The 2026 Legislative Session came to an end this week with the final bills passed before the Sunday midnight deadline and retirement speeches on Monday. I’m proud of the work we accomplished in a tied House to help our hospitals, deliver property tax cuts, protect taxpayer dollars, and invest in local jobs and infrastructure projects.
In a tied 67-67 House, there was always bound to be compromise and disappointment. As your state representative, I worked to find compromise wherever possible without jeopardizing our communities’ core values.
Despite the challenge of an even partisan split in the House, my DFL colleagues and I worked every day to make life better for Minnesotans. We worked to make life more affordable by addressing high costs for health care, housing, child care, energy, and groceries.
We successfully passed solutions to combat and prevent fraud, protecting Minnesotans’ state dollars and keeping them out of criminals’ hands. We also provided funding to stabilize Hennepin County Medical Center, the state’s largest safety net hospital, which serves patients from across the state. As the DFL Education Finance Committee Chair, it was critical to address student and teacher safety in the aftermath of the Annunciation shooting and Operation Metro Surge successfully fought for and passed investments in mental health support for our students and anonymous threat reporting for our communities.
In a tied House, we came together to pass a significant Local Jobs and Infrastructure package, which includes the bill I carried with Rep. Larry Kraft for the $5.1 million for Oxford & Louisiana Area Infrastructure in St. Louis Park.The Tax bill also included a provision I carried to extend a tax increment financing provision for a project area along Blake Road in the City of Hopkins.
Photo credit: MN House Photographer Michele Jokinen
After an incredibly difficult year—the killing of Melissa, Mark, and Gilbert Hortman, the shooting at Annunciation, and the federal occupation—this session, we worked to do everything in our power to protect our neighbors, despite Republican opposition.
While we were able to get some good work done, many key priorities were left on the table. If we had one more vote, we could have made real progress on the priorities I hear about most from our neighbors:
An ICE response package that would keep ICE out of our schools and hospitals, help our small businesses harmed by the Surge, and protect Minnesotans’ constitutional rights.
With a one seat majority in the Minnesota Senate, DFLers took action on many of these priorities, but House Republicans refused to join us in a tied house. Whether it was standing up to Trump, the gun lobby, or the billionaires who are able to weather economic instability, Republicans failed to join us to meet the moment.
But the work isn’t over, and I’m more committed than ever before to build a stronger Minnesota. In Minnesota, you should be able to afford your life. I’m committed to building a future where hard work is rewarded, families have a real chance to get ahead, and our Hopkins, St. Louis Park, and Edina community can thrive.
I’ll plan to give an overview at our District 46 Town Hall with Representative Kraft and Senator Latz at the Saint Louis Park City Hall on Wednesday, May 27th, from 6:30-8:00 p.m. The event is free and nonpartisan.
Session is over, but the work still continues. During the interim I take tours of various programs we’ve invested in, as well as schools. I will also be meeting with constituents, local electeds, folks in our schools and cities, and businesses in our communities.
I appreciated Sarah Dzuik giving the tour of Junior Achievement in St. Paul. You’re doing amazing work exposing students to career paths with Biz Town, teaching financial literacy with Finance Park, and helping students chart a path with Dream Accelerator! Check out their good work here: https://www.janorth.org/
As we prepare to gather with friends and family over the weekend, let us take a moment to reflect upon and honor the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the Armed Forces. Their service will never be forgotten.
Keep in Touch
Please continue to contact me anytime at rep.cheryl.youakim@house.mn.gov or 651-296-9889 with questions or input. Email is the quickest way to get in touch.
It is the last day of the legislative session and we need to finish our work by midnight. While the last week has been full of ups and downs, a pathway began to clear for us to land this plane. Bills are up today to save HCMC, invest in a bonding bill, provide IT modernization for our counties, and more. In the next few weeks, we will be rolling out the individual provisions in the bills that passed and were sent to the Governor’s desk.
After we adjourn Monday, I look forward to reflecting on the session with you and other community members. You’re invited to join me for a Session Recap Town Hall on Wednesday, May 27th from 6:30 to 8:00 pm at the SLP City Council Chambers with Rep. Kraft and Sen. Latz. All constituents are invited.
Agreement Reached to Save HCMC
On Wednesday night, legislative leaders reached a bipartisan supplemental budget agreement that takes important steps to strengthen Minnesota’s health care system and ensure the long-term stability of Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC).
This agreement reflects the values Minnesotans expect, and we’re reinforcing fiscal stability while delivering historic, bipartisan support for HCMC, a cornerstone of our health care system and a vital safety net for families in the region and across our State.
