It was a busy week at the Capitol. Here is some of what I accomplished:
First Bill Hearings This Week
- This week I had my first two bill hearings of the 2025 session!
- HF 385 builds on my Coerced Debt Act that passed unanimously with bipartisan support in 2023. That bill – now a national model – addresses the devastating problem of economic abuse of survivors of domestic violence. HF 385 clarifies that if a survivor uses the judicial process set up in the 2023 bill to get relief of coerced debt, it cannot be considered taxable income leaving survivors with an unexpected tax bill.
- HF 1006 helps land banks carry out their work more cost effectively. Land banks have proven to be a valuable tool for promoting the development and preservation of affordable housing and Main Street businesses by purchasing and taking title to property, holding it for a specified amount of time, and then selling it to mission oriented owners. HF 1006 allows local units of government to abate the property taxes on land banked properties reducing the cost of these redevelopment projects.
Star Tribune Cheers My Efforts to Create an Office of the Inspector General
- I’m proud to be the lead negotiator for the House DFL in an effort to create a centralized Office of the Inspector General in Minnesota.
- The Minnesota Star Tribune recently cheered this collaborative effort between Democrats and Republicans in both the House and the Senate.
- Of course, I don’t do the work for the “cheers.” I do it because we want public funds to go to people who need it, and when they don’t, it’s unacceptable.
Lots of Fun Visitors at the Capitol
- Now that session is in full swing, the Capitol complex is teeming with Minnesotans from across the state. This means many opportunities to meet with people from my district and beyond!
- This week’s visitors included a group of students from Avail Academy in Blaine. These middle schoolers had some excellent questions about what it’s like to work at the Capitol, and it seemed like we could even have some future state representatives in the bunch!
- I also had a chance to address hundreds of pediatricians from across Minnesota who were at the Capitol. I talked about the importance of investments in early childhood education to set kids up for success and ensure parents have affordable childcare.
Federal Actions Disrupting Work in Our Community and at the State Capitol
- I continue to be concerned about the actions we’re seeing at the federal level because they’re having a very real impact here in Minnesota.
- This week my colleagues highlighted the “five-alarm fire” caused because Minnesota domestic violence groups, including those serving Blaine and Lexington, have had their federal funding frozen.
- The state’s budget is also being impacted. Next week’s updated budget forecast could be a leading indicator of how the economic uncertainty generated by proposals like tariffs are impacting the state’s economy. And that won’t even account for the $880 billion in cuts to human services spending in the Trump/Musk budget framework just passed by Congress. Under that plan, Minnesota could stand to lose billions in federal Medicaid funding that would literally break our state budget.
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
5th Floor Centennial Office Building
St. Paul, MN 55155