An Affordable Economy

The cost of living is too high. Minnesotans’ budgets are stretched to the limit trying to pay for groceries, childcare, health care, housing, gas and utilities, and families are making hard choices. More people are going without health insurance and hoping their luck holds out. Food pantries are struggling to meet increased demand. Consumer debt is rising just to cover basic needs. Current federal policies are making the problem worse by cutting food aid, raising the cost of groceries, driving up healthcare costs, and spiking gas and energy prices. The reality is we now have an economy that works for those at the top, while the rest of us struggle.

I value an economy that works for everyone. As your Representative, I have focused my energies toward creating job opportunities throughout Minnesota. We must support independent business owners, farmers and labor, and ensure equal pay and opportunities for all Minnesotans.

Most importantly, I value workers. As a former union member and labor leader, I know that collective bargaining agreements improve wages, benefits, and working conditions for all Minnesotans. The types of jobs Minnesotans will have in the future may require that workers possess new skills. I will continue to champion legislation that assists workers in acquiring the expertise needed to be successful in our challenging economy.

I am proud of my votes in the Minnesota Legislature aimed at improving the lives of working families by increasing access to affordable childcare and expansive pre-K opportunities, providing free meals for public school students, building a smart and accessible public transportation network, supporting excellent education opportunities, protecting unions and collective bargaining, and requiring higher wages for the lowest paid workers. At present my Bill to provide property tax relief is working its way through the legislative process, and I have backed other Bills to help seniors and lower income families.

The legislature must do more to help Minnesotans afford their lives. We need:

Affordable Health Care:

Allow a buy-in to the MinnesotaCare or create a public option; rein in insurance companies and Big Pharma; improve access to mental health services, particularly for young people; require insurers to cover necessary treatments and medications.

Affordable Childcare:

Low or no cost universal childcare from birth to age five; expand public pre-K for three- to four-year-olds; More Head Start and community-based openings for infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers; better wages for childcare workers; new quality standards for all childcare centers.

Affordable Housing:

Spur more starter-home building through public investment and policy reforms; limit or ban corporate ownership of single-family homes; Ban algorithmic price fixing schemes that illegally increase rents; reduce property tax pressures on local governments and residents.

Affordable Energy:

Insulating and weatherizing homes; promoting energy efficiency in homes and businesses; supporting families facing utility shutoffs; stop utilities from charging Minnesotans for lobbying and high executive salaries; requiring large energy users, like data centers, to shoulder the increased costs rather than shifting the burden to local families.

Affordable Groceries:

Prohibit surge pricing, gouging, and using our personal information to set individual prices.

We must also be good stewards of our tax dollars, and there must be accountability when someone steals from us. Many of those who committed fraud are now in prison and prosecutions of others continue. It is better to prevent fraud in the first place as well as strengthening oversight. There are several plans being debated in the legislature, and it will take a combination of ideas to provide meaningful results. A new Inspector General office can monitor providers and respond when misconduct is detected. However, current policies provide services through fee-based businesses, which has fostered opportunities for fraud. Shifting some services to state-agency controlled programs would allow direct oversight and be better positioned to avoid these types of fraud. In short, the state should stop outsourcing the state’s safety net to the for-profit private sector. It is despicable that funds meant to provide food, housing, healthcare and services for vulnerable members of our community were stolen. These victims are the people who cannot be forgotten in these debates. Cutting services to those in need is not a viable response.

Highlights

2025 Legislative Session:

• Invested $4 million to protect business against the avian flu.
• Capital Investment of $13.7 million in the Minnesota Zoo.
• Maintained $129.9 million in funding for Great Start which supports the childcare and early education workforce.
• Created a teacher apprenticeship program.
• Stabilized our schools’ workforce by ensuring unemployment insurance for hourly employees.
• Protected Iron Range miners by providing unemployment insurance coverage.
• Provided $12 million toward food stabilizing food security.
• Invested $44 million in state grants to make collage affordable for more families.
• Negotiated a new SEIU contract which raised wages for thousands of healthcare workers.
• Increased wages and holiday pay for nursing home workers, while providing $5.6 million to nursing homes to help cover these increased expenses.
• Increased funding for direct grants and workforce development grants.
• Increased funding for employment supports for Minnesotans with disabilities.
• Repealed Data Center energy sales tax exemption.

2023-2024 Legislative Session:

• Invested in large-scale infrastructure projects by passing the bonding bill. Instead of spending millions in maintenance, we can begin long over-due replacement and improvement projects.

• Delivered the largest tax cuts in Minnesota history while investing in Minnesotans, beginning with $100 million for businesses affected by the covid pandemic, then passing the 2023 Tax Bill which provided: one-time tax rebates; expanded Child Tax Credit – reducing child poverty by 33%; expanded the Social Security and Public Pensions tax cut; expanded the K-12 Education Credit; provided one-time and permanent property tax cuts; increased Local Government Aid and $300 million in Public Safety Aid across Minnesota; and tax credits for beginning farmers and new small businesses.

• Invested in business and protected workers by allocating $1 billion in new spending and unlocking $500 million in matching federal dollars for business development, workforce development, grants and loans to small businesses; (b) improving worker protections through paid family and medical leave, earned sick and safe time, protections for warehouse and oil refinery workers, protections for pregnant and nursing workers, public employee access to unions, and improved nursing home workforce standards.

• Returned $145 million of tax-payer dollars to Dakota County: $96 million for Highway 13 $31 million for County Services $6 million for Crisis and Recovery Center $5 million for Veterans Memorial Greenway $5 million for Minnesota Greenway $2 million for Thompson County Park

• $26 million increase for Dakota County in Local County Aid

• $2.4 million to improve the interchange at Highway 52/County Road 42

• $2.2 million for Highway 3 roundabout at the Rosemount High School entrance

• $18 million for the Minnesota Zoo, including funding for the Tree Top Trail

• $24 million for construction improvements to the Rosemount Readiness Center

• $92 million for the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities campus chemistry teaching lab

• Bolstered pensions for current and former state employees and improved pensions for St. Paul teachers.

• Secure Choice Retirement Act requires businesses with five or more employees to participate and set up access to retirement accounts for workers making a dignified retirement possible.

  In the legislature, I will continue to seek ways to strengthen our economic policies so that all Minnesotans may strive to thrive.