HCMC serves patients from every corner of Minnesota, providing critical care and specialized services that keep our entire health care system strong. Ensuring its long-term health is essential not only for Hennepin County but for communities statewide.
Minnesota has always believed in a strong, reliable health care safety net. This agreement reaffirms that commitment and ensures that every Minnesotan can continue to get the care they need, when they need it.
Investing in our Schools
This week, I worked with Senator Mary Kunesh to advance a conference committee report that makes several important updates to education based on Minnesota’s February budget forecast. These changes come at no additional cost, and they will help schools and communities better manage real-world challenges facing students and families. These are practical updates that help schools focus resources where they are needed most while continuing to support safe, stable, and inclusive learning environments for students across Minnesota.
The bill also includes a few no-cost provisions brought forward by individual legislators such as allowing school districts to use their capital operating fund to pay their electrical bills, a provision on the school land trust bill disbursements, a fund transfer for two school districts, an extension on the grant funds for gender neutral bathrooms in our schools, and a licensing fix to help our highly qualified paraprofessionals that work in all of our schools.
We also passed a separate bill that had $10 million to provide a little funding to help schools that were seeing a decrease in compensatory aid. I pushed for $28 million, but was not able to get it out of House Republican leadership. That bill also included $5 million ($4 million in grants) to help schools set up anonymous threat reporting systems. Schools can choose from a free system that is part of our Department of Public Safety or create their own. These systems are a pathway to help alert schools to students that need support, especially in the area of mental health and suicide ideation as well as a prevention tool for safer school environment. It will not stop all school shootings, but studies show it can help break the cycle that leads to violence. In the Health bill we also have increases to school-linked mental health as well as funding for crisis management teams.
Finally, we will be passing a small bill today that provides teacher literacy preparation in early education classrooms, clarifications and updates to the Read Act, and a small provision to let military veterans from the Vietnam War era receive honorary high school diplomas.
Because this year was not a budget year, it was primarily focused on policy. That is why we passed a smaller K-12 education package compared to last year. It was also hard to get a long list of items passed out of our committees in a tied Minnesota House. To be frank, we were able to pass the forecast article, provide our students with more mental health support, deliver a small compensatory aid package, and pass an anonymous threat reporting system mandate with some start-up money. Those items were top on my priority list.
Floor Action Early in the Week
Earlier in the week, we were able to pass an important housing bill. Thank you Housing Co-Chair Mike Howard & Co-Chair Spencer Igo, as well as Vice Co-Chair Liish Kozlowski, on passing a Housing bill that invests in home construction, affordable housing, rental assistance, and more! This is going to make a positive impact across the state, and I was happy to vote yes.
Another touching moment was when Rep. Brion Curran and Rep. Bjorn Olson showed bipartisan leadership on the House Resolution to honor Master Sgt. Nicole M. Amor from White Bear Lake, who lost her life serving our country. Additionally, for the bill to rename a segment of highway in her honor.
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One of the biggest disappointments of the session was the House Republicans refusing to have a floor vote on a comprehensive gun violence prevention package that had already passed the Senate. If taken up on the House floor, this bill would need just one House Republican vote to head to the Governor’s desk and become law. Rather than risk that happening in a simple up or down vote, Republican leaders have gone from pretending the bill doesn’t even exist to outright refusing to do their job.
Thursday, House Democrats made a motion to vote on the legislation, with my colleagues and I standing up to share the ways gun violence has impacted every corner of the state. I shared a story from Sami Rahamin, whose father Rueven was killed in the Accent Signage shooting on September 28, 2012. At the time, it was the deadliest workplace shooting in Minnesota with 6 people killed (Rueven among them) and three injured. Sami was 17 at the time and came to the Capitol to testify for sensible gun violence prevention. The strength he showed during his personal testimony has stuck with me and we have stayed in touch over the years. I reached out to Sami recently to ask if I could share his family’s story and I was honored that he said yes.
After hours of sharing tragic stories underlining the urgency of this legislation, Republicans continued to block a vote on this bill. When the Floor Session ended Thursday night, House Democrats held a sit-in on the House Floor, one that continued until the House gaveled in on Saturday to bring attention to this crucial issue and demand Speaker Demuth hold a vote on this bill.
When Speaker Demuth gaveled in at noon on Saturday, she was greeted by hundreds of Minnesotans outside the doors of the Minnesota House demanding action on gun violence prevention. There were Annunciation parents there, students who had delivered petitions of support, parents, grandparents, and Minnesotans who have been affected in some way by gun violence in their communities. The strength and energy in the crowd was a reminder of the refrain we have heard from the Annunciation families – when you pray, move your feet!
