Dear Neighbors,
The Minnesota House passed House File 2, the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act. Minnesotans believe in caring for one another. Yet the vast majority of Minnesotans don’t have access to paid family and medical leave benefits. This means every day, Minnesotans face impossible choices between losing a paycheck or caring for a new child, an aging loved one, or themselves. While some workers have jobs that provide paid sick leave, thousands of Minnesotans do not have access to a single paid day off.
I was proud to vote ‘yes’ to this legislation a decade in the making to ensure every Minnesotan is protected by a safety net that uplifts their dignity and humanity. Passing Paid Family and Medical Leave will help to make Minnesota the best state in the nation for children, families, and workers. It complements all the other work Democrats are doing to help Minnesotans afford their lives, like investing in just and affordable housing, providing free school meals, and reducing health care costs.
Legislative Updates: Conference Committees are committees made up of members from the House and Senate appointed to reconcile the differences between two versions of a budget bill. This is an important time to collaborate with our colleagues and make comprehensive decisions to ensure the bill is reflective and responsive to our communities. These negotiations are critical to moving forward the vision and values of Minnesotans.
I am proud to be on the bipartisan team to legalize cannabis, expunge records, and advance economic and social justice in a regulated market. Advocates and changemakers have been working on this legislation for nearly a decade. The versions constantly changed to reflect the need and justice for our BIPOC communities. I am beyond proud of my colleagues for finally passing the bill off the House floor. Minnesota’s current cannabis laws are doing more harm than good. By creating a regulatory framework, we can address the harms caused by cannabis, establish a more sensible set of laws, improve our healthcare & criminal justice systems, and ensure better outcomes for communities. Minnesotans deserve the freedom and respect to make responsible decisions about cannabis use themselves. Follow the Omnibus cannabis bill here: https://www.leg.mn.gov/leg/cc/Default?type=all&year=
Legacy Budget Conference Committee Report
Last week, the Minnesota House of Representatives approved the conference committee report on H.F. 1999, the Legacy Budget Bill. The bill invests over $818 million dollars in Minnesota’s outdoor heritage, clean water, parks and trails, and arts and culture. The conference committee report passed on a vote of 101-31. The bill also includes significant policy provisions to serve communities who have historically been underrepresented in Legacy fund recipients, with specific appropriations for cultural heritage museums and community organizations who have been left behind due to systemic barriers in grantmaking. The bill fully funds Minnesota’s Tribal nations’ requests to help preserve their language and culture and makes historic investments in communities of color across the state. For the first time, this bill includes funding specifically dedicated to smaller organizations, funding for the arts community as they facilitate healing and recovery, and new language that includes LGBTQIA2S+ Minnesotans in our arts and cultural heritage fund and outdoor youth outreach programs.
Higher Education Budget Conference Committee Report Last week, the Minnesota House of Representatives approved the conference committee report on House File 2073, the state’s Higher Education Budget. With declining enrollment across higher education, the report provides a record increase in investment for Minnesota’s colleges and universities. The conference committee report passed on a vote of 69-62. The Higher Education budget for 2024-2025 funds the Office of Higher Education, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, the University of Minnesota campuses, the Mayo Clinic Medical School, and Tribal Colleges. We passed the most transformational Higher Education Budget in the nation that invests in students with support for emergency assistance, student-parents, and hunger-free campuses. The North Star Promise provides tuition-free college to expand opportunities for thousands of new students and lays the groundwork for generations to come.
House Approves Agriculture Budget Bill Hats off to the Agriculture Chair, Rep. Samantha Vang who is making sure everyone in Minnesota has access to healthy, nutritious food with a comprehensive, innovative Agriculture Budget Bill. The Minnesota House approved the Agriculture Budget Bill, funding $48 million in new investments for farmers, land, and food production in Minnesota. The bill includes a grain indemnity fund for farmers, provisions to increase healthy food access, and protections for soil health. The final vote was 70 to 58. The bill provides funding for the Good Food Access Program, hunger relief grant funding for Second Harvest Heartland, increases funding for farm-to-school programs, and more, to tackle “food deserts” and ensure no Minnesotan goes without quality, healthy, and affordable food.
