Committee Work Begins and Civility Caucus Has First Meeting

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January 15, 2021

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

I hope you are staying safe and enjoying the beautiful fresh snow! I’m hoping to get out snow-shoeing this weekend. It has been a busy second week at the Capitol with committees getting started and our first floor debates.

Executive Summary

• Committees start – Taxes, Judiciary, Health & Human Services
• Civility Caucus has first meeting
• Permanent House Rules
• House GOP letter denouncing violence at U.S. Capitol
• Vaccine Distribution

Committee Work Begins

This biennium I am privileged to serve on three Committees:

• Taxes
• Civil Law & Judiciary Finance and Policy
• Health & Human Services Finance and Policy

These committees have very little overlapping jurisdiction and will give me a very diverse portfolio of issues to consider. I look forward to all I will learn in these areas!

This week all of our committees met for the first time and generally began with overview presentations from the agencies over which each committee has jurisdiction. I am always amazed and somewhat daunted by the number of programs and services run by the state! We will continue the overviews next week and are likely to start hearing specific bills by the end of January.

I will try to share some of what I am learning in the newsletter every week. I hope that it is useful for all of you to connect to state programs and resources for you and your families.

Focus on Seniors

Senior LinkAge Line: The Minnesota Board on Aging created this free statewide service to connect seniors to local services and provide information on aging at home, caregivers and Medicare.

You can find out more here: https://mn.gov/senior-linkage-line/

You can contact the Senior LinkAge Line at: 1-800-333-2433 or Senior.linkage@state.mn.us

Ombudsman for Long-Term Care: The Minnesota Board on Aging created an independent Ombudsman to help anyone with concerns about long-term care facilities, operations or simply looking for long-term care support. The Ombudsman’s office has regional Ombudsmen and volunteers throughout the state to assist seniors and their families locally. All communication with the Ombudsman’s office is deemed confidential and will not be shared with the facility or staff about whom concerns may have been raised.

You can find out more here: https://mn.gov/dhs/people-we-serve/seniors/services/ombudsman/

Contact the Ombudsman’s Hennepin County office at 651-431-2555 or 800-657-3591.

Kick-Off of the Biparisan House/Senate Civility Caucus

I am honored to again be a Co-Chair of the bipartisan, bicameral Civility Caucus this biennium. My co-chair in the House is Rep. Heather Edelson (D-Edina) and our Senate co-Chairs are Sen. Mark Koran (R-North Branch) and Sen. Steve Cwodzinski (D-Eden Prairie).

I first became a co-Chair last session when Rep. Nick Zerwas stepped down due to health concerns  I am delighted he passed the torch to me.

The Civility Caucus is dedicated to improving the functioning of the Legislature by fostering relationships across parties and between Members of the House and Senate. Once we get to know each other and build trust, it will be much more likely that we will be able to work together effectively to pass legislation for the state of Minnesota.

One of the many things that surprised me when I was first elected is how little members of the House and Senate interact – even people of the same party. As the only divided legislature in the country, building relationships across parties and between the two bodies is essential.

Our first meeting was introductory, sharing the goals of the group and encouraging members to get to know each other in Zoom breakout rooms. Of course, like everything during COVID, it was far from ideal to do this remotely, but we will keep meeting monthly and continue to look for issues we can work on together.

House Permanent Rules

We adopted the Permanent Rules of the House on Thursday. Most of the rules are not controversial and have strong bipartisan support and are simply necessary for the proper functioning of the House. There were several amendments, however, that would have made the process more transparent. All of the amendments failed, but I voted in favor of all of them. Here’s a quick review of the amendments and the debate surrounding them:

A1: Prohibit Omnibus Bills. This would have prevented the giant bills that are common at the end of session, where multiple bills on a variety of subjects are combined into one. The state constitution requires “single-subject” bills, so there is a strong argument to be made that omnibus bills are not constitutional. Those in favor of omnibus bills say they are necessary to get bills passed – if we had to debate hundreds or thousands of bills individually we would run out of time to do the people’s business. I voted in favor of this amendment as I do think these large omnibus violate the intent of the Constitution and make it very difficult for members to know what they are voting on. This failed by a vote of 59-72.

A2: Allow Amendments to an Amendment to be posted 30 minutes prior to the beginning of a legislative session (rather than at 6:00 p.m. the night before). I voted in favor of this as it is important to be able to offer amendments to amendments the day of a floor debate. If bills and amendments are posted on the afternoon before a debate, it can be difficult to work with staff to get amendments to amendments posted by 6:00 p.m. if you have afternoon committee meetings. This would give more time for members to offer amendments to amendments and improve legislation. This failed on a voice-vote.

A3: End the 24-hour Rule. Current rules require bills to be posted 24 hours before they are brought to the floor. This limits our constituents’ ability to weigh in on issues as they may only find out about a bill as they are watching the debate in real time. Both Republicans and Democrats spoke in favor of ending the 24-hour rule. Some remembered when it wasn’t in place and believed not having it fostered more bipartisanship. They also argued that not having the 24-hour rule allowed rank-and-file Members to have a larger role in shaping legislation rather than an over-reliance on leadership. The Senate does not have a 24-hour rule. I supported this amendment but it failed 59-72.

House GOP Letter on Violence at U.S. Capitol

This week I continued to speak out against the violence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6^th.  I coauthored a letter with the House GOP Caucus on Monday to unequivocally denounce the violence at the U.S. Capitol last week.

I am disturbed to learn there is an ongoing threat of violence at both the U.S. Capitol and our State Capitol. I fully support the right to peaceful protests but condemn all forms of political violence. Read our full letter below.

Vaccines

I have had many people ask about when vaccine distribution will be available to those over aged 65. Although the federal government just changed their recommendations this week to provide for everyone over 65 to receive the vaccine, the reality is that we still have not vaccinated everyone in the “1a” category which continues to be the priority for the state. The 1a category includes hospital healthcare providers and staff, residents and staff of long-term facilities, and first responders. Additionally, the state has not received all of the vaccine doses which have been allocated, so there is simply not enough vaccine in the state to serve everyone over age 65 at this time. 

Our Health & Human Services Committee will receive a briefing from Commissioner Jan Malcom on the state’s distribution plan next week and I hope to provide you with more details next week.

Photos

I enjoyed lunch with my daughter and husband before I headed to the Capitol and our daughter went back to college Monday when indoor dining resumed. Make sure to get out and support local restaurants!

Standing at my desk on the House floor before session. It was great to be back since social distancing restrictions were implemented last March.

Committee meetings are being carried out via Zoom this session. Here MDH Commissioner Jan Malcom presents to the Health and Human Services Committee.

Please Contact Me

Many of you have already been in touch to discuss your thoughts on the issues that matter most to you. Thank you for sharing your ideas! Please continue to contact me to discuss any matters to which I can be of assistance. My office phone number is 651-296-7806 or by email at rep.kristin.robbins@house.mn. My office is located on the second floor of the State Office Building in room 225.

I hope you all have a good weekend!  I look forward to continuing to work on behalf of our wonderful district! 

Kristin

225 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, MN 55155
ph: 651.296.7806