Dear Neighbors,

I hope you and everyone in your family is healthy and safe. During these challenging times, I’m inspired by Minnesotans continuing to step up and care for one another. During the recent homemade mask drive, Minnesotans showed off their sewing skills, donating time and materials to make 137,430 masks for workers and residents in congregate care settings. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Who Cares For Us

Today, legislators launched the Who Cares For Us Day of Action. The initiative acknowledges and celebrates the workers who are caring for all of us during the COVID-19 pandemic, including grocery store workers, janitors, caregivers, nurses, educators, and other frontline or essential employees.

These folks are dedicated to their work, and they are showing up every day despite the possible exposure to COVID-19. They care for us, and they deserve to know that we will care for them in return. We will continue advocating to better support all Minnesotans, especially frontline workers and their families, during and after the public health crisis. Follow along with the day of action, or share thanks yourself, on social media with the hashtag #WhoCaresForUs.

COVID-19 Economic Security Agenda

This week, House and Senate DFLers outlined our economic security plan to assist Minnesotans during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. As we take the next steps in addressing the pandemic, we’re looking to build a stronger, safer, healthier Minnesota when we emerge from this crisis.

The key priorities we are focused on are:

• Keeping Minnesotans safe in their homes with a $100 million investment in housing assistance
• Protecting economic security for our education professionals by ensuring full pay for our hourly school employees
• Delivering assistance to small and minority-owned businesses
• Providing economic security for the personal care assistants who care for vulnerable Minnesotans through a well-deserved and long-overdue wage increase
• Keeping Minnesotans connected by ensuring all Minnesotans have access to the broadband they need to go online
• Helping families make ends meet by using available federal funding to boost payments for low-income working Minnesotans in the Minnesota Family Investment Program

This isn’t an exhaustive list of everything we are working to accomplish in the remaining days of the legislative session, but these items will help Minnesotans overcome the barriers they are experiencing during the pandemic. Next week, I look forward to supporting many of these important initiatives on the House Floor.

Reopening More Businesses

As we increase our ability to test, trace, and isolate COVID-19, we can continue “turning the dials” and reopen more businesses while ensuring people can stay safe. Starting Monday, retailers and other businesses may begin offering curbside pick-up and delivery services. This past Monday, additional non-critical sectors in certain manufacturing, industrial, and office settings were allowed to open, permitting roughly 80,000-100,000 Minnesotans to return to work. This followed a previous executive order which expanded the number of businesses exempt from the orders, for example, golf courses, landscaping businesses, and much more. Click here for the full list.

The Governor has extended the Stay at Home order, with some modifications, until May 18. As restrictions continue to be relaxed, please continue to practice social distancing and consider wearing a mask to protect others.

Save the Date: Listening Sessions About Disability Issues

On Saturday, May 9, I’m co-hosting a pair of listening sessions online to discuss issues related to disabilities. In the first, we will hear the concerns of people with disabilities, and then caregivers and providers will have a chance to share their perspectives. These listening sessions will be focused on how COVID-19 impacts those with disabilities. Please stay tuned for more details to follow.

Continue to visit the state’s COVID-19 Dashboard for the latest accurate, up-to-date information about the pandemic as well as our state’s response. Also, the Minnesota House website’s COVID-19 section has information about legislative actions to date, as well as links to helpful resources. If I can be helpful, please call me at 651-296-0141 or email me. Also, if you don’t already, I invite you to “like” or “follow” my Facebook page.

Please take care of yourself and your family, and let’s all keep taking all the responsible steps to move past this pandemic.

Sincerely,

Kelly Moller
State Representative