Paid Family Medical Leave is WorkingWhen we passed Minnesota's Paid Leave law in 2023, we made a simple promise: no one should have to choose between their paycheck and caring for themselves or the people they love. Six months in, more than 75,000 Minnesotans have already been approved for Paid Leave benefits, allowing workers to take paid, job-protected time off to welcome a new child, recover from a serious health condition, or care for a loved one. More than 38,000 families have used the program for bonding leave with a new child. The program is reaching the people it was designed to help. More than half of applicants earn less than $78,000 per year, nearly half live outside the Twin Cities metro, and before Paid Leave, many of these workers had no access to paid family or medical leave through their employers. That's especially important because, nationwide, only about 27% of workers have access to paid family leave through their jobs. Strong families build strong communities, and Paid Leave is helping ensure that Minnesotans can care for themselves and their loved ones without sacrificing their financial security. I'm proud to have supported this landmark investment in working families, and I'll continue working to protect and strengthen programs that help make Minnesota one of the best places in the country to live, work, and raise a family. The State of Immigration LawI’ve been pivoting back to my “day job” as an immigration attorney since session ended and it’s been – as you will not be surprised to hear – a hugely challenging era. I’ve seen firsthand the impact on my clients of an administration that doesn’t respect the immigration laws Congress enacted, nor the role of agencies in fairly administering those laws. I have a client whose career trying to improve American healthcare is being jeopardized by delays due solely to her country of citizenship. I have a client, a “Dreamer,” who has spent most of his life in the United States who is worried about impact of possible delays of his DACA renewal on his important work and on his U.S. citizen family who he financially supports. I’ve received numerous AI-generated requests for additional evidence that make it clear that the government is not even reviewing the information and evidence that was provided to them. I wrote to a client recently “the government isn’t giving much evidentiary weight to evidence lately.” The impact is of course on my clients, but it also encompasses American citizens who benefit from their contributions. From immigrants' higher-than-average tax bills (to the tune of $1.3 trillion per year in 2023), to their essential contributions to care for seniors, we all benefit from immigration. As severe as this short-term impact on our tax base and our healthcare systems will be, the longer-term impact on our economy if we continue to turn away all types of immigrants will change the very fabric of our nation. Here is an excellent interactive map, if you’d like more detail about immigrants’ economic contributions to our nation, our state, and our local communities. New LawsOn July 1st, many new laws from the 2026 legislative session took effect. Some highlights include helping schools establish anonymous threat reporting systems so students and families can safely report concerning behavior, implementing a mandatory social media mental health warning, and more. You can find a list of the new laws and summaries here. While I’m glad for the progress we made in these areas, I can’t help but be reminded of the potential that was not realized this session. We could have given Minnesotans whose constitutional rights were violated by federal agents a legal remedy. We could have banned secret police by outlawing the use of masks and unmarked vehicles to terrorize our communities. We could have saved lives with an assault weapons ban and safe storage requirements. I heard from our community loud and clear that these were priorities. I regret that we were not able to make progress due to divided government. As we head into the next election season, I am hopeful that the coming term will be an opportunity to address these priorities. While I will be a private citizen at that point, I will definitely be raising my voice to advocate for progress along with my friends and neighbors in 39B! |