Dear Neighbors,
This has been a long and very productive week at the Minnesota Capitol, as the House passed more of our final budget bills in the last 7 days of the 2023 legislative session. Just this week we passed a landmark labor and jobs bill that included a number of provisions I’ve championed. I’m particularly proud that we passed the Warehouse Worker Safety Act to protect workers in Minnesota’s Amazon warehouses, a ban on the use of non-competes and no-poach franchise agreements, and my bill to create the Minnesota Climate Innovation Finance Authority (aka Minnesota’s Green Bank) was included in the climate and energy bill. These are bills that protect and empower workers and advance equity and climate justice as Minnesota rapidly transitions to a clean energy economy.
In the final days of session, I promise you I will be working hard at the Capitol to deliver on the priorities that you sent me here to work on.
Here’s an update from Saint Paul.
House Passes Worker Safety Package
This week we passed the strongest Amazon warehouse worker safety protection bill in the nation. Everyone deserves to be safe and respected at work but that is not the experience of MN Amazon warehouse workers. In committee after committee, Amazon workers described being forced to work at a grueling and relentless pace, under intense electronic surveillance that tracks and monitors their every move. Amazon’s dangerous model has led to an injury rate that is 1.5 times the injury rate of non-Amazon warehouses in Minnesota and 3x the injury rate in private industry. These warehouses are some of the most dangerous places to work in Minnesota.
Minnesota’s workplace safety standards have not kept up with Amazon’s high-tech and cutting-edge model and the harm it causes workers. The warehouse worker safety bill is a common sense policy to address a big worker safety problem. It protects these Amazon warehouse workers now, and ensures that the dangerous, high-tech model does not spread to other warehouses and other industries where it could injure more Minnesotans.
Check out the op-ed that I wrote with Awood Center Executive Director Abdi Muse and Sen. Erin Murphy, which you can read here.
House Passes Education Conference Report, Funds UI for Hourly Schoolworkers
For more than 80 years, hourly school workers, in schools and at colleges and universities, have been excluded from the economic security of having access to unemployment benefits if they find themselves unemployed during the summer months. This year, we are eliminating that exclusion and ensuring they have the same access to unemployment benefits that other Minnesota workers - including other seasonal workers - already have when they become unemployed.
This week the House passed an education package including my legislation to provide those bus drivers, paraprofessionals, custodial staff, food service staff, and others who care for, feed, educate, and transport our students with the same access to unemployment insurance that other Minnesota workers receive. By providing hourly school workers with the basic economic security they deserve, these Minnesotans will be able to continue supporting our students and doing the job they love.
House Passes Conference Report to Legalize Cannabis
This week, the Minnesota House approved the conference committee report for the legalization of adult-use cannabis in Minnesota.
Minnesota’s current cannabis laws are doing more harm than good, and over the last three years, DFLers in the legislature have worked and listened to build a Minnesota-specific model for cannabis legalization. This bill creates a safe, well-regulated legal marketplace, and includes best practices for consumer protection, health, and public safety. It also prioritizes a robust expungement program, so people who have been disproportionately impacted by our current cannabis laws can move on with their lives. It is time for legalization, regulation, and expungement.
House Passes Environment, Energy, and Climate Bill
The House took a vital step this week to invest nearly $250 million in new funding to lower energy costs, create more clean energy jobs, and address and combat climate change. Minnesota is one of the fastest-warming states due to climate change, and this bill puts Minnesota on the path to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This is an opportunity to make a real difference by partnering with the federal government to lower energy costs, expanding renewable energy, and ensuring all Minnesotans can benefit from our clean energy transition.
Stay in Touch
Thank you for your time, energy, and all you do to make our community a great place for everyone. Please reach out to me with your input and ideas, or if I can ever be of assistance. My email is rep.emma.greenman@house.mn.gov or you are always welcome to call me at the Capitol at 651-296-4200 and follow my Facebook page for updates.
It’s an honor and a privilege to be your State Representative and I look forward to working with you to create a stronger, brighter future for all Minnesotans!
Best,
Emma Greenman
State Representative