Seth Rowe. Sun Newspapers, 26 January, 2023
Two longtime legislators representing St. Louis Park, Hopkins and a section of Edina find themselves in influential positions this year.
Sen. Ron Latz (DFL-St. Louis Park) is prominently the chair of the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee while Rep. Cheryl Youakim (DFL-Hopkins) is the chair of the House Education Finance Committee.
Latz is working with Zaynab M. Mohamed (DFL-Minneapolis) on legislation that would increase penalties for a broader range of crimes when they are motivated by bias.
“It would enhance training for police officers and the community to recognize when crimes are motivated by bias, which are particularly pernicious beyond the individual victim,” Latz said. “They’re really crimes against whole communities that are represented by the particular cultural, religious or gender affiliation of the victim.”
The state already has penalty enhancements for hate crimes involving assault, but the legislation would expand the list of applicable crimes.
Latz is continuing to carry gun legislation that would expand criminal background checks when firearms are acquired and would enable courts to confiscate firearms “from people who are exhibiting signs of dangerousness to themselves or others,” he said.
Asked whether he expected the legislation to pass this year, Latz responded, “It’s never been an easy lift. I don’t expect it to be an easy lift now, but we will do everything we can to pass both of them.”
DFLers will likely also consider approving laws requiring firearms to be stored with gun locks and requiring gun owners to report firearm thefts, which Latz said could help prevent incidents in which young people obtain their parents’ guns, for example.
Latz also anticipates reviewing marijuana legislation on the judiciary committee and as a member of the Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee. He is not working directly as an advocate for the bill to more broadly legalize cannabis, but he said he does support it. On the question of whether local governments should be able to prevent the sale of products in their communities, Latz said he believed the law should be uniform statewide. He made an analogy to the Clean Indoor Air Act, which prevents smoking cigarettes or vaping inside bars and restaurants statewide, without the ability for a local government to opt-out.
While DFLers can act without Republican support on most legislation this year, the parties would have to work together if they approve a bonding bill to provide funds for local and state projects. A borrowing bill would require three-fifths of legislators in each chamber to support it.
“I’m hopeful, but we’re going to have to find a way to get a strong bipartisan consensus,” Latz said.
While many interests are vying for state funding this year given a forecast for a state surplus of $17.6 billion, Latz cautioned that $11.6 billion of that is one-time money that could not be used for ongoing expenses. Additionally, he said inflation has an impact of about $5.5 billion to maintain current levels of service.
“I’m trying to temper expectations,” Latz declared. “We don’t have gobs and gobs of money to spend.”
Some lawmakers hope to change the forecast process so that it factors in inflation along with expected increases in revenues. Politicians from both parties supported the current forecasting method that does not include inflation when considering expenses.
“It was never a good fiscal or budgeting approach, and we’ve regretted it ever since because everyone has these expectations and everyone gets their hopes dashed,” Latz said. “It’s kind of a mess.”
Youakim’s focus
Meanwhile, Youakim said she is laser-focused on education finance, which makes up 40% of the state’s budget.
She said she is working with the education finance teams of the House, Senate and governor’s office “to make sure we get our students what they need to learn and have an environment where they feel safe.”
Topics include increasing state funding for special education and English language learner programs so that they are not a strain on local school district budgets. Additionally, legislators are considering funding school breakfasts and lunches for all students. Federal funds helped provide meals at no cost to students during much of the pandemic. However, the system in which some students pay full price while others from lower-income households pay a reduced price or no cost has returned. Advocates of free meals for all say it would eliminate a stigma associated with free and reduced-price lunches for some students. The bill cleared the House Education Policy Committee, which Youakim also serves on, before heading to her education finance committee.
Legislators are also considering more funding for mental health support staff in schools through additional counselors, social workers and school nurses.
Youakim is seeking to provide funding to train paraprofessionals and education support professionals in schools. Districts would control the training, which could focus on responding to the cultural, social, emotional and medical needs of students. Youakim has worked as a paraprofessional on and off since 2014 and currently works as a substitute paraprofessional in St. Louis Park and Hopkins.
Discussions on the increase for the formula for state aid overall for school districts are underway. One bill would index the state support for school districts to inflation and would increase the amount by 5% in the next two-year state budgeting period. The bill would add another 5% to the formula in the following two-year period.
However, Youakim said, “These are all proposals that are going to have to work through the committee process.”
She is supporting a grant request from Building Assets – Reducing Risks, an organization with ties to St. Louis Park High School that focuses on ensuring teachers build relationships with students.
In another request relevant to constituents, Youakim and Latz are supporting changes to special rules for a Hopkins tax-increment financing district that would give the city more flexibility when it provides city assistance to building projects. The bill would allow the city to spend more money on housing and blight correction in areas outside the official TIF district, among other changes.
Youakim is also supporting a bill that would allow any Minnesotan to file state income taxes for free. Programs the Minnesota Department of Revenue lists online offer free electronic filing for taxpayers with an adjusted gross income of up to $41,000, a cap that increases to $73,000 or less for active-duty military members.
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