District Perspectives, State Representative District 64B

Hello neighbors! I hope that you had an enjoyable summer and that your fall – my favorite Minnesota season – is off to a good start.

The 2025-2026 legislative term is nearly over. It’s been an unusually challenging one. For only the second time in history, the House was tied 67-67. This means that any legislation has required both DFL and Republican votes – a high hurdle these days. Our state has also suffered through a series of deeply difficult events, including assassinations and attempted assassinations, the shooting at Annunciation Church and School, the ICE “surge” that brought widespread fear and disruption and myriad attacks from Trump and Republicans in Washington on health care, the environment, family supports, our rights and our democracy itself.

Despite this, we were able to deliver some important accomplishments. This starts with the two-year budget that was passed in 2025. This session, we stabilized Hennepin County Medical Center, boosted property tax refunds and rental assistance, funded critically needed information technology for human services and invested in vital public infrastructure in communities across the state.

The committee that I co-chair – focused on jobs and labor – made targeted investments to strengthen Minnesota’s workforce and boost economic development. In that leadership role, I was particularly focused on protecting the progress we’ve made for workers and their families. Republicans sought to weaken – or roll back entirely – policies like Paid Family & Medical Leave, Earned Sick and Safe Time and labor protections. I’m glad to share that DFLers stood firm and refused to let Republicans use workers as a political bargaining chip.

Another focus this session was protecting the integrity of public benefits. As a prosecutor who has fought fraud myself, I am appalled any time someone steals resources meant to help vulnerable people. I served this term as DFL lead on the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee. In the end – despite a great deal of political grandstanding from Republicans for news cameras and social media – we advanced bipartisan legislation to strengthen grant management, hire more investigators and prosecutors, increase penalties and establish an Office of the Inspector General.

Unfortunately, the session also brought some major disappointments. Following the Annunciation shooting, Minnesotans called for lawmakers to get weapons of war off of our streets. In my work as a prosecutor, I see the impact of gun violence every day. It’s why I was the longtime author of the recent laws for criminal background checks and red-flag orders. And it’s why I authored bills this session to ban 3D-printed “ghost guns” and expand the authority of cities like St. Paul to regulate guns. Reforms like these were included in a comprehensive gun safety package that passed the state Senate. But appallingly, House Republicans refused to even consider it. They ran out the clock to avoid a vote (going so far as to hide it in a drawer – literally).

Another area of significant disappointment relates to Operation Metro Surge. Throughout this session, my DFL colleagues and I pursued a suite of proposals to help our state recover from this trauma and to prevent future abuses. I worked closely on one of these proposals – which would provide direct support to impacted workers and small businesses – and co-authored others seeking to limit federal overreach and increase transparency and accountability. Frustratingly, not a single Republican would join us in these efforts either.

In short, there will be much work left to do when the new legislative term starts in January 2027.

With that in mind, my DFL colleagues and I recently launched the Minnesota Values Project Policy Agenda 2027 (www.house.mn.gov/dflpdf/MVPPolicyAgenda2027.pdf), to serve as a guiding vision for the next legislative session. The agenda was developed through conversations with Minnesotans and has three underlying themes.

The first theme is making life more affordable. Minnesotans continue to tell us that it’s becoming harder and harder to get by. We’ll work to lower costs and expand access for the basics, like health care, housing, child care and early learning, and energy.

Second, we’ll work to keep Minnesotans safe and protect their rights. We’ll continue our efforts to prevent gun violence, protect immigrant and trans neighbors, and defend our state against federal overreach.

And third, we’ll work toward a fair society where everyone has an opportunity to get ahead. This means policies and funding for strong public education, good-paying jobs and safe working conditions, stronger corporate accountability, and a responsible government that’s accountable and effective.

Minnesotans deserve to be able to afford their lives, raise their families in safe communities, and have a fair opportunity to succeed. My DFL colleagues and I look forward to continuing to implement this vision at the Capitol in 2027.