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Dear Neighbors,
Back-to-school season means fall has officially arrived. I would like to extend my best wishes to all families, students, teachers, administrators, and support staff for a wonderful school year.
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| ABOVE TO BELOW: My son Adam at his preschool graduation. He started 10th grade last week at Rosemount High School. |
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Despite challenges in a divided state legislature, Minnesota’s public schools will receive modest funding increases over the next two years -- for school districts like ours and many others across the state, we’re still playing catch-up after years of underfunding as we prepare for a local ISD #196 levy referendum.
There is much more work to do to provide a world-class education and support services for every child, and I’ll keep advocating for students of all ages and abilities at the Capitol and in our community.
I’m hosting a town hall meeting toward the end of the month to engage in a public discussion about education and how we can find solutions for long-term and sustainable investments in Minnesota students without relying solely on property taxes. I’m excited that House Education Finance Chair Jim Davnie and House Education Policy Chair Cheryl Youakim will be joining us. The event is free and everyone is welcome. Here are the details:
- Sunday, September 22 at 6:00-7:30 p.m. at Rosemount High School, 3335 142nd St. W., Rosemount, MN 55068
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State Fair Poll Results
If you went to the Great Minnesota Get-Together this year and stopped by the Minnesota House of Representatives booth, you may have taken our annual opinion poll. Questions are always created by our nonpartisan Public Information Office and are based on past legislation and/or current “hot topics”. Although unscientific, I thought you might be interested in the results. Of note, the State Fair Poll found that 89.1% of respondents favored background checks on all gun sales, including private transactions and sales made at gun shows. This continues to be a priority for me as we look to the 2020 session. |
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Affordable Insulin & Health Care
Legislators in the House and Senate have been meeting since the end of the 2019 session to find solutions for affordable access to insulin. Although some consensus was reached recently on the framework of an insulin assistance program, House Democrats have proposed to the Republican-led Senate that these programs be paid for through a fee on drug manufacturers, instead of the Senate’s current taxpayer funded approach. Later this fall, the House DFL will continue to hold additional Community Conversations around the state to give more Minnesotans an opportunity to participate in the dialogue over insulin prices and access. |
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Affordable health care also means we should be looking at affordable air ambulance transport. I recently held a meeting with various air medical directors, legislators, and stakeholders to discuss bipartisan legislation I introduced to help end air ambulance price gouging. My bill would require hospitals to provide patients with pricing information regarding costs of emergency medical services via air. The Rochester Post Bulletin covered the story and you can read more about it here.
Keep in Touch
Don’t hesitate to reach out with any input or ideas. I welcome questions anytime.
Sincerely,
John
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