Neighbors,
First - I’m hosting a town hall with Senator Latz and Rep. Youakim on June 12th. More info below!
Recently, the 93rd Minnesota Legislature concluded, what I believe, is the most consequential two-year session in decades. It was pretty awesome to be part of it as a first-term legislator. After many years of divided government and Republican gridlock that prevented meaningful progress for our state, House DFLers got the job done through a host of accomplishments that will benefit Minnesotans for generations to come. This session ended with decisive action to avoid the extraordinary obstruction of our colleagues across the aisle that threatened to block our deal to increase compensation for drivers and keep Uber/Lyft in Minnesota, as well as policy to improve the Child Tax Credit, enact new gun violence prevention laws, expand health insurance coverage for reproductive care, wigs for cancer patients, prosthetics, gender-affirming care, and so much more.
In an economy tilted in favor of big corporations and the wealthy few, the House DFL Majority has focused on taking on monopoly power by enacting policies reigning in abusive and anti-competitive practices of big pharma, big tech, big insurance companies, and predatory lenders. We are supporting and investing in workers, families, seniors, and the next generation. The Child Tax Credit is projected to cut childhood poverty by one-third. We are helping seniors keep more money in their pockets and delivering property tax cuts and an improved renters rebate program. We continue to invest in housing, early care and learning, food security, and child welfare. We reduced health care costs, including a cap on co-pays for prescription drugs to treat diabetes, asthma, and allergies at $25 for one month’s supply.
Here are other bills we passed this year that will improve the lives of all Minnesotans in every corner of our state:
- Worker protections and wage compensation equity for Uber, Lyft and other TNC drivers
- Minnesota Voting Rights Act, ending prison gerrymandering, and increased early voting on college campuses
- Elimination of minimum wage carve-outs for youth, J1 visa holders, and workers at small businesses
- Prevailing wage in publicly financed housing projects and eliminating misclassification fraud
- Medical debt reform
- Minnesota African American Family Preservation and Child Welfare Disproportionality Act
- Strengthen Paid Family and Medical Leave law
- Funding for services for crime victims
- Prohibition on banning, removing, or otherwise restricting access to age-appropriate books or other material from a school library
- Expanding our nation-leading Child Tax Credit
- Invest in tree planting across the state
- Tenants’ Bill of Rights
- Prior authorization reform
- Funding for the Rise Up Center to support clean energy jobs and training in our community
- Protections for clean drinking water and healthy soil, with investments in sustainable farming
And more!
My seatmate Rep Frank Hornstein who is retiring
My Bills
Personally, 13 bills I lead-authored became law this year, and a total of 27 passed during my first term. My 2024 bills include a first-in-the-nation grid enhancing technologies bill, residential energy codes to ensure new homes are increasingly energy efficient, boat shrink wrap plastic recycling, excavation safety, and mental health parity notification in long-term disability insurance plans. This link will give you detail on my 2023 and 2024 bills that became law.
Legislation for Minnesota’s Working Families
Last year the Legislature passed our major two-year budget bills, and this year the House built on that progress by passing small supplemental budgets alongside more substantial policy changes in major committee areas. Working alongside the Governor and our Senate counterparts, we reached final agreements on all major budget bills.
You can find nonpartisan summaries about the final agreements here: Transportation, Labor and Housing, Energy and Agriculture, Public Safety and Judiciary, Commerce and Cannabis, Jobs and Economic Development, Environment and Natural Resources, K-12 Education, Higher Education, Human Services, Health, and Elections.
We also passed a gun violence prevention bill that includes tougher penalties for straw purchasers and a ban on binary triggers, a bill that will increase wages for rideshare drivers while keeping companies operating in Minnesota, a health occupational licensure and scoping bill, legislation improving our child welfare services and addressing racial disparities, and a tenant’s right’s package.
End of Session Thoughts
You may have heard that the legislative session ended a bit loudly. As a part-time legislature, we have a finite amount of time to get things done. We can’t go over time, unless a special session is called. Any bills that aren’t finished by the time session ends are dead.
Especially during the last several weeks of session, many of our Republican colleagues delayed us getting our work done. It certainly appeared like a good amount of filibustering was happening. One especially egregious example was when they spent about eight hours one evening talking mostly about hamburgers as part of a debate on a junk fees bill (which eventually passed with bipartisan support).
With their delaying tactics, it became clear that we would have to take decisive action to complete our work. As the end of our last day approached, we combined the final remaining bills into one, brought it to the floor, forced a vote and passed it, and then sent it to the Senate to do the same thing. Those bills had already been debated on the House floor for a total of 52 hours, had been through additional time in committee hearings.
The minority absolutely has a right to be heard - and they were. All of those bills included some Republican provisions and/or input. But the majority also has a right and responsibility to govern, and that is what we did.
Cedar Lake Road Groundbreaking
This week I joined community leaders in Willow Park for a ceremonial groundbreaking of the Cedar Lake Road Improvement Project. The project is the culmination of several years of planning by the City of St. Louis Park with federal and state partners helping to secure funding. I’m proud to have worked closely with city staff to obtain $5 million in state bonding for the project.
The reconstruction project for Cedar Lake Road this year and Louisiana Avenue next year will bring much-needed modernization to the roads and provide equitable opportunities for transportation to underserved populations, improve neighborhood livability, and replace existing facilities at the end of their useful life.
Construction on the project is scheduled to start June 10. Visit bit.ly/RedoCedarLou to learn more about the project, affected bus routes, parking restrictions and detour schedules.
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Upcoming SD46 Town Hall
On June 12th, Senator Latz, Rep. Youakim, and I will be hosting a Senate District 46 town hall at the St. Louis Park City Hall from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. Please come to hear about the session and ask any questions you might have.
Memorial Day
It was an honor to spend Memorial Day at an event put on by the St Louis Park American Legion and Scout Troop 282. The weather moved it inside, but it still was a great time to reflect and be thankful for those who served and did not come back.
Stay in Touch
If you have questions, ideas, or feedback that you’d like to share, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can email me at rep.larry.kraft@house.mn.gov or call (651) 296-7026. For more regular updates, you can subscribe to these legislative updates if you haven’t already, here, and you can also “like” and follow my official State Representative Facebook page.
Sincerely,
Larry Kraft
State Representative