Keep in Touch
Please continue to contact me anytime at rep.cheryl.youakim@house.mn.gov or 651-296-9889 with questions or input. Email is the quickest way to get in touch. I hope to see you at the Town Hall on May 27.
Rep. Cheryl Youakim 46B – Hopkins, Edina, & St. Louis Park
There are only nine days remaining in the 2026 legislative session. House DFLers are working hard to respond to the challenges that our communities are facing. By the nature of a tied House, with every bill requiring bipartisan support to pass, the path isn’t always easy. The work is important though, and we know Minnesotans expect results, not gridlock.
On Monday, we passed a bipartisan bill to provide our public K-12 schools with increased funding from the School Land Trust Account. Yesterday, the Senate took action on the bill and added an amendment. Now the bill will have to have a brief conference committee.
Once an identical bill is agreed upon by both the Senate and the House, the question will go on the ballot this fall. If voters approve the constitutional amendment this fall, schools will receive an additional $40 per student. Thank you to all those who helped get this bill across the finish line in the House! We are now waiting for Senate action.
OIG Bill Passes
This week, the House DFL passed a strong and effective independent watchdog by establishing the Minnesota Office of the Inspector General. I voted yes on the bill. Alongside the anti-fraud measures we have already passed and additional protections still moving through the Legislature, this legislation is about ensuring that public dollars go where they are intended and stay out of the hands of criminals.
At the center of this effort was a simple reality: everyone is angry about fraud against our public programs. Minnesotans expect accountability and they deserve confidence that taxpayer dollars are being protected. We stayed focused on the people harmed most when these programs are attacked like seniors, children, and people with disabilities who rely on these services every day.
Every person at the Capitol agrees there is a problem to solve. The challenge was to build a solution that was thoughtful, effective, and durable. That work takes time. Because of the careful approach taken in crafting this legislation and the leadership of Rep. Matt Norris, this Office of the Inspector General will be prepared to prevent fraud from day one, with real oversight tools and the independence needed to do the job right.
HCMC Update
Many of you have written to me about the importance of addressing the financial challenges Hennepin County Medical Center is facing and ensuring the critical facility can remain open. Thank you for sharing your concerns. We are working hard to develop a solution to help HCMC continue serving our community before we adjourn. In fact, we spent a third day in our House Tax Committee hearing from Rep. Esther Agbaje and Rep. Danny Nadeau regarding a bill that is taking shape. This is one of the top bipartisan priorities, and I’m hopeful we’ll be able to get it done.
HCMC is a shining example of how our health care system should work; they accept patients from across the state, whether they have private insurance or are on medicaid. From across every region in the state, HCMC provides critical care for a significant number of burn and trauma patients and serves as the gold standard for physician training for over 30% of the physicians trained in Minnesota.
On a personal note, during her undergrad, our daughter Madeline had a research internship at HCMC in their emergency room. She has said that time spent there inspired her to go and helped her get into medical school. She is now a doctor in Denver, Colorado and hopes to eventually come home to practice here in Minnesota. My daughter asked me to share her story in our recent House Tax Committee hearing.
I am encouraged to hear both leaders in the House share their prioritization of this.
House passes Health Budget Bill Aligning Minnesota with H.R. 1
This week, the House passed the state Health Budget bill aligning with the Federal HF1. I voted no, because Minnesotans deserve a health care system that expands access to care, lowers costs, and protects vulnerable families, not one that shifts the burden of harmful federal policies onto our communities.
The reality is that HF1 represents the largest rollback of health care coverage in recent American history. As many as 140,000 Minnesotans may lose coverage due to the devastating cuts and new requirements for Medicaid. These changes won’t improve care or reduce costs. Instead, they create expensive and inefficient bureaucratic hurdles that will force more people off their health insurance and make our health care system more costly in the long run.
When people lose access to preventative care, they delay treatment until conditions become emergencies. That means even worse health outcomes, even more overcrowded emergency rooms, and even higher costs for everyone. Hospitals across Minnesota (especially in Greater Minnesota) are already under enormous financial strain. Reduced funding and rising numbers of uninsured patients could push many rural hospitals to the breaking point, worsening health care deserts and leaving families with nowhere nearby to turn during a medical emergency.
I will continue fighting for a health care system that delivers affordable, accessible care when people need it and protects the health and dignity of every Minnesotan.
Mental Health Month
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. While mental health is important to address year-round, Mental Health Awareness Month provides a dedicated time to check in with your loved ones and remind them that they are not alone, and help is available.
Minnesota provides a number of resources to help those who are struggling. If you need emotional or mental health support, or are worried about someone else, please call or text 988 or visit 988Lifeline to chat online with a trained specialist.
