 Dear Neighbors, This week, committees heard their final individual bills to meet deadlines. Today, April 4 is the deadlines for policy bills, meaning all bills with policy language have to be either sent to the floor or included in a more comprehensive policy bill. Our deadline for bills pertaining to funding is Friday, April 11 at noon. That means finance committees (Education, Taxes, Public Safety, etc.) must be finished hearing individual bills that could be included in a larger budget bill. A bipartisan agreement in the House was announced over the weekend for an almost $1.16 billion in funding reductions to the General Fund. The work before us now is crafting committee budget bills to meet that bipartisan budget framework. We adopted the House budget targets in Ways and Means Monday evening. Given the current economic forecast indicating a future state deficit, we must remain cautious as we set those budget bills. Epspecially given the impacts of federal tariffs, combined with a plummeting stock market, and other federal cuts impacting services in Minnesota. A balanced budget approach is essential to safeguard services for Minnesotans. Committee WorkAs the Education Finance co-chair in the House, I am co-authoring the Education Finance bill with my GOP co-chair Rep. Ron Kresha. Due to the power-sharing agreement, both of us must agree on every item in the bill in order for it to move out of our committee. The goal is to have a budget bill posted by Monday and have it work its way through our committee, on to the Tax Committee (due to funding streams that are levies), and then on to the Ways & Means Committee before its final stop on the House floor. The Senate is going through the same process with the final step being a conference committee where we negotiate a final education budget bill. My goal is to protect the progress we made last year: indexing the formula to inflation; investments that provide more student support personnel in the classroom (nurses, counselors, social workers, and psychologists); Unemployment Insurance for our hourly workers, and universal school meals. On Tuesday, we convened session and resumed our regular committee schedule after the Eid break. In the Tax Committee, I had a bill up to allow cities to transfer excess tax increment finance funds into a city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF). An AHTF can be used by cities to help develop affordable housing, provide funds for folks to afford to buy a home, and other items to make it more accessible for Minnesotans to put a roof over their heads. This bill idea is the extension of a successful pilot project that the City of St. Louis Park created. In the Education Finance Committee, we heard a bill authored by Representative Andrew Myers (R-Tonka Bay) that would dismantle Minnesota’s free school meals program. My colleagues and I serving on the Education Finance Committee defended the popular free school meals initiative enacted during the 2023 session. More than 70% of Minnesotans — including majorities across every ideological and demographic category — say they approve of the program to provide free school meals to all students, regardless of income.You can watch my remarks here. Know Your RightsI’m horrified at the news of a University of Minnesota international graduate student and students at Minnesota State University-Mankato being unlawfully detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week. As more details of the arrests are emerging, it’s abundantly clear these students were denied their rights of due process. Check out this helpful video with several scenarios if you or a loved one encounters Immigration and Customs Enforcement and needs an action plan. Foreign students attending our higher education institutions have enhanced our campuses and our economy for decades. This issue is personal to me. My father-in-law was an international student who came to the United States to build a better life. In 1963, Maurice came to the University of Illinois as a young Palestinian man to study engineering. He worked nights at a hotel 48 hours/week at $1.10/ hour as a full-time student. He was lucky to have the help of a scholarship and finished with a PhD in Electrical Engineering in seven years while getting married and having two kids. He went on to become an American citizen, have four more kids, and got a job at the Fridley Plant (FMC) in Fridley, Minnesota. Maurice, and my mother-in-law Cathy, raised six successful kids who went through Coon Rapids public schools, who now have careers in medicine, teaching, computer networking, and one as a CEO of a fintech company. Maurice worked at FMC from 1976-1994. He worked in the Northern Ordinance Division as a software developer for military weapons. He also consulted for 3M guidance technologies and Honeywell. I share this because I'm proud of my father-in-law. Proud of his journey, bravery, and of his work to keep our soldiers and our country safe. I think of his journey now, because this presidential administration would have sent him back. That would've been a great loss to our family and to our country! Many of the decisions being made right now by this administration will have negative effects well beyond these four years. They will affect decades and generations to come.  Being aware of scammers Text, email, and social media scams are becoming more sophisticated and more prevalent. If you’re like me, you probably have gotten some of these scam texts that say you need to pay a toll or confirm a payment--it's important to be skeptical of such texts. Those E-Z Pass texts are scams, and MnDOT has issued a fraud warning here with resources in case you accidentally click a link. I want to share some helpful resources with you all on how to spot and avoid scams, and where you can go for help if you or someone you know falls victim to these fraudsters. Remember that it’s important to break down the stigma of embarrassment and report any cases so law enforcement can take any actions possible to try to recover funds or stop future scams. The Minnesota Attorney General’s office has some resources on How to Spot a Scam with helpful examples and a list of common scams. If you have concerns about a particular offer or believe you are the victim of a scam, the Attorney General Ellison wants to hear from you. You may call at (651) 296-3353 (Twin Cities Calling Area) or (800) 657-3787 (Outside the Twin Cities), or submit a Consumer Assistance Request Form.  Meanwhile, here at the Legislature, we are working on bills to support the Attorney General’s work cracking down on fraud in the public and private sectors. Some proposals include stiffer penalties on Medicaid fraudsters, a fraud investigation unit within the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, fighting against employer misclassification fraud, and protecting veterans from claim sharks that seek to profit off the benefits they earned in service to our country. Constituent VisitsTuesday, I had a the opportunity to meet with David Paurus from Hopkins during AFSCME’s day on the hill. Thank you for your great discussion and the work you do for Minnesota Department of Corrections!  On Tuesday, I ran into our St. Louis Park Police Chief Brian Kruelle (pictured below) who was at the Capitol to testify on one of Rep. Larry Kraft’s bills. And, thank you to Patricia Magnuson from St. Louis Park Schools for testifying on a bill for smaller schools to access funding to fix their roofs. It is always fun running into folks from our community who are advocating at the Capitol!  Wednesday, I had the chance to chat with a group of advocates from Hopkins, Edina, and St. Louis Park fighting for affordable healthcare, housing, and Paid Family and Medical Leave. Thank you for the amazing advocacy work you do on issues that will make Minnesotans lives affordable.  Keep in TouchPlease continue to reach out anytime at rep.cheryl.youakim@house.mn.gov or 651-296-9889 with questions or input. I appreciate hearing from you! Thank you for the honor of serving our Hopkins, St. Louis Park, and Edina neighbors at the State Capitol. Have a great weekend!  Cheryl Youakim
State Representative |