Session Kicks Off!

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January 6, 2023

Rep. Kristin Robbins now represents District 37A following redistricting. You can find your representative here. If you no longer wish to receive these newsletters, you can unsubscribe from her newsletter list here. 

Dear Friends and Neighbors, The 2023 legislative session kicked off on Tuesday. At the start of the last session in 2021, I took the oath of office alone in my office (pictured right.) It was wonderful to be back on the House floor with everyone as we all swore to support the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Minnesota. It was also extra special to have my youngest daughter join me for the ceremony (pictured below.)

There will be many bills introduced in the coming days. Below I have highlighted a few of the bills I introduced this first week, as well as the priorities of the DFL majority.   I am still waiting for several bills to come back from the Revisor, so I will keep you updated on bill introductions over the coming weeks.  I hope you all made it safely through the recent snowstorm and that you enjoy this beautiful weekend!

Executive Summary

• District 37A’s new office is open – Please come and visit!

• DFL Bill Introductions

• My Bill Introductions

District 37A’s new office is open – Please come and visit!

Due to redistricting, I now have the great honor of representing the new district 37A in the Minnesota House, which represents the communities of Corcoran, Greenfield, Independence, Loretto, Maple Plain, western Maple Grove and Medina.

This seat and office belong to the people of our communities and I am privileged to serve you! Our new office is Room 239 of the State Office Building and I’d LOVE to have you stop by any time you are in St. Paul! 

Although it is helpful if you schedule an appointment, you can stop by anytime and my amazing Legislative Assistant, Betsy Ritzer, will help you track me down if I am in Committee or on the floor.

Let us know if you would like to see the office or meet somewhere in the Capitol!  The best way to schedule a meeting is by emailing me at Rep.Kristin.Robbins@house.mn.gov or Betsy at Betsy.Ritzer@house.mn.gov

I look forward to seeing you in St. Paul! (Note: I still have a few boxes to unpack! 😊)

DFL Bill Introductions

The DFL released their top priorities for this session when they introduced their first bills. As a reminder, our state has a $17.6 billion surplus, but none of their top priorities include permanent tax relief for families or seniors, addressing crime, or the staggering learning loss due to the covid school closures.

It appears that House Democrats do not intend to enact common-sense, bipartisan legislation that addresses the concerns I heard from constituents this fall. Instead, they seem to be prioritizing far-left policies that are favored by certain groups, not all Minnesotans. Here’s a few of their top priorities for the session:

H.F. 1 would codify a woman's right to an abortion up to the time of delivery in Minnesota law. It also continues taxpayer-funded abortions in Minnesota and fails to provide for parental notification or consent. Furthermore, it does nothing to protect the health and welfare of mothers, as there are no provisions to ensure abortion clinics are licensed and safe. 

H.F. 2 would appropriate funds for mandated paid family and medical leave for all businesses, regardless of size. It also requires these benefits be provided to part-time employees and mandates the exact benefit rather than allowing businesses and employees to tailor plans to their needs. Last session, this bill was projected to cost $4 billion.

I have many concerns about what this bill would mean for small businesses, so I will be following it very closely as it goes through committees. 

H.F. 3 would enact sweeping changes to Minnesota's voting laws, including automatic voter registration and “pre-registration” of 16 and 17-year-olds. It would also restore voting rights for felons before they have completed the probation portion of their sentence and would implement a controversial "Democracy Dollars" program that has been used in local elections, like Seattle. 

H.F. 4 would give illegal immigrants the ability to obtain a Minnesota driver's license. 

H.F. 7 would require Minnesota to be carbon-free by 2040. 

My Bill Introductions

This week I worked on and introduced several bills that would make Minnesota a more affordable, competitive state and support students. Below are the bills I introduced with links to the bill language. 

Several other bills were “dropped in the hopper” but have not received a bill number yet. I will include links to those bills next week. 

HF 72: This bill requires that tax refunds would include interest calculated on estimated tax payments. 

HF 74: This bill expands the current education tax credit and deduction to allow the tax credit to be used for tuition and increases the amounts of the credit and deduction (which have not been updated since 2001).

HF 75: This bill will conform MN tax code with federal law and will allow families to use the increase in their 529 plans for K-12 tuition.

HF 76: This bill requires insurance companies to clearly state in their benefit summaries (not just the fine print) how they treat third-party payments for drug assistance. Currently, this information is in the benefit statement, but not in the summary, so many people with expensive prescriptions switch health plans without understanding how this affects their deductibles and end up paying much more out of pocket.

HF 79: This bill allows single-owner/employee home-based businesses to request that their home address not be publicly displayed on the Secretary of State’s website for business registrations (the address still has to be provided to the SoS). This bill provides a layer of protection for one-employee businesses while still ensuring oversight. 

Bills “dropped in the hopper” that will get a number next week:

• A full repeal of the Social Security Tax.
• A bill to ensure that those who received “Shuttered Venue Operator” grants for theaters and performances spaces will not have to pay MN tax on the grant.
• A bill to allow a simplified method for calculating the existing R&D tax credit which will make it more accessible for small businesses and help propel innovation in Minnesota.
• A bill to reduce the current tax on charitable gambling to a flat rate of 5%. I also have a bill to eliminate the tax on charitable gambling all together (which is my preference), but it is not back from the revisor yet. 
• A bill to increase the list of crimes under the definition of qualified domestic violence-related offenses, which will make it easier for officer to bring aggravated charges. This idea was brought to me last session by a local police officer who works on domestic violence crimes and will strengthen our statutes in this important area.
• A bill to eliminate the $8 filing fee for accessing online court records. This fee goes to the State General Fund, not the courts, and is unnecessary. Eliminating the fee will ensure that the public and small news outlets can access public records without paying exorbitant fees for searches.

I am also finalizing bills that will prioritize K-3 Literacy, ban social media companies from using algorithms to target Minnesota children with unsolicited content, and a number of tax and grant reform proposals.  Stay tuned!

Photos

Dropping my first bill of the 2023 session in the hopper!

So honored to speak to the YMCA Center for Youth Voice Youth in Government students! They are engaged & ready to take on the challenges of running State Government at the Capitol the rest of the week. I participated in YIG in high school & am excited to encourage these wonderful young leaders. Thanks for the great questions! 🎉🇺🇸

Enjoyed starting this beautiful morning with the I94 Corridor Coalition! This remarkable group of local leaders has worked tirelessly for the past 10 years to transform the I-94 Corridor into one of the most vibrant & economically important transportation corridors in the state! I look forward to continuing to partner with you to strengthen our communities, businesses and improve safety for citizens. Thanks to Transportion Chairs Hornstein & Dibble for joining us!

Please Contact Me

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.

The best way to reach me is by email: rep.kristin.robbins@house.mn.gov. For occasional updates, you can follow my Facebook Page at @RepKristinRobbins. You can also leave a voicemail on my office number, 651-296-7806, which is checked daily while we are in session.

Have a great weekend!

Kristin

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