law also includes significant detail on the different types of leave, exclusions for independent contractors and seasonal employees, maximum weeks of leave in a year, lower premiums for small employers, and a formula for future premium rates based on benefits paid out. Six or seven years of working with advocates, stakeholders, employer groups, DEED, and others meant that hundreds of details on PFML had been vetted and resolved, resulting in a great program that will help all Minnesotans facing life’s unexpected challenges.
ESST Over 900,000 Minnesota workers – a third of the state’s workforce – lack access to any paid time off when they or a family member are ill or need to see a doctor. To remedy that, last year we enacted a statewide Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) policy to attend to worker’s physical and mental health needs, including illness, injury or doctor’s appointment, to attend to the physical and mental health needs of a family member (including illness, injury or appointment), absence due to domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking of the worker or a family member, or if the worker’s job site is closed because of weather or a public emergency, or if a family member’s school is closed.
When I worked serving tables at one of our local restaurants to help make ends meet when our children were young, having paid sick leave would have been helpful. I faced the difficult decision that many hourly workers struggle with, going in to work sick or staying at home, because missed work hours mean missing out on pay.
All hardworking Minnesotans deserve the time off to care for themselves or a family member without having to forgo pay. We all do better when we’re better, and our health is cornerstone to that value we all share. I’m glad we got this done after decades of advocacy laying the groundwork for this moment.
Keep in Touch
I’ll continue with more detailed updates through July. Please continue to reach out anytime with your thoughts or questions at rep.cheryl.youakim@house.mn.gov or 651-296-9889. Although the legislative session has concluded, the work continues year round.
Thank you for the honor of representing our Hopkins, St. Louis Park, and Edina neighbors in St. Paul.
On Monday, May 20, the 93rd Minnesota Legislature concluded a two-year session that made meaningful progress with a host of accomplishments that will benefit our state and our communities of Hopkins, St. Louis Park, and Edina for generations to come. The Senate District 46 team will be doing a deep dive with a Session Wrap-Up Town Hall Meeting on June 12th at 6:30 p.m. in the St. Louis Park City Council Chambers. I hope you’ll be able to join us!
Minnesota has long been considered the “education state,” but decades of chronic underfunding have made it hard for our schools to meet our students’ growing needs. I’m proud to have worked as the House Education Finance Committee Chair to strengthen opportunities for our students with historic investments in public schools, universal school meals, funding targeted at improving literacy through the READ Act, and resources for school counselors, social workers, psychologists, and nurses. In last year’s K-12 Education bill, we created more pathways to career training in our high schools and in the Higher Education bill, we increased access to college with the North Star Promise that guarantees free tuition for students from families earning less than $80,000 annually.
In order to ensure an economy that works for everyone, Democrats delivered numerous wins for workers, families, and seniors to help them achieve economic security. The Child Tax Credit is projected to cut childhood poverty by one-third. To help seniors keep more money in their pockets, we eliminated taxes on Social Security income for 75% of Minnesota seniors. In response to rising costs, we delivered property tax cuts and improved our renters credit program.
Record investments in housing will help everyone have a place to call home. We delivered new resources for early care and learning, food security, and child welfare. We reduced health care costs, including a cap on co-pays for prescription drugs to treat diabetes, asthma, and allergies at $25 for one month’s supply. Democrats also enacted many protections from big pharma, big tech, big insurance companies, and predatory lenders. Increases in Local Government Aid and County Program Aid will help keep property taxes down while ensuring Minnesotans can count on vital public services like roads, water, parks, and public safety.
Everyone deserves to live in communities that are safe, welcoming, and inclusive. For decades, Minnesotans have been advocating for common-sense gun violence prevention measures, and House DFLers got the job done by enacting criminal background checks, red flag laws, increasing penalties for straw purchasers, and banning devices that turn semi-automatic guns into fully automatic weapons of war. We legalized adult-use cannabis and made medical marijuana more accessible. Additionally, Democrats supported the work of law enforcement through local public safety aid, delivered resources for crime victims, and supported the needs of the judicial branch so everyone has access to justice.
