Legislative Update: May 9, 2025
Dear Neighbors -
With warmer temperatures comes more opportunities for outdoor rallies at the State Capitol, where we can raise our voices together to stand up for our communities and defend our state and our country from chaos, corruption, and cruelty of the Trump Administration and his MAGA allies.
I was proud to join workers on May Day and International Workers’ Day to demand better protections for workers and immigrants. I also joined colleagues in the Legislature along with lawyers from around the state to commemorate National Law Day by reaffirming our oath and commitment to the rule of law.
As a national voting rights lawyer, there are few things more important to me than defending our Constitution that is the foundation for our democracy and the rights and freedoms of everyone in our country. At a time when Donald Trump and Elon Musk are violating the U.S. Constitution and launching unprecedented attacks on the rule of law, we need everyone in, and outside, the legal profession to stand up to protect our rights.
FIghting for Minnesota Workers
Today the House voted on the Workforce, Labor, and Economic Development Budget. As the DFL Vice Chair of the Committee, I have mixed feelings about the bill but thought it was important to vote to send it to the conference committee. The most important parts of the bill is what is not in it -- any exclusions or rollbacks to Paid Family Medical Leave or Earned Safe and Sick Time that my Republican colleagues are fighting very hard to gut.
The good news is that House DFLers united to pass a budget that protects 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. Also in this bill, are important tools to crack down on the fraudulent misclassification of employees as independent contractors.
However, I was extremely disappointed to see that Republicans prioritized the most powerful companies over Minnesota workers by insisting we rollback the ban on non-compete agreements as the price to pass a budget for the Department of Labor and DEED. The thing that Republican leadership wanted most in this bill was language that partially repeals the almost two year old law that protects Minnesota’s freedom to move from one employer to another, or start their own business if they choose. You can watch my comments when this issue came up in committee here.
Today, I offered an amendment to protect that nearly two year old law that frees Minnesota workers from being bound by non-competes, but Republicans decided to do the bidding of the largest, most profitable companies in Minnesota. As I said on the floor, this has been law for almost two years and the sky has not fallen. There is no need to roll back this law, unless you’re a company that wants to restrict workers' ability to leave a job for better pay, a promotion, or because they have a bad boss.
Republicans voted down my amendment and stood with the powerful over the people, but I'll continue to fight to remove this provision in the conference committee because it is a critical part of our work to unrig the economy and support Minnesota workers.
Protecting Minnesotans and the Taxpayers’ Dollars that Support Critical Services
As a member of the GOP-led House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee, I’ve been focused on ensuring that we are using real facts, real numbers and are focused on real solutions rather than treating it as a political arena to attack politicians the GOP doesn’t like.
After Republicans held a press conference this week to tout supposed “successes” of their committee, my colleagues and I held a presser to correct the record and highlight how DFLers have been working all session to protect seniors, veterans, small businesses, and the services that Minnesotans rely on from fraudsters seeking to steal from the public coffers.
One key fact that stands out: the GOP’s supposed Fraud Prevention committee only heard three bills this entire legislative session, with one of them being the Governor’s own fraud prevention proposal authored by DFLer Rep. Dave Pinto.
It’s easy to call a press conference to say “fraud is bad”; it’s harder to actually get into the details of legislation to fix the problems we see. From the Legislature to the Attorney General’s office, DFLers have been and will continue to do that work, and I hope our colleagues on the other side of the aisle join us in that work instead of wasting time with political hearings targeting their political adversaries that don’t get us any closer to solving problems or improving Minnesotans’ lives. You can watch my comments here.
House Budget Update
We have reached a busy time of the Legislative Session, spending our days passing budget bills on the House Floor. This year is different from my past two terms in the Minnesota House because we don’t have a DFL House Majority that determines the terms and targets for the budget. Because we are in a 67-67 tie, members from both the GOP and the DFL are necessary in the House to pass any budget.
DFLers are working to pass budget bills that protect the generational progress we made in 2023 and 2024, continue to unrig the economy and lower costs for health care, and pass a strong state budget that invests in people -- not corporations. But we’re also fighting at every step to ensure Republicans don’t succeed in their efforts to strip health insurance eligibility from our undocumented neighbors, take away unemployment benefits from the nurses, cafeteria workers, janitors, and bus drivers that work in our public schools, and roll back Paid Family Leave and Earned Sick and Safe Time.
I’m proud to be on the frontline of that fight, because I know that everyone in our state deserves these benefits that we all pay into. Minnesotans are counting on us to protect us all from the dangerous agenda of MAGA Republicans both here in Minnesota and in Washington D.C.
Here’s a quick recap of the bills we have passed since my last newsletter:
- I voted for the Human Services Budget, however, I am greatly concerned about the cuts to services that Republicans have forced on us by refusing to make the wealthy pay their fair share. Republicans once again voted against our “Protect Medicaid not Millionaires” amendment, standing with millionaires over their own constituents. I am hopeful this bill will come back from negotiations in a better place, especially as we try to address cuts both at the state and federal level.
- I voted for the Environment and Natural Resources Budget, which funds the DNR while protecting our nation-leading PFAS ‘forever chemical’ ban, and continues our efforts to protect our land, air, water, and wildlife.
- I voted for the Energy Budget, which is a bare-bones bill but it’s more important for what’s not included in this bill -- no roll backs to our historic investments in the clean energy transition in the last biennium. The DFLers are united in the fight for a brighter future and protects our 100% Carbon-Free Energy by 2040 Law. We’re promoting proven clean energy sources, lowering energy costs for families, creating high-paying clean energy jobs, and building a more resilient energy system.
As I said above, these bills are the result of compromise between DFLers and Republicans due to the 67-67 tie, and many of these bills include provisions that I disagree with.
DFLers in the House and Senate are continuing to fight for a budget that protects Minnesota workers and families from the worst impacts of the Trump Administration, preserves the progress we made last term, and strengthens our state.
Stay in Touch
Thank you for your time, energy, and all you do to make our community a great place to live, work, and play. Always feel free to reach out to me with your input and ideas, or if I can ever be of assistance. My email is rep.emma.greenman@house.mn.gov or you are always welcome to call me at the Capitol at 651-296-4200 and follow my Facebook page for updates.
It’s an honor and a privilege to be your State Representative. I'm very proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish together and look forward to the work we have ahead of us. Together, we can create a stronger, brighter future for all Minnesotans!
Best,
Emma Greenman
State Representative