Dear Neighbors, A big shout out to the Richfield girls soccer team for qualifying for the Norway Cup after placing second in the USA Cup last summer. This team has grown an incredible amount in the last 10 years, and are doing Richfield proud. You can read their story here, which includes information on how to help them get to Norway. Standing with UkraineThe past few weeks have been full of harrowing images from Ukraine as Russia continues their violent invasion. In what has been a conflict of ever-growing atrocities, my heart goes out to the Ukrainian people, including the 17,000 Ukrainian-Americans who call Minnesota home. Yesterday, in a broadly bipartisan move, legislators representing the four main caucuses in the Minnesota Legislature introduced a bill to divest Minnesota’s state pension fund from Russia and codify Governor Walz’s Executive Order barring the state from contracting with Russian companies. Prior to the invasion of Ukraine, the estimated worth of Minnesota's state pension fund investments in Russia was approximately $53 million. Once in committee, the legislation will be amended to also sanction Belarus for its complicity in the Russian invasion. Passing this bill is the right thing to do, and in joining numerous other democracies in a similar action, Minnesota is standing with Ukraine and adding to the international pressure to hopefully lead to peace soon. You can read more about this legislation here. Affordable, Accessible, and Protected HousingThis week in the Housing committee, I presented on two different but very important bills when it comes to promoting housing security in Minnesota. Within our state’s housing crisis is an often-overlooked area of affordable, independent housing for those with disabilities. It’s one of the most difficult forms of housing to find, which is why I presented legislation on Tuesday to make it easier to build. It’s a small bill making small changes which can have a huge impact on people’s lives. During the eviction moratorium off-ramp, we passed a provision ensuring landlords could not bring forward an eviction action while a tenant had an open rental assistance application. This change helped ensure landlords were made whole and thousands of renters maintained their housing stability. This is a win-win. Yesterday, we passed my bill in committee which would make this helpful change to landlord/tenant law in perpetuity. This is a strong, common sense way to improve housing stability in a mutually beneficial way to landlords and renters. If you have any questions about these bills or others I’m working on in the House, please feel free to reach out, and if you haven’t already, consider taking my legislative survey. I always appreciate hearing from you! In partnership, Michael Howard |