Legislative Update – April 10, 2024Dear Neighbors, Thank you to everyone who logged on to our Virtual Town Hall with Speaker of the House Melissa Hortman last Wednesday evening! It was great to share some details on the work we are doing to support working families and have the Speaker there to share input on the state budget and legislative process. If we didn’t get to one of your questions, or you weren’t able to make it, you can always reach out to my office by emailing rep.jessica.hanson@house.mn.gov.  RISE Act – Supporting Students with DisabilitiesI am proud to be the House author of the Respond, Innovate, Succeed, and Empower (RISE) Act, which would help students with disabilities get the support they need in postsecondary institutions and colleges.  This bill will make securing accommodations on campus more welcoming, more supportive and consistent, and less burdensome, with simplified documentation and re-evaluation requirements. The bill was included in the Higher Education Policy bill and passed the House Floor last Thursday. House Floor VotesLast week, the House began passing policy bill packages in major issue areas building on the work of our historically productive 2023 session and improving the lives of Minnesotans. So far the House has passed: - Bills supporting our Departments of Military Affairs and Veterans Affairs, which passed with unanimous support!
- A bipartisan higher education policy bill that includes the clean energy sector in our Workforce Development Scholarship Program and expands support in higher education for students who have a disability.
- An early education policy bill focused on strengthening our pre-kindergarten and school readiness programs.
- A bipartisan transportation policy package that improves road safety, DVS wait times, child passenger safety, and consumer protections.
- An election bill that addresses voting rights, election disinformation, and school board appointments.
- A public safety package that passed unanimously and includes bipartisan provisions that protect victim-survivors and make our system more just.
 Supporting Medical CannabisMinnesota legalized medical cannabis in 2015, and since then it has provided health care and relief to countless Minnesotans. Now that recreational cannabis has been approved, we must ensure our medical cannabis program is not left behind. Part of that is ensuring that medical cannabis patients and folks with disabilities are also able to benefit from home growing of cannabis.  That’s why I authored HF 3766, which allows medical cannabis patients to “farm out” cannabis cultivation to third-party individuals, in this case Division of Medical Cannabis-certified caregivers assigned to help patients who require assistance in administering medical cannabis. Thank you to the disability advocates and others who spoke in support of the bill, you can read more here: Proposal would double the number of plants medical cannabis patients can grow at home. |