Economic Security Plan Released, Stay at Home Extended

Neighbors,

Yesterday, Governor Walz extended The Stay at Home order until May 18, but also relaxed additional restrictions. Starting Monday, May 4, retail businesses and other non-critical businesses may begin offering curbside pick-up. This will put up to 30,000 Minnesotans back to work in a safe, coordinated way. Businesses must:

• Develop and publicly post a plan for how to open safely.
• Use online payment whenever possible.
• Employees and customers should wear masks and protective equipment.
• In curbside pick-up scenarios, social distancing guidelines apply. If possible, customers should not leave their vehicle.
• In delivery scenarios, items should be deposited outside a customer’s residence.

 In the time Minnesotans have bought by staying home, Minnesota has:

• Announced a landmark testing strategy that will allow us to complete up to 20,000 tests a day and test every symptomatic Minnesotan.
• Built hospital capacity and finalized a lease on an alternate care site to make sure that all Minnesotans who need care can receive it.
• Worked to acquire more personal protective equipment to protect our frontline workers.

Also, as part of his Executive Order, Governor Walz strongly encouraged all Minnesotans to wear a manufactured or homemade mask whenever they go anywhere social distancing is difficult.

Read more on all of Governor Walz’s Executive Orders here.

Top COVID-19 Priority Bills Advance

This week the House and Senate DFL outlined our COVID-19 economic security plan, focusing on the following priorities:

• Keeping Minnesotans safe in their homes with a $100 million investment in housing assistance. This bill will help keep those who have lost their income due to COVID-19 from becoming homeless.
• Providing economic security for our education professionals by ensuring full pay for our hourly school employees
• 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

You can read more in this Session Daily story. 

Committee Action this Week

HF4541 passed the Ways and Means committee this week and is on its way to the House floor. The measure appropriates $100 million for Housing Assistance through the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA) for its Family Homelessness Prevention & Assistance program. Under the bill, MHFA will provide grants to nonprofit organizations and other entities that will provide direct assistance to renters and homeowners throughout the state. MHFA will use existing grantees under its Homelessness Prevention program, as well as new grantees.

In Health and Human Services Finance, we also passed HF168 that will temporarily increase rates and enhanced rates by 15% for direct support services provided under a covered program or under the PCA program. The measure was also approved in the Ways and Means committee.

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Please continue to reach out with any input, ideas, or feedback about the issues important to you. I value hearing from you, so please don’t hesitate to call or email me any time. You can also connect with me on Facebook. It’s an honor to represent you at the State Capitol.

Sincerely,

Rep. Mohamud Noor

State Representative

Rep.Mohamud.Noor@house.mn or 651-296-4257