Dear friends and neighbors, 

We are heading into the final week of session and there’s still a lot of work ahead. I hope that we can get it done on time, despite missing 23 days on the front end of session, but some bills still need some work. While Energy, Health, and Workforce Development have made some progress on coming to a bipartisan compromise, the Education bill still remains. 

Before we dive into the issues, however, I want to wish a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend to all the hardworking moms, grandmas, and mother figures out there. Your dedication, patience, and care make a lasting difference in the lives of your families and communities. 

Thank you for everything you do, today and every day. 

The Problem with the Education Bill 

A bipartisan education bill that could have brought real relief to our schools has been put on hold, despite agreement from both Republican and Democrat committee chairs. 

One of the key parts of the bill was a fix to last year’s expansion of unemployment insurance (UI) for temporary school employees. The policy was sold as support for seasonal workers, but schools across the state are now reporting serious unintended consequences. 

Districts are struggling to fill summer jobs, seeing late resignations right before the school year, leading schools to scramble for additional staff. More so, the costs to process these UI claims is much higher than anticipated and tedious, forcing schools to hire additional administrative staff while budgets are tight. Now that the one-time state funding for the program has run out, those costs are falling squarely on local schools. That means schools are forced to cut electives, lay off staff leading to larger class sizes, and even potentially raising property taxes to cover the cost.  

Democrats initially agreed to remove the program to ease the burden on schools. But after the bill advanced through multiple committees, they walked away from the deal leaving the bill in limbo.  

We had a commonsense solution on the table. I’m hopeful there’s still time to do what’s right for our schools.  

Human Services Bill, No Taxpayer Funds for Abortion 

This week, I voted in favor of the Human Services Budget Bill (HF 2434). Several constituents have reached out with concerns that this bill funds abortions. I wanted to start out by saying that this bill does not fund abortion. There are, in fact, no provisions about abortion in this bill. If you click on the bill link, you can see for yourself. 

This bill does, however, take a big step toward getting Minnesota’s finances back on track. With a $6 billion budget deficit looming, we must make responsible decisions, and this bill cuts $1.3 billion from future spending. 

But even more important than the overall savings are the priorities we protected. 

While the governor originally proposed slashing funding for nursing homes, Republicans fought to block those cuts and secured $95 million in new support for long-term care. This is a big win for seniors, especially in rural areas where these facilities have been hit hard by mandates and staffing shortages. These facilities are not only essential for care, but for jobs too. 

We also took steps to address ongoing fraud in state programs. The Department of Human Services has been one of the worst offenders when it comes to waste and abuse. This bill tightens oversight in areas like autism therapy (EIDBI services), where accountability was sorely lacking. It also reforms billing practices in addiction recovery programs to help stop rampant overbilling and fraud. 

It’s a good example of how we can come together in a bipartisan fashion to make tough decisions on spending reductions, while also protecting the most essential services.