Dear Neighbors,
As you may know, the house is in a historic conflict that is quite complicated and involves various rules and statutes that are convoluted. Put simply, the House Republicans are using the tied House to try to unseat a fairly elected DFL Representative, despite a district court ruling that he won unequivocally. This is an unacceptable attempt to grab power and overturn the will of the voters. That is why I – along with my DFL colleagues – have chosen to deny quorum (a term which means the amount of legislators needed to govern legitimately,) until the GOP agrees to seat our duly elected colleague and govern with equal power, as is right in a tied House.
Republicans have plowed ahead anyway, continuing to pretend they are governing without us, even though it violates the state constitution. Even going so far as to unilaterally enrich one of their members using public dollars. Luckily, the Minnesota Supreme Court will make a conclusive decision next week, setting the record straight and clearing the way for a fair, legal, and binding power-sharing agreement between the two parties. None of this is fun, none of this is what you deserve as constituents, but there are certain democratic principles that must be maintained, or else we simply won’t live in a democracy anymore.
In the meantime, I am hard at work representing you and our community. The work of a legislator goes beyond the bounds of the Capitol and it is my job to represent you no matter the circumstances.
Working in the Community
I had an enlightening conversation with my constituents, Jean and Laura yesterday.
Jean is retired and she chatted with me about retired nurses and other retired public employees being able to choose their own healthcare plans without forgoing other benefits in their CBAs. Laura is an active nurse and spoke about what nurses face on any given shift. We also talked about patient to nurse ratios, safety on the job for nurses, nurse licensure compacts and how we must protect MN nurses from that.
Too many politicians forgot about our frontline workers when the worst of the pandemic passed. I will always remember their service and struggle and will stand up for their needs at the Capitol.
It was a pleasure, as always, to visit with the Burnsville City Council to coordinate our legislative priorities. By partnering, we can guarantee that our city is getting the state resources it needs to thrive. Watch this portion of the meeting, here.
Thank you to Planned Parenthood Eden Prairie for allowing me to tour their facility! It was a great reminder of the vast and important work they do. I look forward to supporting their efforts this session.
Stay in Touch
If you have questions, ideas, or feedback that you’d like to share, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Email me at rep.kaela.berg@house.mn.gov or call (651) 296-5387. For more regular updates, you can subscribe to these regular legislative updates if you haven’t already, here, and you can also “like” and follow my official State Representative Facebook page.
Sincerely,
Kaela Berg
State Representative