Dear Neighbors,
With only 11 days left in session, we are working hard to negotiate and pass our remaining budgets. This has been an eventful session, full of ups and downs and plenty of surprises. I’m committed to continuing to advocate for our community in these final days to guarantee that you and your family are invested in.
To all the mothers out there, Happy Mother’s Day! It looks like we’ll have some beautiful (and hot) weather ahead of us this weekend. I hope you get to enjoy it with friends and family!
House Budget Bills
We are nearing the final steps of passing a state budget as we continue to pass our House budget bills Due to the current reality of a 67-67 tied House, many of these bills include provisions I support and provisions I don’t agree with. However, we must compromise to pass a state budget. While I hope the budgets can improve in our negotiations with the Senate, I’m proud of the work my DFL colleagues and I have done to get these bills into good shape.
Here’s a quick recap of some of the bills we have voted on so far:
- An Agriculture budget that invests in Farm to School Programs, worker protections for bird flu, and supports new farmers with down payment assistance.
- A Higher Education budget that makes it easier for Minnesotans to pursue higher education and protects the North Star Promise program.
- A Transportation budget that builds reliable roads and sturdy bridges, invests in aviation infrastructure, and more.
- A Veterans budget that invests in those who served our country, especially focusing on reducing veterans' depression and suicides.
- A Public Safety & Judiciary budget that improves and supports victim services, police training, and privacy protections for judges.
- A Legacy bill that uses our lottery proceeds wisely to enhance our environment, protect our clean water, expand parks and trails, and celebrate arts, culture, and history.
- A Housing budget that takes steps to address Minnesota’s housing shortage crisis.
- An Environment and Natural Resources budget that maintains our groundbreaking protection of Minnesotans’ land, water, and air from threats like PFAS, nitrates, and aquatic invasive species.
- A Commerce bill that funds Cannabis Management and includes measures to protect Minnesotans from securities fraud, addresses increases in homeowners insurance premiums, and protects investments Democrats previously enacted to protect consumers.
I’m a co-vice chair of the Commerce Committee and a member of the Commerce conference committee, which has jurisdiction over insurance of all kinds. The House Commerce bill includes my bill to establish a task force to study ways to mitigate the rising cost of property damage insurance rates for all types of housing.
A key issue that we will have to resolve in conference is the fate of Medicare Supplement (aka “Medigap”) insurance plans in Minnesota. We have competing proposals related to allowing Medicare Advantage plan members to switch to Medicare Supplement plans without restriction during the annual open enrollment period. Analysis by the Commerce Dept predicts that providing Medicare members this flexibility would increase the cost of Medigap insurance by an average of 16%, with estimates from the insurers offering these plans predicting much larger increases.
Graduation Rates Reach All-Time High
Graduation rates have reached a historic high! When we invest in our kids we see results. Minnesota still has a long way to go to return to our nation-leading education outcomes, but this is an encouraging start. I'll continue to invest in our youth and public education, let's keep up this good progress!
Impacts of Federal Cuts on Medicaid in Minnesota
As the federal government discusses potentially massive cuts to Medicaid it’s important to look at how this would impact Minnesota and who it would primarily impact. As a legislature we would be forced to make really difficult budget decisions around what to cut and how to raise revenue to continue to meet the most pressing needs. These cuts would result in harmful loss of coverage for kids, people with disabilities, and our seniors. This means nursing homes going understaffed and undersupplied, kids not getting the care and medication they need, folks with disabilities without the support they need to live full lives. This would not be an efficient government, nor would it mean we are saving you money as a taxpayer. It would mean the government can’t afford to do its job or take care of its constituents, it would mean the costs of the negative outcomes of not giving people care would be felt elsewhere. That doesn’t sound like good governance to me; I’ll do all I can at the House to protect these crucial services.
Keep in Touch
Don’t hesitate to reach out if I can provide any assistance. Please follow me on my Facebook page for further updates and invite your friends and family to do so as well.
Thanks for the honor of representing you at the Capitol.
Sincerely,
Steve Elkins
Representative, District 50B
Minnesota House of Representatives