After the Dobbs court decision, Democrats quickly went to work establishing landmark reproductive freedoms. As other states become more hostile to LGBTQ+ people, we banned “conversion therapy” and made Minnesota an even more welcoming state. To boost community vitality, last session we enacted a record public infrastructure bill and made long-term investments in roads, bridges, and transit. We also strengthened opportunities for our undocumented neighbors through Drivers Licenses for All and an expansion of MinnesotaCare eligibility. With the right to vote under attack, DFLers advanced solutions including the Democracy for the People Act, Restore the Vote legislation, pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds, and the Minnesota Voting Rights Act.
In Minnesota, we value hard work, and workers expect fair compensation with family-sustaining benefits. After years of effort in the face of powerful special interests, Democrats successfully delivered Paid Family & Medical Leave and Earned Sick & Safe Time. We enacted overdue safety protections at workplaces including warehouses, nursing homes, oil refineries, and meatpacking plants. We also enhanced our efforts to combat wage theft which too often exploits vulnerable workers.
Minnesotans value our environment and treasured natural resources and are concerned about the threat of climate change. We led the way in enacting a 100% carbon-free energy goal, worked to enhance our electric grid, and invested in rebate programs including for electric vehicles and home energy. After listening to the heartbreaking stories of impacted Minnesotans we took steps to ban cancer-causing PFAS forever chemicals, and funded lead pipe replacement. Finally, to leave Minnesota a better place for the next generation we delivered investments in tree planting, improved air quality, clean drinking water, reducing packaging waste, and environmental justice.
During the last week of session, we were working many late evenings. I would like to give a shout-out to our incredible House staff. From our DFL researchers and committee staff to our non-partisan committee staff and front desk staff, there were many nights that they got even less sleep than we did. They are the true unsung heroes of the Minnesota House.
While we had many successes during the biennium, there were items for our communities that did not make it across the finish line as the tax bill was scaled down and the slimmed down bonding bill did not make it across the finish line. After fourteen hours of debate over three days, the House passed the ERA bill, but the Senate ran out of time to hear the concurrence. I was also disappointed that we did not get a sports betting bill across the finish line. I did vote for it in both the House Tax Committee and the House Ways & Means Committee and would have supported it if we took a vote on the House floor. One bright spot during the final day of session: we were able to pass a bill that will keep Uber and Lyft here while supporting the drivers who make the companies successful.
I fully recognize that there is more to do to build a state that truly works for everyone. Despite the progress we all made together, we know that the challenges Minnesotans are facing can’t be solved in a single biennium. We’re committed to continuing our collaboration with Minnesotans from across our state to ensure everyone has an opportunity to build the better life that they want and deserve.
Our Work Continues
After session, our work continues with follow up emails to constituents, visiting with folks in our communities, and continuing to meet with organizations to work on policy and funding bills for next year. On Monday, we gathered once again on the House floor to say goodbye to colleagues that are retiring. You can see the retirement speeches here. Wednesday, I joined colleagues at a breakfast hosted by the Minneapolis Foundation focused on reimaging education literacy. And on Friday afternoon I visited Movefwd, an organization in Hopkins that helps stabilize young people who are struggling in our communities. I would be happy to meet with your organization or tour your business over the interim. Just reach out at my email below and copy shamat.abraha@house.mn.gov on your request.
Keep in Touch
Please continue to reach out anytime at rep.cheryl.youakim@house.mn.gov or 651-296-9889 with questions, input, or ideas. Email will be the quickest and best way to get in touch, especially as we prepare to move offices to the Centennial Building.
Thank you for the honor of serving you in the Minnesota House!
We’re in the final hours of the 2024 legislative session, as our state constitution requires us to complete our work on Sunday, May 19th at midnight. As I write this update, we’re debating adoption of a gun violence prevention measure that holds straw purchasers accountable for illegal transactions and bans binary triggers. Earlier today, we started our debate on the ERA bill. After four hours of discussion on amendments, we tabled the bill to bring up conference committee reports. It is my hope we will be returning to the ERA discussion later this evening or early Saturday morning.
Honored to do this work with such dedicated colleagues and staff servingon the Education Committees!
The House retained all but one of our finance and policy provisions and adopted some Senate provisions that made the bill stronger. We had a fantastic Education Finance team that produced a bill built on the investments we made last year. A few my favorite highlights in the bill are:
$32+ million new money invested in the Read Act to pay for teacher’s time when they are getting training. Our local school districts will receive: $251,591 (Hopkins), $310,441 (Edina), and $156,753 (St. Louis Park).
