Legislative Update: Ban Conversion Therapy, Protect Our Pets, Support Nurses, and more!

Dear neighbors,

February flew by. I hope that you’re all enjoying the first week of March!

This week, we received the latest budget forecast from Minnesota Management and Budget, showing that our already historic budget surplus has grown to $9.25 billion. The increase is due to higher income, consumer spending, and corporate profits, as well as lower spending in E-12 education and Health and Human Services.?

This updated forecast gives us clearer direction for our work this session, and for the most part our mission remains the same: lifting up the Minnesotans who this economic recovery has yet to reach. 

Working families especially have been actively driving our state’s recovery, but they’re not sharing in its benefits. We need to deliver for our neighbors by meaningfully investing in housing, healthcare, economic security, education, and all the components that help Minnesotans thrive. 

You can read more about our latest budget forecast here.

Conversion Therapy Ban

We need a ban on conversion therapy in place to protect our young people. 

This Wednesday in the Preventive Health Division, we had a hearing on Rep. Athena Hollins’ bill to ban conversion therapy in Minnesota. We heard testimony from 26 individuals, many were conversion therapy survivors. LGBTQ+  people subjected to conversion therapy have an 88% greater likelihood of attempting suicide. This is a public health crisis.

Conversion therapy includes a range of dangerous and discredited practices aimed at changing a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Conversion therapy is not a therapy at all, it’s been denounced by every mainstream medical and mental health association, including the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. This bill would prevent teens and young adults from being coerced into treatments that are ineffective and lead to depression, decreased self esteem, substance abuse, and even suicide. It also seeks to help prevent parents from being taken advantage of by deceptive agents of the conversion therapy industry. This would change lives, improve lives, and save lives. I implore my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to acknowledge the inherent beauty of all human beings. We are who we are, and we deserve acceptance, and we deserve love.

You may think, like I do, “how is this even still a conversation?” It was incredibly sad to hear none of my GOP colleagues vote in favor of this proposal.

Here’s an article about the hearing.

Protect Our Pets

I’ve been working with our local Animal Humane Society and Animal Folks to pass a bipartisan effort, years in the making, to create a Companion Animal Board. The Board would oversee animal issues that often go overlooked, like “pet rent”, pet insurance, shelter care, and more.

Read more about the bill here.

Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act

We’re in a nurse staffing crisis. Actually - we’ve BEEN in a nurse staffing crisis. There are more registered nurses in the state than ever, yet we fail to adequately staff our hospitals. We need to put patient care and hospital workers above hospital profits.

HF 3242 is a bill to increase nurse retention. It sets a maximum limit of how many patients one nurse can safely care for, launches a student loan forgiveness program for new studying nurses, and supports nurses’ mental health.

Nearly 1 in 5 nurses will leave the profession in the next five years. We have an added urgency to address this constant problem now. This is a comprehensive solution that nurses are asking for, and I’m proud to support the bill.

You can watch the Health committee hearing here.

A Plan to Solve Minnesota's Housing Crisis

In February, we unveiled our plan to solve Minnesota’s housing crisis, a package of priority housing legislation the House DFL will champion this session. Our plan is based around a simple principle: Every Minnesotan deserves a safe and affordable place they can call home. Our Housing plan puts Minnesota on course to solve our state’s housing crisis with investments across the entire housing continuum.

We were in a housing crisis well before the pandemic, and COVID-19 has only exacerbated housing insecurity for many in our community. Now, we have a generational opportunity to make meaningful change in how our state takes on housing, and I believe it’s a challenge we can meet together. 

You can watch the caucus press conference on these proposals here, or read more about the plan here.  

Help with Heating Bills

The Minnesota Reformer recently highlighted how too many Minnesotans are struggling with the high costs of heating their homes this winter. No one deserves to be left in the cold, and if you or someone you know is behind on bills, help is available. The Minnesota Energy Assistance Program can assist with electricity, natural gas, propane, heating oil or biofuel payments, as well as emergency fuel deliveries, and repair or replacement of broken heating systems. Minnesota’s Cold Weather Rule protects residential utility customers from having electric or natural gas service shut off between October 1 and April 30. More information about shut off protection is available from the state Public Utilities Commission.

Investing in Voluntary Pre-K Permanently

This week, the House Early Childhood Finance and Policy Committee advanced legislation to permanently invest in 4,000 of Minnesota’s Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) slots. The VPK program began in 2017 as one way to provide prekindergarten education services to students who are not yet enrolled in kindergarten. Our youngest learners deserve the best possible start and continuing these funds permanently is a wise investment we can make for our state.

Let Suburbs Invest!

I worked with the League of Minnesota Cities and Robbinsdale Mayor Bill Blonigan to craft a common sense piece of legislation that allows cities to invest in the private market to boost local government budgets. Sen. Rest is the senate sponsor of the bill, which will help cities fund projects that they’ve had to set aside. Read more here.

Keep in Touch

You can always contact me at rep.mike.freiberg@house.mn with any questions you may have. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely, 

Mike Freiberg

State Representative