On Monday, Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reported in MN House DFL readies 10 bills for first-week rollout:
Democrats in the Minnesota House are ready to roll out their first 10 bills of the 2019 legislative session when it opens next month.
House Speaker-designate Melissa Hortman said the initial bills from the new DFL majority will mirror the Minnesota Values Plan that her caucus released in September. That plan emphasized accessible and affordable health care through a MinnesotaCare buy-in option, paid sick time and family leave, education investments and improvements to public infrastructure.
Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said a gun violence prevention measure and a bill to change the legal standard for sexual harassment cases will also be included.
She said the plan is to unveil the bills on Jan. 9, one day after the session starts and one day before bill filing begins.
What is the Minnesota Values Plan?
To give readers context for the Pugmire piece, check out a press release about the Minnesota Values Plan on Duluth DFLer and new DFL Majority Whip Liz Olson's page, House DFLers release Minnesota Values Plan:
Friday, September 14, 2018
St. Paul, Minnesota — Today, House DFLers unveiled the Minnesota Values Plan, a continuation of the Minnesota Values Project — an initiative of the Minnesota House DFL to engage legislators, Minnesotans, and community groups in a conversation about the future of our state. In 2017, House DFLers traveled the state to listen to Minnesotans and have conversations about our shared values. Legislators have continued those conversations with community members and organizations, and are ready to put forward an agenda for the 2019 Legislative Session.
“We’ve worked to engage communities across the state to build a legislative agenda rooted in the hopes, aspirations, and demands of the people,” said Rep. Liz Olson (DFL - Duluth). “With this agenda, we’re offering ideas for a new direction to make our state a better place for all Minnesotans through affordable health care, greater economic security, improved educational opportunities, and investments in critically-needed infrastructure and Minnesota jobs.”
“Minnesotans care deeply about each other and want to see one another succeed,” added House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman. “Our shared values as Minnesotans bring us together and serve as a guide for how we move forward — and how we make our state work better for all of us, no matter what we look like or where we come from.”
The Minnesota Values Plan includes the following:
Ensure All Minnesotans Have Access to Quality, Affordable Health Care
Every Minnesotan deserves access to high quality, affordable health care. Instead of giveaways to insurance companies, let’s ensure Minnesotans have an affordable and trusted public option. No one should be forced to choose between paying for a roof over their head and paying their monthly insurance premium or health care bills. Expanding health care coverage will help ensure women have the right to make their own health decisions without interference from their boss or politicians.
House DFLers will work to:
Expand the current MinnesotaCare plan to allow anyone to buy into it as a pathway to universal healthcare.
Make Work in Minnesota Pay
Minnesotans work hard and deserve the opportunity to thrive. But many employers do not allow their workers to earn sick time or paid family leave, so Minnesotans are forced to make impossible choices between paying the bills and their family’s health. In addition, wage theft — including violating minimum wage laws, failing to pay overtime, or forced “off the clock” work — by employers hurts Minnesota’s working families. Every year, tens of thousands of Minnesotans lose millions in earned wages and benefits.
House DFLers will work to:
Guarantee every worker has paid sick time and paid family leave.
Put an end to wage theft by investing in improved enforcement.
Invest in Education from Cradle to Career
All Minnesota kids deserve a world-class education. We know that our kids start learning long before kindergarten — and that Minnesota suffers from one of the largest achievement gaps in the country. Expanding voluntary, free Pre-K to every Minnesota child will ensure our kids are getting off to a strong start.
The cost of education and job training is a barrier for many Minnesotans. People should not have to choose between a lifetime of debt and the education and training they need for a good paying job. Access to higher education and job training should be in reach for everyone.
House DFLers will work to:
Increase funding for community-based child care options and expand access to public, universal pre-k, for all Minnesota children.
Ensure every Minnesotan has the affordable access to job training or higher education they need to thrive.
Strengthen Minnesota’s Key Infrastructure
Minnesotans depend on our infrastructure every day to get to work or school or to help support our families, but we are not making the investments we need as a state. We must rebuild our roads and bridges, and invest in reliable public transit. We must create access to quality, affordable high-speed internet across the state, which is a necessity in the 21st century. We must modernize our aging energy infrastructure so that it is secure and supports greater use of renewable energy.
House DFLers will work to:
Make long-term, robust investments in transportation, broadband, and clean energy, creating good Minnesota jobs.
What was the Minnesota Values Project?
The September press release noted that the plan grew out of an earlier effort, the Minnesota Values Project. According to the "About" section of the DFL House Caucus's MVP page:
In 2017, House DFLers facilitated hundreds of meaningful conversations with people across all Minnesota about what their priorities are. Based on those conversations, we’re putting forward our Minnesota Values Project — our legislative goals, principles, and commitments to the people of Minnesota. Our shared Minnesota Values bring us together and can serve as a guide for how we move forward — and how we make Minnesota work better for all of us.