Emerging farmers – especially those from BIPOC and LGBTIA2S+ communities – face significant barriers when working to succeed in agriculture and food-related businesses. This bill makes transformative investments to support emerging farmers in land access and lowering start-up costs in farming. The investments will help expand broadband access for all Minnesotans, increasing our international trade market capacity, and more to ensure we have a sustainable food supply, strengthen our state’s agricultural economy, and support new opportunities in our rural and urban communities.
Housing Budget Bill
With evictions skyrocketing, homelessness increasing, home ownership gaps widening, and a severe shortage of affordable homes to rent or own, it is time for bold action. The $1 billion Housing Budget Bill is the largest housing investment in state history to finally address the housing crisis that will create stability for thousands of Minnesotans through investments along the housing continuum, from preventing homelessness, permanent and supportive housing, to new pathways to homeownership.
Thousands of Minnesota families are on the brink of homelessness simply because they can’t afford their rent. That’s why we are creating more than 6,000 new housing vouchers to ensure low-income families have the housing stability they need to thrive. At the same time, we’re making our state’s first significant investment in preserving naturally occurring affordable housing, with a plan to preserve and improve more than 4,000 homes across the state.
Minnesota has one of the worst supply-demand mismatches in our housing, driving up costs for all Minnesotans. This budget injects investments to create thousands of new homes from multi-unit, manufactured homes, to homes to own. Minnesota also has one of the worst homeownership racial gaps in the nation. To combat this, this budget prioritizes a First Generation Down Payment Assistance initiative to create more than 4,000 new first-generation homeowners, in addition to investments providing thousands more affordable homes to own. I’m honored to be a part of this movement to make sure every Minnesotan has a safe and affordable place they can call home.
Minnesota’s Largest Tax Cut
Collectively, the bill delivers the largest tax cut in state history with credits, rebates, and other provisions designed to maximize benefits for workers, families, and seniors. It also addresses years of rising property taxes and underinvestment in local communities. The House DFL tax bill reforms our tax code to improve fairness and equity across the board. Between 2018 and 2021, the adjusted gross income of filers of those earning less than $20,000 annually fell by 9% while the AGI of filers over $500k grew 117%. Minnesotans expect those who profited most during the pandemic to pay their fair share. With a worldwide reporting requirement for multinational corporations hiding income in offshore tax havens and a millionaire tax on the top 0.8% of all earners, we will have the necessary revenue to invest in children, families, homeowners, seniors, and the most vulnerable Minnesotans now and in the future.
AAPI Heritage Month
Happy Asian Pacific American Heritage Month! The month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese community to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869.
During this wonderful month, I wish our AAPI communities a joyous gathering to celebrate achievements and milestones. May you indulge in songs, food, ritual, and stories with your families and loved ones.
Let us also strive to find humanity in each other as we uplift and honor the cultures and traditions of Minnesota’s AAPI community. Learn more about AAPI Heritage Month and keep the celebrations going here: https://asianpacificheritage.gov/about/
Keep in Touch
We’re coming down to the final days of the legislative session, and we’re making great progress. So far, we’ve already passed our Veterans, Higher Education, Housing, Legacy, and Agriculture budgets. Our other budget bills are almost complete as members of the House and Senate craft the final bills in conference committees, and I expect they’ll all be passed in a few days. With only a few remaining days, I imagine I’ll have a lot to share with you soon about our final state budget, what it does for Minnesotans, and the direct impact it’ll have on our community.
I deeply value being in this work to improve lives with you and hearing feedback from the community, and I hope you will stay in touch throughout these last few weeks of the legislative session. You can also follow my new Facebook and Twitter pages. Please reach out anytime if you need assistance or have questions at rep.alicia.kozlowski@house.mn.gov or 651-296-2228.
It’s an honor to represent our community in the Minnesota House.
In community,
Rep. Alicia Kozlowski
Minnesota House of Representatives