Legislative Update- April 28, 2022

Dear Neighbors,

I hope this email finds you well. Just today, the House, Senate, and Governor reached an agreement to deliver hero checks for frontline workers and hold small businesses harmless for providing unemployment insurance to their employees during the height of the pandemic.

We’ve been working in the House on resolving this issue since January. Hero pay was promised to frontline workers in last year’s budget agreement and this agreement reflects that the promise was kept. It’s also a way we can say thank you for their dedicated work during the darkest days of COVID-19.

Our small businesses worked hard to adapt to the pandemic and made significant sacrifices to keep their employees and the public safe. Replenishing the Unemployment Trust Fund was absolutely necessary and I’m glad we got it done. 

Virtual Community Coffee Hour this Saturday

I hope you can join me and our neighbors for a virtual coffee hour on Zoom this Saturday at 9:00 a.m. I’ll give a brief update on the status of supplemental budget bills moving through the legislative process, and then the discussion is open to you and what’s on your mind. The most important part of this work as your state representative is to receive your input and help answer questions.

Please RSVP with my Legislative Assistant, Isabel, at Isabel.anderson@house.mn to receive the Zoom information to join.

Local News in Education

A supplemental budget bill of note I’d like to mention is the House education proposal we approved yesterday. If passed into law, ISD #196 would receive an additional $762 per student in 2023, helping our kids get caught up on learning loss, addressing mental health challenges, and educator and staff burnout. Here are some highlights:

• The bill provides dedicated funds to hiring around 1,100 student personnel, so that students have greater access to counselors, social workers, psychologists, and nurses.
• The bill also invests in special education and English learner cross-subsidies or funding shortfalls. Our bill delivers state aid to schools to properly fund these programs, so districts are empowered to hire more teachers, reduce class sizes, and provide more opportunities to meet the individualized needs of our students.

You can read more on our legislative package from the nonpartisan House Public Information’s coverage here.

Keep in Touch

Please continue to reach out anytime at rep.robert.bierman@house.mn or 651-296-5506. It’s an honor to lift up our communities’ voices at the State Capitol.

Hope to see you on Zoom on Saturday!

Sincerely,

Robert Bierman 
State Representative