Legislative Update – June 18, 2024Dear Neighbors, The 2024 Legislative Session adjourned on May 20, and this two-year biennium has been one of the most productive in state history. This term, we worked towards a better future for Minnesotans and made progress on so many challenges currently facing our state. We made great progress tackling issues like gun violence prevention, health care reform, and strengthening consumer protections. But there is still more work to do. We will continue working with our neighbors and community members to lower the cost of living, deliver economic security for working families, and ensure everyone has the tools they need to thrive. After setting a transformational two-year budget last year, House lawmakers built off 2023’s historically productive session by enacting more solutions to ensure all Minnesotans have the opportunity to build a better life for themselves and their families.  Bills Passed into LawThis year, I was proud to carry several provisions that made it across the finish line and are now signed into law by the Governor. My bill reforming the prior authorization process passed as part of our Health budget package (HF 3578), this is a smart bill that will cut down on healthcare barriers to patient care and help patients receive the care they need faster and more easily. The bill is being celebrated by patents, physicians and clinicians, (pharmacies and hospitals alike) as a huge win in heath care. Also, a part of that bill was my bipartisan provision supporting our local independent pharmacies by extending the federal authorization for pharmacies to perform vaccinations (HF 1197) in our communities. This allows these critical services on the continuum of care to continue and expand in our communities. These were part of the 4 bills I passed this session to make the lives of patients better, make healthcare more accessible, while streamlining unnecessary burdens to physicians and clinicians, and finally bolstering independent pharmacy businesses to keep them open and in the community. All of these bills make the lives of Minnesota families better in the healthcare space. I’m also proud to report that my bill requiring companies of 30 or more to post transparent salary ranges in job postings passed this year (HF 3587). The consensus indicates that job seekers want transparency in pay and that transparent companies benefit and receive more qualified candidates and more productive workers. You can read more about that bill in this Star Tribune article: New Minnesota law will require salary ranges in job postings. I also passed a couple of important cybersecurity bills this year (HF 4749 and HF 4748). As a cybersecurity professional for the past 30 years, I know how these systems operate and how we as a state need to ensure our laws reflect the changing technological landscape, and I was glad to get these bills across the finish line this year. The key piece of legislation passed will create more robust Cyber Incident Reporting between state agencies, counties, cities, universities and local school districts. The mission is to identify security threats, share information, gather information from federal partners like CISA, Homeland Security or the FBI and get information out quickly to lock down our data and infrastructure. The ultimate goal is to share information and prevent cybersecurity incidents and data breeches across all levels of government.  I also want to highlight my colleague Rep. Steve Elkins’ Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act, which is a nation-leading effort to grant consumers the right to prevent their data from being sold or used to target advertising at them. This is a fantastic bill, and I was proud to coauthor this bill and give Minnesotans the strongest consumer data protections in the nation. And there is more good work on this topic on the horizon, particularly to protect kids in my bill, the MN Kids Code. In the interim, I will be working on more on the MN Kids Code (online safety and data privacy for kids) as it is time to put kids over big tech profits. In addition, I will be working on common sense legislation and guardrails for Artificial Intelligence, better definition of statute on Digital Forgeries (sometimes called deepfakes), especially Non-Consensual Digital Images and Enforcement options, expanding local cyber security grants to help smaller governments across the states be better prepared, and continue work on securing our cybersecurity infrastructure. Minnesota is leading the nation on so many of these topics with my legislative colleagues across the country. We are indeed the envy of many states in this respect. Final Budget and Policy BillsLast year the Legislature passed our major two-year budget bills, and this year the House built on that progress by passing small supplemental budgets alongside more substantial policy changes in major committee areas. Working alongside the Governor and our Senate counterparts, we reached final agreements on all major budget bills. You can find nonpartisan summaries about the final agreements here: Transportation, Labor and Housing, Energy and Agriculture, Public Safety and Judiciary, Commerce and Cannabis, Jobs and Economic Development, Environment and Natural Resources, K-12 Education, Higher Education, Human Services, Health, and Elections. We also passed a gun violence prevention bill that includes tougher penalties for straw purchasers and a ban on binary triggers, a bill that will increase wages for rideshare drivers while keeping companies operating in Minnesota, a health occupational licensure and scoping bill, legislation improving our child welfare services and addressing racial disparities, and a tenant’s right’s package.  Continuing the FightThough we accomplished much this session, it is the nature of the legislature that some things didn’t quite make it through this year. One priority of mine was the Minnesota Kids Code legislation, which would require corporations to build better, safer online products by design to keep kids safe. There was immense pressure and money spent lobbying against this nation-leading proposal. Our children’s data, privacy, and safety are too important to give up on, and I am dedicated to continuing this work in the future. With my proud support, the Minnesota Equal Rights Amendment passed in the House, but the Senate ran out of time to take up the legislation. Both the House and Senate faced multiple days of filibustering in an attempt to run out the clock on bills like the Minnesota ERA, but I’m proud of Speaker Hortman for not giving into these tactics and holding a final vote in the House. I know this is a disappointing outcome, but our fight for equality under the law is not over. You can read more from Jennifer Brooks in the Star Tribune: A look back and a look ahead at the fight for equal rights in Minnesota. Other notable bills that didn’t make it into law were Rank-Choice Voting, sports betting, and a Capital Investment bill including an ask to our Maple Grove Community Center, to name a few high-profile bills that I know many in our community were following. It’s important to note that even though these bills did not pass, that doesn’t mean progress wasn’t made. Keep an eye out for more on these issues and others next session.  |