Legislative Update - March 25, 2022

Dear Neighbors, 

We’re starting today off with some hopeful news as it appears a tentative deal has been reached to end the Minneapolis teachers strike. Students could be back in the classroom as soon as Monday, and details on the agreement are expected to be shared soon. 

A big shout out to the folks working incredibly long hours to reach this agreement, and I’m confident it’s the type of work that’ll only serve to make our schools stronger and students better served. Minneapolis Public Schools made me the person I am today, and I want every student in our community to have the tools and resources they need to succeed. 

You can read more about this morning’s deal here. 

A Cleaner, Greener Minnesota

In the committee room and on the House floor, we’ve recently pushed forward legislative efforts to combat climate change and prepare Minnesota for a better future. In our House Capital Investment Committee this week, in preparation for our upcoming hearings on climate resiliency projects, we brought in experts to provide testimony on the physical and financial impacts of climate change on our state. 

We can no longer ignore the effects of climate change to our state and local infrastructure, or even our credit rating, with increased severity in floods, droughts, and other impacts to investments. We must assess the risk of climate change to prevent and minimize damage to our critical infrastructure and state’s long-term fiscal health. Climate change is becoming increasingly expensive to address without taking on the issue head on, which is what we must do. 

We recently passed a bill off the House floor that provides relief to our agriculture and food production industries still struggling with last year’s drought. Not only that, the bill includes investments to help communities remove and replace impacted trees and prepare for future water challenges, replace seedlings on DNR-managed lands killed by the drought, and to help private forestland owners and tribal and county governments replace seedlings on their lands.

It’s not enough to just clean up after each mess climate change causes. We need to prepare and build for a future that combats climate change while also being resilient to its effects. If interested, you can watch our committee hearing here, and learn more about the drought relief bill here. 

Many states and municipalities have developed Climate Action Plans. Minnesota’s and other states’ plans can be found here. 

Standing with Ukraine

As I mentioned in a previous update, the Minnesota Legislature fast-tracked a bill to impose sanctions on the Russian and Belarusian government for their invasion of Ukraine. Yesterday, we were able to unanimously pass the bill off the House floor. My Minneapolis colleague, Rep. Sydney Jordan, authored the legislation, and you can watch her closing remarks on the bill below. 

Stay Connected

We’re already about halfway through the 2022 legislative session, and the bulk of our work is still to come as hundreds of bills receive committee hearings and we start the process of crafting the final versions of legislation as it heads to the House floor.

If you have any questions about our work, please feel free to reach out. You can contact me at 651-296-4262 or email at rep.fue.lee@house.mn. I look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely, 

Fue Lee

State Representative