Last week, I voted ‘Yes’ on an important suicide prevention measure, supported by SAVE – Suicide Awareness Voices of Education. The bill requires the state to ensure suicide prevention measures are included on existing and future bridge projects around the state.
We need to be proactive about suicide prevention in all respects, and this is one step forward in that mission.
Community at the Capitol
This week the Capitol rotunda has been filled with Minnesotans advocating for issues including funding for our schools, affordable healthcare, funding for food shelves, and more. Hearing the voices of Minnesotans in the people’s house is what this place was built for.
As the wife, mother, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law to public school teachers, I love it when local leaders come and advocate for investments in our public schools and our community! Thank you to Hopkins School Board Member Sara Wilhelm Garbers, Alice Smith parent Shannon Kreisel, for visiting with Rep. Patty Acomb and me and for caring about our students!
Wednesday, I also met with Mayor Nadia Mohamed, who was here representing Cities for Safe and Stable Communities as well as St. Louis Park. We discussed the need for increased funding to cities due to costs and fallout from Metro Surge. There is a small appropriation moving through the Senate that I hope gets larger. Unfortunately, we were not able to convince our GOP House colleagues to make this important investment.
Keep in Touch
As bills are progressing through the final weeks of session, there are a lot of moving parts. I may not be as responsive to your emails regarding individual pieces of legislation. But please know that I read each of your emails and take your thoughts to heart as we hear final bills on the House floor. Please continue to contact me anytime at rep.cheryl.youakim@house.mn.gov or 651-296-9889 with questions or input. Email is the quickest way to get in touch.
We have four weeks left in the legislative session, and we’re working toward compromise on the pressing issues Minnesotans are asking for.
New data from a recently filed lawsuit shows that the ICE agents who descended upon Minnesota during Operation Metro Surge drained more than $600 million from Minnesota’s economy. There have been a variety of bills discussed to deliver monetary aid for our small business, local municipalities/school boards, and counties that have been effected by metro surge. Another package of legislation is in response to 70% of Minnesotans are asking for common sense gun violence prevention, including banning high capacity magazines, which are meant for war, not our streets.
All of these challenges require solutions at the state level. It just takes one of my Republican colleagues to find the political will to join us in getting Minnesotans the economic relief, public safety, and health care services they need and deserve.
Monday was a full day in the House Ways and Means Committee, with 10 bills proposing Local Optional Sales Tax, 12+ bills on the House floor, and a good visit with the Coalition for Children with Disabilities.
On Tuesday, I started out the day with AFSCME members who work in direct care and treatment, had a Taxes Committee meeting (presented a bill for Hopkins), and met with Minnesota’s Independent College & Communities, Donors Choose, and Dan Homan with Citizen’s Climate Lobby.
Wednesday was another full day in Taxes as well as Ways and Means. In Taxes, we heard another 17 bills on local optional sales taxes. In Ways and Means we heard a variety of small bills, as well as a bipartisan cost neutral housing package to help Minnesotans stay in their homes, develop more workforce housing across the state, as well as $100 million in infrastructure bonds. However, I am very disappointed that my House GOP colleagues voted down a bill to fund five public televisions stations in Greater Minnesota that have had their congressionally appropriated funds cut by the Trump administration. Public television plays an important role in our Greater Minnesota communities both educationally and for public safety and politics should not have been played with the passage of this important bill.
I also had the chance to meet with folks from some of our local senior care facilities visiting the Capitol. Thank you to the folks from Shalom Homes, Towerlight, The Glenn, and Vernon Place who discussed with me the challenges they have with keeping staff as well as funding cuts they are facing with the federal bill – HR1. We also had a brief paper moving session on the House floor.
On Thursday, I started the day off dropping by a gathering of our Chiefs of Police from around Minnesota. It was nice to touch base with Chief Todd Milburn from Edina to thank him for the amazing public outreach they do when there are big and small incidences in our community. I also had the chance to meet up with a group of high school students who were advocating for the ability for students to earn a Civic Seal during high school. Our students also care deeply about the environment and want us to take action to protect the Boundary Waters by reinstating mining restrictions.
In the House Taxes Committee, we had another round of local optional sales tax bills including one that would allow an adjustment on a current sales tax for the City of Edina that Rep. Julie Greene presented and that I am a co-author of. At the end of the day day, we heard a small public safety budget bill and a higher education bill that we passed to the floor. Next week, you will start seeing those small packages move off of the House floor and get matched up with their counterparts in the Senate.
