Neighbors, We are making significant progress passing our budget bills. Last week, we passed several key budget bills, including State Government and Elections, Transportation, Housing, Agriculture, Education, and Children and Families This week we took another step forward by passing the Jobs and Labor budget bill. This bill contained my legislation for adult sized changing tables in public places. This bill has been a labor of love for me. As a caregiver and an advocate, I know how important it is for people to be able to meet their basic hygiene needs while in our community. Additionally, we passed legislation keeping worker safety in mind by approving the refinery worker safety bill and also a measure to improve worker safety at warehouses. I serve on both the Health and Human Services and Policy committees and Tuesday, the Minnesota House passed the Human Services budget proposal. The bill provides support of our most vulnerable Minnesotans, significantly invests in caring professions, and doubles down on our efforts to combat the opioid epidemic. We built our Human Services budget around the increase in funding for Minnesota’s caring professionals. With an automatically adjusted reimbursement rate, nursing home facilities are forecasted to receive an additional $847 million over the next four years, totaling an investment of more than $6 billion - the largest amount of nursing home funding in state history. Wage increases make up a significant portion of the Human Services budget proposal, with more than $2.3 billion over the next four years to raise the rates for PCA’s and wage increases for other supports including those utilizing the Elderly Waiver, the Disability Waiver Rate System, Home- and Community-Based Services, Intermediate Care Facilities, and workforce incentive and training opportunities. The budget helps the most vulnerable Minnesotans throughout the state by investing $33.3 million in recruiting and retaining direct support and frontline workers, and over $25 million to increase the provider capacity of these services in rural and underserved communities. The budget also continues the critical work of combating opiate addiction in Minnesota by reducing disparities in how the state tackles this epidemic, investing over $57 million in safe recovery sites, and removing the sunset on opioid fees. The budget also proposes $2 million a year in ongoing funding for traditional healing.  Video of all hearings and floor votes are available on House Public Information Services’ YouTube channel. State of the StateGovernor Walz delivered his State of the State address in the House Chamber last Wednesday. It was an honor to hear in person the governor’s optimistic speech. His hopeful message summarized the legislation we have already passed and looked at the transformative legislation we will be approving in the next few weeks. You can view the full address here.  REMINDER: Medicaid Information During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, annual renewals for our public health programs – MinnesotaCare and Medicaid – paused. On May 11, the Covid-19 Public Health Emergency is ending and those on MinnesotaCare or Medicaid will need to update their information to determine their ongoing eligibility. If someone is no longer eligible for coverage under Medicaid, they should be able to get low-cost health insurance through the federal and state insurance marketplaces. You can watch a short video here for more information.  Stay Connected with the LegislatureIt is easy to stay connected to news from the State Capitol. The Minnesota House of Representatives Public Information Services offers nonpartisan recaps of high-profile bills, committee hearings, and floor sessions with their Session Daily publication. Subscribe to receive these here. To track bills of interest through the legislative process, I encourage you to utilize the MyBills feature on the Minnesota House of Representatives’ website. Please continue to reach out with any input, ideas, or feedback about the issues important to you. I value hearing from you, so call or email any time. You can find my information on my House website. You can also like my Facebook page, and follow me on Twitter. It is an honor to represent you at the State Capitol. Sincerely, Kim Hicks State Representative |