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Dear Neighbors,
On Thursday, my colleagues and I returned to the State Capitol – practicing Minnesota Department of Health physical distancing guidelines – to pass a bipartisan package of bills addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill created a new $200 million COVID-19 Fund in the state treasury to enable state agencies to respond to COVID-19-related challenges. It also included $9 million to the Department of Human Services for food security, $26.5 million for the Emergency Service Grants program to provide shelter for Minnesota’s homeless population, $30 million in one-time grants to child care providers, financial relief for displaced workers, and the necessary flexibility for state agencies to respond to the pandemic. You can access the entire bill here and read a recap from nonpartisan House Public Information Services here. Governor Walz signed the bill into law today at 11:00 a.m.
Minnesota’s two-week Stay at Home order is in effect
As mentioned in my update from earlier this week, the Governor’s Stay at Home Executive Order went into effect March 27 at 11:59 p.m and will go until April 10 at 5:00 p.m. If you shave questions, please visit Governor Walz's new COVID-19 website for graphics, resources, and answers to frequently asked questions.
To ensure critical information about COVID-19 is accessible to all Minnesotans, the Walz-Flanagan Administration partnered with TPT to provide closed captioning and translate PSAs into eight different languages (English, Spanish, Hmong, Somali, Russian, Amharic, Karen, and Oromo). You can access those videos here.
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