Legislative Update – May 16, 2025
Dear Neighbors,
The biggest news out of the State Capitol has been around yesterday’s announcement of a budget deal reached by Governor Walz and legislative leaders.
This agreement largely sets the framework for which we’ll craft our specific budget areas - guidelines to let legislators know how much can be invested or reduced in funding. But the deal also includes specific agreements on policy issues that Republicans have used to slow down this end-of-session process. You can listen to me discuss this framework on my weekly legislative update with KYMN Radio here.
With a 67-67 tie in our House chamber, we came into this session knowing that much of our work would be focused on protecting the historic progress we made the last couple of years, and I’m glad to say this deal protects many of those wins: Universal School Meals, reproductive freedom, gun violence prevention measures, clean energy goals, Unemployment Insurance for hourly school workers, Earned Sick & Safe Time, and Paid Family & Medical Leave, just to name a few!
However, in negotiations, Republicans held the state budget hostage unless their demand to strip health care access for our undocumented neighbors was met. They have been willing to risk a state government shutdown, along with all the services Minnesotans rely on, just to strip the dignity from our community members who pay taxes and work to make our state better every day, in order to make life more difficult and deadly for certain Minnesotans.
Fighting for MinnesotaCare
The compromise reached by legislative leaders would strip MinnesotaCare, a health care program for Minnesotans with low incomes, from undocumented adults, leaving undocumented children still eligible. I know the value of MinnesotaCare firsthand—my family was on it as we got our farm started and began our family. I spoke about this in committee earlier this year, which you can watch here.
The nature of compromise is that no one gets everything they want, but I will not compromise on my values and the values you sent me to the Minnesota House to represent. I will not vote for a bill that strips health care access away from anyone.
This is a proposal that is not just morally wrong, but fiscally irresponsible. Just because someone doesn’t have health insurance doesn’t mean they don’t get sick. More often than not they just put off seeking medical treatment until they end up in a costly emergency room, where medical emergencies are treated regardless of coverage.
I want to lift up the words of Doctor Senator Alice Mann, an emergency room physician right here in Northfield, who spoke at a press conference after the announcement was made alongside the legislature’s bicameral People of Color and Indigenous (POCI) Caucus, who spoke against this proposal yesterday. Watch Senator Mann’s comments here.
It is not low-income immigrants who are to blame for our current budget situation. It is the wealthy millionaires, billionaires, and corporations who don't pay their fair share to contribute to our state's economy, including the for-profit health care system that is already broken and will only get worse because of this policy.
This is not “free health care,” as some have said. This population of Minnesotans pays more than $220 million in taxes per year, and they pay premiums and copays, just like everyone else. The enrollment in this program has happened faster than anticipated, showing the great demand for health care access, but the costs through the first four months are lower than forecasted.
I also want to set the record straight that hospitals have told us this policy will harm Minnesotans in rural communities the most. Uninsured Minnesotans still get care at the emergency room, but that care is uncompensated, placing a heavy financial burden on rural hospitals that are already struggling to survive. That’s why expanding MinnesotaCare wasn’t just the right thing to do, it was a smart investment in the future of our state, and one I am fighting to protect.
Environment Conference Committee
As the DFL Vice Chair of the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee, I’m proud to be serving on our conference committee that is currently negotiating with the Senate and the Governor’s administration on a final Environment Budget bill.
DFLers were able to preserve so much of the progress we made in 2023 and 2024, including our nation-leading ban on forever chemicals (PFOS & PFAS) and protections for our air, water, soil, and wildlife. Though the budget targets agreed upon by leadership include a cut in funding for the environment area, we’re working on a negotiated budget that allows our agencies to continue important oversight and programs protecting our environment and natural resources.
The Environment Conference Committee will hold a public hearing once we reach an agreement, and we’re working hard to ensure we pass the budget before our May 19 adjournment date. You can find more information about the conference committee here.
Capitol Meetings
I was very glad to connect with Dayna and Erin from Rice County Habitat for Humanity to talk about housing issues, and to meet again with the wonderful family of Amara Strande and Clean Water Action, who are continuing to tell the important story of Amara’s fight to ban PFAS here in Minnesota with a French documentary crew.
I also met with the organizers of Farm Aid, a food and music festival that supports family farmers and stands against corporate power in agriculture. This year, on September 20, Farm Aid 40 will be held in Minnesota for the first time ever!
Headlined by Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, and Dave Matthews, and featuring local band Trampled By Turtles (and many more!), the event will be held at Huntington Bank Stadium in September. Learn more and get tickets here.
Stay Connected!
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