Neighbors, The Minnesota House is currently passing budget bills. Each committee has spent the past few months working to reach bipartisan agreements in each issue area. We passed the Judiciary Committee budget bill through the House last week. The next step will be negotiating with the Senate to reach a final bill that then must be repassed by the House and Senate and signed by the Governor.  Many of these bills the House is passing are good compromises that I support. I voted to pass the Higher Education budget bill because Democrats fought hard and successfully defended the North Star Promise. Passed last biennium, this program provides free college tuition to Minnesota students attending a state college or university whose family makes under $80,000 per year. This program has been life changing for Minnesota students, and protecting it was among our top priorities under this divided legislature. We also managed to protect the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State from cuts that were on House Republican’s agenda. Other budget bills did not earn my support. I voted against the Commerce budget because it eliminates a new law I championed last term. The law provides for guaranteed issue of supplementary insurance (Medigap) for seniors on Medicare. Without this law in place, seniors with pre-existing health conditions can be denied the ability to buy a Medigap plan—and to switch to traditional Medicare—if they decide that Medicare Advantage does not meet their needs. I am pleased to be working with AARP and the Lymphoma and Leukemia society on this issue. Because the Commerce policy bill prioritizes the needs of insurance companies over seniors, I and many of my colleagues voted no. I also voted against the Transportation budget bill because it rolls back an important policy we passed into law last term. Current law requires any MnDOT project that increases emissions to be balanced out through other actions, like adding transit, improving bike and pedestrian access, and supporting car sharing. The law, which just went into effect in February, is projected to save the State of Minnesota money and save lives on our roads. Representative Larry Kraft proposed an amendment, which I supported, to undo this rollback. However, the amendment was blocked by Republicans. We have a responsibility to do everything we can to mitigate the effects of climate change and reach our 2040 energy goals. The Transportation budget bill makes that more difficult, so I could not vote to support it. Bills that we passed will now head to conference committees, where a few members from the House and Senate will hash out difference between the bills and produce a final version. Join us for a Town HallJoin me, Rep. Kim Hicks, Rep. Andy Smith, and Sen. Liz Boldon for a discussion on federal cuts this Sunday, May 4th from 1:30-3pm. We’ll be in the auditorium at John Adams Middle School. You can register for the event here.  Stay Connected Unfortunately, due to technological constraints, replies to this newsletter won’t reach my email account. To share your input or ideas, or if I can ever be of assistance, please feel free to reach out by email at Rep.Tina.Liebling@house.mn.gov or by phone at 651-296-0573. You can contact my Legislative Assistant, Krysta, at 651-296-7173 or via email at Krysta.Niedemhofer@house.mn.gov. If you call or email, please include your street address so I’ll know if you live in my legislative district. It is an honor and a privilege to represent you at the Capitol. Warmly, Tina Liebling, State Representative |