Our K-12 education budget is one of our last remaining bills, and that’s because Republicans want to cut Unemployment Insurance benefits for our hourly workers. These are the professionals that play their own part in ensuring our students are succeeding, and now is not the time to turn our backs on them and the progress they help drive. Now is the time to build on this amazing progress and invest in the world-class education our kids deserve - that’s what I’ll be fighting for in our final days of session.
The House’s Budget Proposals - Continued In last week’s update, I provided a brief overview of 9 of our House budget proposals, and why I voted the way I did (you can read that here). While we haven’t passed the same number of bills this week, largely due to the fight over harmful Republican proposals like the one I mentioned in the K-12 Education budget, we’re still making important progress. Here’s what we’ve passed this week, with hyperlinks directing you to nonpartisan summaries of the bills: Environment & Natural Resources: I voted for this bill because our environment is worth fighting for, and that’s just what this legislation does. As a member of the Environment & Natural Resources Committee, my DFL colleagues and I took a firm stance to protect our historic victories that put people and the environment over profit and exploitation. Whether it's banning dangerous PFAS “forever” chemicals, providing funding for more trees, or investing in programs to halt the spread of invasive species, we held the line and maintained these critical investments. Human Services: We had separate Policy and Budget bills for Human Services, and I voted in favor of both. This was an area of the budget where we were looking at significant reductions in funding, and I commend my colleagues, especially Co-Chair Noor, for crafting as humane of a bill as possible. Despite challenging decisions, we were able to produce a bill that provided much-needed wage increases for nursing home workers and the SEIU Personal Care Assistant and Community First Services and Supports contract. Supporting our most vulnerable Minnesotans means having the backs of the workers that help them live their lives. - On the policy side, we’re leading the way in curbing fraud and abuse to guarantee that public dollars go to needed services. Through comprehensive training on Medicaid billing, targeted payment system reform, and more flexible enforcement tools for the Department of Human Services, we are making sure every public dollar makes a difference for Minnesotans.
Energy: I voted for our Energy budget because it protects that vast majority of what Minnesota has been able to accomplish over the years. As you can probably tell, “playing defense” against Republican proposals is a big part of our DFL efforts in these budgets. Recent reports show that Minnesota is #1 in the Midwest for energy efficiency and #10 nationwide, and we’re hitting record lows in carbon emissions. Our Energy Budget bill protects the progress we’ve made and keeps us on track to 100% carbon-free by 2040. Workforce, Labor, and Economic Development Budget: We passed this bill today, which I voted for. We managed to defend several landmark victories for working Minnesotans such as paid family & medical leave, earned sick & safe time, workplace safety protections, and fair labor standards for nursing home workers. We also cracked down on the fraudulent misclassification of employees as independent contractors. Other investments include child care and early learning, a critical workforce tool, at a time when federal support for programs like Head Start is being slashed - more on that below. Still to come - next week (our last full week!) we’ll take on the House’s Health, Tax, and K-12 Education bills. Federal Cuts & Closures As we work to pass a state budget that supports Minnesotans, it’s frustrating - and difficult - to do our work alongside regular updates from the Trump administration that harm our community and state. In the latest, the Trump administration continues its assault on the children, elderly, and people with disabilities reliant on benefits that keep thousands of Americans alive, rural hospitals operating, people employed, and the economy moving. But they’re not stopping there. Recent closures of Head Start offices throughout the country, including the regional office in Chicago that serves Minnesota, result in critical services for children and families being cut off. These continued bad-faith actions put Minnesotans in jeopardy. We’ll do what we can with our own budget in Minnesota, but meaningful action is needed from our Congressional delegation, particularly from the Republicans, in standing up for our state. Stay Connected Thank you for reading! Always feel free to reach out with any questions, comments, or ideas you have on how to make our community and state better, especially as we get into the final weeks of the legislative session. You can reach me at rep.david.gottfried@house.mn.gov or 651-296-7153. You’ll either hear back from me or my Legislative Assistant, Isabel. To keep up with my work in the House, you can either check out my legislative webpage, or follow along on my official Facebook page. Thank you again for placing your trust in me. I can’t wait to see what we can build together! Sincerely, David Gottfried State Representative House District 40B |