In March, then Minority Leader Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, described the process in House DFLers Unveil Minnesota Values Project; Will Hold Community Conversations Over Legislative Break:
Today, House DFLers unveiled the Minnesota Values Project, an initiative of the Minnesota House DFL to engage legislators, Minnesotans, and community groups in a conversation about the future of our state. Over the last nine months, House DFLers traveled the state to listen to Minnesotans and have conversations about our shared values. . .
The Minnesota Values Project was a facilitated conversation led by legislators with a wide variety of participants in the local community. The legislators were there to listen and facilitate, not to guide the participants in any particular direction. Participants were broken into small groups after introductions and went through a series of questions.
The Minnesota Values Project facilitated hundreds of deep, meaningful conversations with participants in Rochester, Duluth, St. Cloud, Grand Rapids, Apple Valley, Stillwater, Moorhead, Worthington, Mankato, and Minneapolis/St. Paul. In addition, the surveys were distributed electronically around the state. Over legislative break, House DFLers will continue to hold meetings with Minnesotans.
What were those legislative goals back in March?
Here's the text of the Minnesota Values Project handout. Bluestem has supplied links to the bills mentioned in the document as well as the name of the chief author.
The Minnesota Values Project offers ideas for a new direction to make Minnesota a better place for everyone. Minnesotans care deeply about our state and want to see one another succeed. Working together, we can strengthen our communities by improving education opportunities, making affordable healthcare a reality, and increasing economic prosperity for all Minnesotans.
All Minnesotans deserve access to affordable, quality health care.
- Expand MinnesotaCare to everyone — letting Minnesotans take advantage of affordable high-quality care that is currently unavailable in the private market (HF 92; Clark Johnson [retired at end of session])
- Implement discounts that go directly to consumers instead of giving handouts to the insurance companies (HF 2949; Jennifer Schultz, Duluth)
- Repeal for-Profit HMOs that are exploding the cost of care in Minnesota (HF 2839; Laurie Halverson, Eagan)
- Require non-profit HMO dollars to actually go to non-profit purposes instead of funneling them to for-profit institutions (HF 2931; Tina Liebling, Rochester)
- Ensure that women have the right to make their own health decisions without interference from their boss or politicians (HF 3453; Erin Murphy, St. Paul, retired at end of session)
- Empower our Attorney General to sue price-gouging drug companies (HF 3131, John Lesch, St. Paul)
All Minnesotans deserve the education and job training needed to get a good paying job.
- Establish a “last dollar” grant program to help Minnesota residents cover tuition and fees (HF 2594; Gene Pelowski, Winona)
- Help more students refinance their student loan debt
All Minnesota kids deserve a world-class education.
- Expand voluntary, free pre-K to every Minnesota child
- Support full-service community schools that provide social, medical, academic, and enrichment activities available to students all in one location — their school building (HF 146; Jim Davnie, Minneapolis)
- Ensure all districts can provide adequate special education to the students who need it
All Minnesotans deserve the opportunity to be safe, healthy, and successful.
- Prevent employers from wage theft that denies employees wages and benefits that they have rightfully earned in order to increase profits (HF 1391; Tim Mahoney, St. Paul)
- Expand earned sick time and paid family leave to all Minnesotans (HF 1013; Metsa, retired at end of session; and, HF 1967; John Lesch, St. Paul)
- Check corporate greed and corruption
- Make taxes fair for everyone, not just corporations and the wealthy
How much will the ten priority bills unveiled next month resemble the agenda of last March? We're not privy to the caucus's 2019 agenda--and infrastructure didn't show up in the March press release. Nor do we know who will be "carrying" the each bill.
It's also important to remember that both March and September iterations are planning documents, and the language of the ten bills that will be unveiled on January 9 will change as they work their way through committees. As Speaker-elect Hortman told MPR:
. . . Hortman stressed that the House bills introduced next month will look different at the end of the five-month session.
“The legislative process is a process of change and amendment,” she said. “There are values that we will hold to during the session. But we expect the language will change as we work with the senate and the governor’s office.
This backgrounder is just that: background for understanding the process of change and amendment. We do notice that bills related to the environment, ag, criminal justice and the like are not on the list.
Photo: Minnesota House Speaker-elect Melissa Hortman.
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Would love to see some of the sexual assault bills that were vetoed in the big bill go forward early in session.
Posted by: Peg Larsen | Dec 27, 2018 at 02:03 PM