Legislative Update: April 4, 2025

Dear Neighbors,

Spring is here, and the House is busy as we near our “first deadline week”. This is the phase of the legislative session where we see which bills will continue to advance through the legislative process. As co-chair of the Legacy Committee, I’m working hard with my colleagues to pass our vision to help working families and protect our state’s resources.

I had the opportunity to gavel in as Co-Chair of the Legacy Finance Committee earlier this week. Some of what the Legacy Amendment funds are dedicated to arts, culture, and heritage. We listened to many local artists and community leaders from diverse communities, ranging from youth poetry to preserving our veteran histories to hallmarks of community festivals. The Legacy Finance Committee is one of the few committees that gets to see the vibrancy and beauty of the various ethnic histories of our state. It is a place where we truly celebrate the arts, culture, and heritage of Minnesota. As Co-chair, I hope to continue those investments of creating art, celebrating culture, and preserving our heritage. 

How Will Federal Education Cuts Impact You?

Sadly, we no longer have a serious partner in the White House when it comes to building a world-class education system for our students. Recently, President Trump advanced reckless plans to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. In response, the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) launched a public feedback portal at education.mn.gov for parents, students, teachers, and community members to submit detailed accounts of the ways recent Executive Orders and abrupt federal education cuts are impacting schools and children across our state. More than 860,000 students in Minnesota depend on stable partnerships that have existed between their school communities, MDE, and the U.S. Department of Education across administrations. For decades, the federal investments facilitated through those partnerships have played a key role in ensuring students in Minnesota receive the support they need to learn and thrive, including:

• $256 million for students with disabilities
• $192 million for students from low-income backgrounds
• $27 million for academic enrichment
• $6 million for students in rural schools
• $38 million to support children living on military bases or Native American reservations
• $100 million for Career and Technical Education workforce development programs

If any of these cuts impact you and your family, please let us know!

Prescription Drug Affordability 

For too long, drug manufacturers, pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) and health plans have taken advantage of flaws in federal drug policy to squeeze consumers for ever-increasing amounts of profit. I’m happy to say the DFL is pushing three bills specifically to keep drugs affordable:

• HF 1652 would prohibit a health plan from forcing patients to switch drugs in the middle of the year because they’re now getting a bigger rebate from the manufacturer of a competitive drug. If a patient and a doctor find a drug that works, they should be allowed to stick with that drug for the rest of the plan year.
• HF 1075 says that health plans and PBMs must use the rebates that they received when patients bought their drug to buy down their price at the pharmacy counter in the form of a “Point of Sale Rebate.” This will ensure these rebates are being used to make expensive life saving drugs more affordable to the patients who need them.
• HF 1076 is an innovative approach not yet adopted by any other state. It requires PBMs and health plans to include the low-price drugs in their formularies and construct their formularies so that the drugs with the lowest prices for the patient (rather than the drug generating the biggest kick-backs to the insurance company) receive the best placement in their formularies. The goal of this legislation is to redirect competition away from rebates towards lower prices.

If these were passed into law, you would see a significant decrease in the price of the drugs you rely on. I’ll be sure to keep pushing for their passage and let you know of any progress!

Stay in Touch

Please reach out to my office if you need assistance with anything. I am best reached through email at rep.samantha.vang@house.mn.gov or please contact my Legislative Assistant Grace at grace.johnson@house.mn.gov. I always appreciate hearing from you. You can also follow along on my official Facebook page here. 

Sincerely,

Rep. Samantha Vang

651-296-3709

rep.samantha.vang@house.mn.gov