 Dear neighbors, Thank you to everyone who made it to our SD4 town hall last week. We had over 40 participants and were able to answer a huge variety of questions. If you weren’t able to attend but would like to see it, here’s the livestream. Thank you for your engagement with me on the issues that matter the most to you. I’m honored to be serving our active and diverse district. Please continue to communicate to me how you’re feeling about work at the state legislature; you can even just reply to this email!  Indigenous Peoples’ DayMy proposal to make Indigenous Peoples’ Day a state holiday and celebrate it on the second Monday of October, rather than Columbus Day, has now passed through two committees with bipartisan support. Many thanks to my incredible testifiers from the community who stepped forward to talk about how important this initiative is: Shelley Buck, Robert Larsen, and Delores Gabbard. Here’s a summary video of a committee hearing. I’ve worked twelve years in Indian education and have worked diligently to acknowledge the importance of Indigenous Peoples’ Day in our communities. This is something that I started as a local effort. The city of Moorhead passed this and recognizes it as a local holiday along with many other cities across our state, and states across this nation. By passing this bill, we are affirming that our first nation’s people and history matter in Minnesota. I really think that this bill could make it into law this year, with enough public support. Please reach out if you’d like to help us make Indigenous Peoples’ Day a reality.  Preventing HomelessnessThank you to those of my neighbors who have asked how to follow my work in committee! I serve as Vice Chair of the Preventing Homelessness Division, where we’re discussing a lot of my proposals to keep people safe and sheltered; Safe Harbor, Homeless Youth Grants, and Shelter Task Force to name a few. The committee meets at 10:30am on Wednesdays, and you’ll be able to find the livestream here. We were in a housing crisis well before the pandemic, and COVID-19 has only exacerbated housing insecurity for many in our community. Now, we have a generational opportunity to make meaningful change in how our state takes on housing, and I believe it’s a challenge we can meet together. Support TeachersI’m fighting for more prep time for our teachers. Right now, teachers get five minutes of paid prep time for every 25 minutes in the classroom- my proposal would make it five minutes for every 17. Everyone who knows a teacher has heard about how much unpaid extra work they’re doing outside of the classroom that is necessary for our children to have a great education. We need to be supporting them in any way we can, including fully funding our schools.  Hometown Heroes AssistanceThe House recently passed a bill to update the Hometown Heroes Assistance Program. Our firefighters face alarmingly high incidences of cancer, cardiac issues, and emotional trauma. The new program, which lawmakers enacted last year, provides firefighters access to education, prevention, and care to address cardiac conditions, emotional trauma, or cancer diagnoses. The Hometown Heroes Assistance Program is the most comprehensive in the nation of its kind, and provides firefighters with free access to emotional trauma resources, up to $20,000 from critical illness insurance policies, and ongoing health and wellness training. Prior to the program’s enactment, Minnesota was ranked 45th out of 50 states when it comes to investing in the fire service. I was proud to support this initiative for the heroes in our communities who make incredible sacrifices to keep us safe.  Women’s History MonthMarch is Women’s History Month! I am proud to continue to honor the legacy of so many trailblazers who led the way before me, and I will continue to fight to make the future a better place for all women. Here are some of the bills we are working on to improve the lives of women across the state: Keep in touch!Well, that’s all I have for you today. Please continue to reach out to my office whenever you might need something from the state, or if you’d like to discuss legislative issues. I’m here for you. rep.heather.keeler@house.mn Sincerely, Heather Keeler
State Representative PS- Moorhead Basketball goes to State! WOOT  District 4A - rep.heather.keeler@house.mn
431 State Office Building
St. Paul, MN 55155
651-296-5515 Committee Assignments:
Vice Chair: Preventing Homelessness Division
Education Policy
Environment and Natural Resources Finance & Policy
Higher Education Finance & Policy Legislative assistant:
Robin Schmidt
robin.schmidt@house.mn
651-296-8197 |