Dear Neighbors,
It’s been another busy week at the State Capitol with committee meetings as we develop ideas to support Minnesotans with rising costs and other barriers to success. Here’s an update from Saint Paul.
Living Wages for School Workers
Every day, dedicated school staff play key roles in the success of Minnesota students. Paraprofessionals, food service workers, custodians, bus drivers and others help contribute to well-run schools and student health, safety, and wellbeing. All educators deserve the same things: respect for their contributions to the care and education of our students, fair compensation for their work, including affordable health care, and safe working conditions. Unfortunately, many education support professionals don’t get any of those.
I’m honored to be chief author of legislation to set a minimum wage of $25 per hour for non-licensed school personnel. Right now, these dedicated workers receive about $15 per hour. Among other things, the bill would also provide continuous pay and benefits if a district implements e-learning days, allow unlicensed school employees to receive unemployment in the summer months, and up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave.
These critical educators are disproportionately women and people of color, performing multiple jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic and most at risk of exposure to the virus. While boosting their wages is the right thing to do so workers can better afford daily costs like gas and groceries, it will also help alleviate staff shortages, which in turn will help improve outcomes for students.
Frontline Worker Pay
Last week, as part of the Workforce and Business Development Committee, I proudly supported legislation to invest $1 billion in bonus checks for frontline workers. Our healthcare and long-term care workers, educators, first responders, corrections officers, food service workers and others didn’t have the option to work from home, and every day they faced the pandemic head-on. Here are my remarks from the hearing highlighting the urgency in getting these checks – up to $1,500 – to workers quickly.
House DFLers are also committed to delivering assistance to businesses, including replenishing the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund. However, we’re insisting workers, many of whom struggle to make ends meet paycheck-to-paycheck, come first.
Solving Minnesota’s Housing Crisis
Every Minnesotan deserves a safe place to call home, but our housing crisis persists, with costs of rent and homeownership continuing to increase. Housing is the number one expense for most Minnesotans, and this session, we have the opportunity to make the dream of a home more affordable and attainable for every Minnesotan, but only if we make significant investments across the housing continuum.
This week, House DFLers introduced a package of legislation aimed at reducing housing costs for Minnesotans with proposals to lower costs for renters, provide pathways to home ownership, build more homes while improving the affordable housing we already have, and provide housing security to more Minnesotans. We’re also working to deliver immediate assistance that would reopen RentHelpMN, providing assistance to renters and landlords who are still struggling amidst the pandemic. You can read more about our plan here.
As always, I invite you to reach out to me with your input, ideas, or if I can ever be of assistance. It’s an honor to represent you.
Sincerely,
Liz Olson
State Representative