Legislative Update – March 5, 2025
Dear neighbors,
First, I want to extend a big thank you to all the constituents who made it to South St. Paul’s Day at the Capitol on Saturday. We had a great turnout, and it was an honor to connect with each of you and bring you along on a tour of the Capitol and the House Chamber. Thank you to the city and legislative staff who helped make this event a success!
Protecting Our Students
This week, the House Transportation Committee approved my bill dedicating funding for suicide barriers and suicide prevention information on the Washington Avenue Bridge on the University of Minnesota campus.
Testifying in support of the bill was our District 53B neighbor, MJ Weiss Blair, whose child Kayla Gaebel committed suicide on the bridge in 2023, as well as the CEO of suicide prevention group SAVE – Suicide Awareness Voices of Education and several University of Minnesota students.
Structural suicide prevention barriers save lives, and we must ensure this project makes it across the finish line this year. I want to extend my gratitude to Kayla’s family for coming to the committee and sharing their story, and all their work to raise awareness for suicide prevention efforts on campus and around our state. You can read my full statement here.
Local Bills
On Tuesday, the Capital Investment Committee heard three bills I authored to assist our local cities with water infrastructure needs. These bills were laid over for possible consideration in a future bonding bill later on in the legislative session. You can watch the committee hearing here.
Two bills would help the City of Newport with inflow and infiltration issues, helping them replace old and outdated infrastructure. Newport Mayor Laurie Elliott and the Newport City Administrator joined us to speak in support of the legislation. Another bill would assist South St. Paul with paying for replacing drinking water infrastructure to address PFAS and radium in drinking water. I was joined by South St. Paul City Administrator Ryan Garcia for that presentation.
People over Pollution and Profits
In 2023 DFLers passed the strongest PFAS prevention bill in the nation, and I was proud to support that effort as Chair of the Environment Committee. Today, with Republicans in control of House Committees, they heard a bill that would exempt industrial products from Minnesota’s PFAS bans.
This is a cycle I’ve seen again and again in the legislature: We pass prevention, and then corporate lobbyists and Republicans try to chip away at protections and end up leaving the public to pick up the costs. This is especially harmful to our district which lies within the PFAS contamination zone caused by 3M.
I voted No on this bill to roll back PFAS prevention measures because our communities' health, environment, and infrastructure are more important than corporate profits. Watch my comments in committee here.
Stay in Touch!
Please continue to share your questions, ideas, and feedback throughout the year. You can reach me by email at rep.rick.hansen@house.mn.gov or by phone at 651-296-6828.
For more regular updates, you can subscribe to these regular legislative updates if you haven’t already, here, and you can also “like” and follow my official State Representative Facebook page.
Sincerely,
Rick Hansen
State Representative