The 2022 Legislative Session

Dear Neighbors, 

We’re just over a week into the 2022 Legislative Session, and I’m happy to share that we’ve hit the ground running with committee hearings, floor debates, and our first bill already signed by Governor Walz. 

This will be an important legislative session for our state, and with a $7.7 billion positive fund balance, there’s a lot of potential for the good we can do to help Minnesotans bounce back from the pandemic and other issues that have been  impacting our community since long before COVID-19. 

Last Thursday, on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis (124-8), we passed an extension of the COVID-19 workers’ compensation presumption, meaning that if a public safety or healthcare worker contracts COVID-19, the presumption is that they did so at work, and are therefore eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. 

These are the jobs that don’t have a “work from home” option as they strive to keep us all safe and healthy, even as contagious variants continue to appear.

You can read more about this legislation and the floor debate here. 

What I’m Working On

Last week, I had a hearing on my bill, House File 2675, which passed the Commerce Committee, where I serve as vice chair, and is now on its way to Judiciary and Civil Law. Under current law, up to two cases of wine per year may be shipped by an in- or out-of-state winery to a resident of the state. This bill would allow a winery to ship up to 12 cases per year, but would require all out-of-state direct ship wineries to obtain a license if they ship into the state and also creates a taxation schedule to ensure revenue collection on these out-of-state purchases.

To understand the impact of this legislation, you can read up on this article from Michigan, where illegal wine shipments into the state have since been cut in half. 

If you’re interested, you can watch that committee hearing here. 

On Monday, I presented another one of my bills in the Workforce and Business Development Committee, House File 3000, which addresses our state’s unemployment insurance shortfall - which has been depleted during the pandemic - and also supports our school’s hourly workers. Unemployment insurance is a critical social safety net for Minnesota’s workers, but not all Minnesotans are currently eligible. 

I’ve received tremendous outreach and support from constituents on this issue and am pleased to include the hourly workers provision which can help in stabilizing the workforce by allowing our school’s hourly workers (bus drivers, lunchroom staff, paraprofessionals and educational assistants) to access unemployment benefits.

We can support businesses and provide for workers so everyone can come through the pandemic stronger than before. You can read the Star Tribune’s coverage of this important issue here. There’s also the video of Monday’s hearing that’s available here. 

Stay Connected

Thank you to everyone that joined us for our hybrid town hall last month. This was a new format for us, but I think it worked well to hear from people over Zoom and in-person. We had a lot of great conversations around our goals for this session, and if you missed it, you can still watch the recording here. 

If you have any questions about our work this session, the best way to contact me is at rep.carlie.kotyza-witthuhn@house.mn or 651-296-7449. As we continue remote operations, email is the quickest way to get in touch. You’ll either hear back from me or my legislative assistant, Sam. If you haven’t already, you can also subscribe by email to these legislative updates here. I look forward to hearing from you. 

All my best, 

Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn

State Representative