Dear neighbors, It’s hard to believe we’re already halfway through the 2022 legislative session! If you’d like to hear more about what legislators been working on and what our next steps are, I hope you’ll join me, Rep. Frank Hornstein, and Sen. Scott Dibble at our next town hall on Wednesday, April 13 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. If you’d like to participate, you can join us in-person or attend via Zoom. We don’t have a location yet, but please save the date and stay tuned! Supporting Minnesota Workers Monday was Workers’ Day in the Minnesota House! We passed three bills to help workers stay safe, healthy, and economically secure, starting with legislation that would ratify certain labor agreements and compensation plans for state employees.  Hard at work with Rep. Liz Olson, Rep. Emma Greenman, and Rep. Leon Lillie – the authors of the bills we heard on Monday. The second bill we passed would help protect warehouse workers, including many Amazon employees. In Minnesota, one of every nine workers at Amazon warehouses is injured on the job. The third and final bill we passed would extend Earned Sick and Safe Time to all Minnesota workers. Under this legislation, workers would earn at least one hour of Earned Sick and Safe Time for every 30 hours they work, up to at least 48 hours per year. Minnesotans could use this paid time off to care for a family member, go to the doctor, or to stay home when they’re sick. Advancing the Clean Slate Act Minnesotans who’ve paid their debt to society deserve a fair shot at a better future. My Clean Slate Act would automatically clear old, low-level offenses from the records of people who remain crime-free, lowering barriers that make it difficult to access housing, education, and employment. This would help people rejoin their communities and move forward with their lives. This bill had its second hearing last week, and it advanced with a vote of 17-0. If you’d like to read more about it, you can check out the article KSTP published recently. Capitol Climate Connections Podcast Rep. Patty Acomb and I recently released a new episode of the Capitol Climate Connections podcast! We discussed the state of clean energy in Minnesota with Ellen Anderson, the Climate and Energy Director at the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, and Allen Gleckner, the Lead Director of Clean Electricity at Fresh Energy. You can listen and subscribe to Capitol Climate Connections on several platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Connecting with MinnesotansI’m glad Minneapolis Public Schools has reached an agreement with the teachers and educational support professionals who were on strike recently. I spent time on the picket line supporting our teachers and ESPs. The district and teachers worked hard to reach agreement, but now it’s the State Legislature’s turn to deliver more resources. It would take a mere nine percent of our overall budget surplus to fully close the special education and English language learner funding shortfalls – which would mean $70 million per year for Minneapolis.  I also attended an education forum that was organized by parents. I received their message loud and clear: the legislature needs to step up and help fund MPS. I will continue to push hard at the Capitol this year to fully fund our educational needs.  I’ve connected with a couple groups at the Capitol recently, including Moms Demand Action. It was great to see them out in force, and I’m confident we will prevail on commonsense gun violence protection.  Standing with Ukraine The Minnesota Legislature doesn’t have jurisdiction over foreign policy, but we’re doing what we can to support the people of Ukraine. We recently passed legislation that requires Minnesota to divest of all direct holdings of Russian and Belarusian assets. We also codified an Executive Order Governor Walz issued to bar state agencies from contracting with Russian companies. This legislation received unanimous support in the House and is on its way to the governor to be signed.  If you have questions or input you’d like to share, please feel free to reach out. You can contact me by email at rep.jamie.long@house.mn or call (651) 296-5375. Sincerely, Jamie Long
State Representative |