Dear Neighbors,
Session will come to a close on Monday. With only a few days remaining and several important bills left to pass we will meet long into the night and over the weekend. These last few days can be pretty tough to endure as work to pass laws that’ll benefit Minnesotans. But, in the end it’s worth it when we come out on the other end with laws that make our state a better place to live. Here’s an update from the Capitol:
1. Minnesota Manufactured Home Parks Receive National Attention
- Our community was recently featured in a Guardian article about manufactured homes in the US. I encourage you to check it out as it features a lot of great details on the progress we’ve made in Minnesota.
- “Norris has become the go-to guy for manufactured housing in Minnesota. He’s seen residents’ anger first-hand, recently and most prominently at a park called Blaine International Village in Blaine… Norris has been instrumental in passing legislation to support resident-owned communities. The state of Minnesota’s housing fund now has a revolving $10m fund that cooperatives can utilize to quickly make an offer. Furthermore, if park owners sell to their residents, they get a tax credit that makes offers from their residents more lucrative, even if a private investor offers more cash.”
- Thank you to all the residents and advocates who have worked to make this progress happen. I look forward to continuing to represent your needs at the Capitol!
2. Youth Violence Prevention Funded - Changing Lives, Making Minnesota Safer
- It looks like $500k for my youth violence prevention bill will be included in the Public Safety Conference Committee Report.
- This is a bill I’ve been working on for many months with a broad swath of stakeholders, including law enforcement, community organizations, and young people themselves. It is designed to fund programs which intervene early when a young person starts to head down a bad path. This is proven to improve outcomes with lower costs and will hopefully reverse the trends we’re seeing of some youth committing repeated crimes and at younger ages.
- Learn more about the bill here.
3. Student Teacher Pensions - SupportingTeachers as They Enter the Profession
- My bill to create a pilot program which provides stipends to student teachers will be included in the final Education budget bill.
- This is an important bill which will go a long way to supporting our student teachers so they have an easier time entering such a critical profession.
- I’m proud that this important provision has made it to the final steps and I look forward to voting for the entire education bill in the coming days!
Stay in Touch
Please feel free to reach out to me by email at rep.matt.norris@house.mn.gov or by phone at 651-296-2907. If you have a friend, neighbor, or relative who wants to receive updates about the Legislature, let them know they can subscribe to my email list here, and follow my Facebook here. It’s an honor to represent our community. Please stay in touch!
Sincerely,
Matt Norris, District 32B
507 State Office Building
St. Paul, MN 55155