$35 million in direct appropriations to our schools in literacy aid to implement the Read Act. These were funds appropriated last year that school’s would have had to apply for in December. Now they are going directly to schools this July with $278,661 to Hopkins, $343,843 to Edina, and $173,619 to St. Louis Park.
A student teacher stipend pilot project that will pay student teachers placed in our public schools during the 2024-2025 schools year. Students from our teacher prep programs at the U of M (Duluth, Crookston, and Fond Du Lac), State Colleges and Universities (Minnesota State Mankato, Bemidji, St. Cloud, and Winona), and at Augsburg College will receive just shy of $7,000 during their student teaching placement.
A robust absenteeism pilot project in 12 school districts across the state to innovate and collaborate on ways to keep our students engaged and in our classrooms. The school districts will receive funding to be part of these demonstration zones in Minneapolis, Columbia Heights, Burnsville, Northfield, Rochester, Mankato, Windom, Red Lake, Moorehead, Sauk Rapids-Rice, Cook County, and Chisholm.
Funds for the Minnesota Youth Council and YMCA’s Youth in Government to bring more student voices to the Capitol.
During the conference committee process, we combined the Children and Families Supplemental budget into our Education Finance Conference Committee Report. Chair Dave Pinto and I came into the Minnesota House together after the 2014 election. We both had a passion for funding early childhood and our K-12 school system. It was very exciting to be able to work together on a bill that focuses on our youngest learners and those heading into the world after high school.
Here’s a look at additional legislation and conference committee reports recently passed:
The Commerce Policy conference committee report, which provides funding to support the enactment of the Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act (MCDPA), adjusts two industry assessments at the Dept. of Commerce, provides major change shifts where cannabis programs are housed, cancels unused grants, and more.
The Environment and Natural Resources conference committee report, which includes significant investments in tree planting and addressing Emerald Ash Borer, a public water inventory update, policies strengthening and enforcing Minnesota’s air quality statutes, a regulatory framework for helium gas production, and nation-leading extended producer responsibility legislation for packaging recycling.
The Human Service Policy conference committee report, which continued the work of historic investments to help our most vulnerable. This bipartisan legislation clarifies several items in last year’s bill, which makes improvements for Minnesotans with disabilities, those in recovery from substance use disorder, and recipients who rely on waiver services.
The Health Supplemental Budget and Policy budget bill. This strong bill takes meaningful action to enhance health insurance coverage, improve health care access, increase patient protections, reform Emergency Medical Services, and help address mental health in Minnesota.
The Elections Committee Policy and Finance conference committee report. The policy provisions of the report focus on improved voter access and election transparency. It targets policy areas where the state can improve voter turnout and ensure that if voting is restricted, voters have a means of redress. It enhances disclosure requirements for those seeking to influence elections, expands voter access and comprehension, and increases election transparency.
The Higher Education Supplemental conference committee report. The legislation adds to last year’s record funding increase for Minnesota’s colleges and universities that froze tuition at Minnesota State for two years, fully funded the University of Minnesota’s systemwide safety and security request and provided free college to students with a household income under $80,000, among other investments.
The Agriculture Supplemental budget, which includes the reauthorization of the Food Safety and Defense Task Force, farm-to-school grant funding, creates the first Spanish language commercial pesticide applicator exam., addresses the groundwater nitrate crisis, and more.
The Climate and Energy Budget and Policy bill, which includes reforms to the permitting process for clean energy projects, support for geothermal energy power, and additional investments and policies to ensure we reach the 100% Clean Energy by 2040 goal the Legislature set last year.
The conference committee report cracking down on hidden, deceptive fees to ensure consumers have fair, upfront pricing for event tickets, restaurant meals, hotels, credit cards, and more.
New State Flag Raised
On Minnesota’s 166th birthday, Saturday, May 11, 2024, the new Minnesota State Flag was flown over the Capitol for the first time!
Photo courtesy of House Photography
Connected to Community
It was wonderful to welcome and give a behind-the-scenes tour for Juli Rasmussen, her two grandchildren, and her daughter of the State Capitol this week. It’s always rewarding to have a chance to visit with folks from our area in the House Chamber- especially during these chaotic, unpredictable schedules in the final days of session.
Keep in Touch
Please continue to contact me with questions, input, or ideas at rep.cheryl.youakim@house.mn.gov or 651-296-9889. With the fluid nature of the end of session, email is the quickest way to get in touch.
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