We ended the day by passing a handful of bipartisan bills off of the House Floor. One bill to enhance protections for Minnesotans online, another to ban AI ‘nudification’ apps that can ruin a person’s life by manipulating images of people without clothing, and an important bill that would strengthen the penalties for individuals who impersonate law enforcement. That last bill was borne out of the events of June 14, 2025, when a gunman impersonating a police officer violated public trust and killed Melissa, Mark, and their family dog Gilbert. The bill is nation-leading and passed 134-0.
Arbor Day
Arbor Day is such a great reminder of how much trees mean to our communities! Thank you to Rep. Rick Hanson and my colleagues that helped bundle the saplings. My Education Finance Co-Chair Rep. Mary Frances Clardy received Red Pines.
Photo credit: Minnesota House Photography
Serve on Hopkins’ Zoning Commission and Park Board!
Interested in serving your community? The City of Hopkins is seeking applicants to serve on their local boards and commissions. The City currently has openings on the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Park Board! Boards and commissions perform a vital role in the function of our community. Many of the City’s decisions, policies, and procedures are founded on recommendations from a board or commission.
Please continue to contact me anytime at rep.cheryl.youakim@house.mn.gov or 651-296-9889 with questions or input. Email is the quickest way to get in touch. Thank you for the honor of serving our St. Louis Park, Hopkins, and Edina neighbors at the State Capitol.
Enjoy the weekend!
Rep. Cheryl Youakim 46B – Hopkins, Edina, & St. Louis Park
I hope you all had a chance to enjoy the nice weather last weekend as it looks like we will be getting a cold snap this weekend. As committee deadlines have come and gone for finance bills this week, the legislature is facing a little bit of a cold snap as well. But like Minnesota weather, the legislature sometimes gets chilly before we get to a Minnesota summer. Even so, we continue passing bipartisan pieces of legislation off the House Floor, in fact, over a dozen are scheduled for the House Floor on Monday.
This year this week has been particularly frustrating with no supplemental budget targets and some of our GOP Co-Chairs not wanting to work. In House Education Finance, that is the case. Since we do not have targets, any new investments made have to be paid for by a cut in our committee budget. Co-Chair Kresha has refused to talk about an Education supplemental budget bill unless Governor Walz allows private school vouchers.
Committee Meetings
In the Ways & Means this week, Co-Chair Cedrick Fraizer had a hearing to discuss the economic cost of Operation Metro Surge. We heard from mayors, police chiefs, small business owners, and others from all over the state about how Metro Surge has negatively affected our communities.
In the Taxes Committee, we heard a variety of bills on local options sales taxes, a bill to defer some of the tax exemption on stadium suites to instead invest in Safe Harbor (a program to help victims of sex trafficking), and a variety of other bills.
In the House Education Finance Committee, we started out on a good note agreeing to a bill of repealing the cuts to special education that the Blue Ribbon Commission is tasked to find by 2027.
My Republican co-chair brought up the GOP version of a “school safety” bill. It failed due to the bill diverting funding from school nurses, school psychologists, counselors, and social workers to pay for hardening measures, while ignoring meaningful gun violence prevention. It only loosely encourages anonymous threat reporting rather than requiring it.
On Thursday, DFLers presented our bill, which would require safety plans and anonymous threat reporting systems, remove permission granting authority to carry a gun in school and promote secure storage in school parking lots. We also propose dedicating increased funding to school psychologists, nurses, social workers, and counselors; an extremely important measure in getting kids the mental health resources they need.
So, you can imagine my frustration when my GOP colleagues made a motion on the House Floor with the entire House to force a vote on an incomplete proposal, just introduced this week, with no bipartisan support. Minnesotans deserve a legislature that will do the work they elected their state legislators to do. We need serious proposals to address the serious challenges our working families and students are facing.
Despite both bills failing, I’m hopeful that committee members on both sides of the aisle agree that Minnesota schools should be using anonymous threat reporting systems and creating school safety plans. We still have time to get this right.
Connected to Community
Monday was school day and it started with me speaking to school board members and administrators from across the state. I also received a visit from all three of the school districts in 46B! There were great questions from the student members of the legislative action groups as well as good conversations with parents, school administrators, and school board members from Hopkins, Edina, and St. Louis Park Public Schools.
I started out in politics as a parent advocate and a Hopkins Legislative Action Coalition member. So, it always feels a little bit like visiting with old friends when parent and student advocates come to the Capitol to push for increased funding for our public schools.
I also had the opportunity this week to chat with folks from the Food Shelf and Second Harvest about the needs our community food shelves are facing as well as the folks from Nine Mile Creek Watershed to hear about some of the projects they are undertaking. And finally, Rep. Larry Kraft and I got a chance to meet with the folks form ISAIAH to talk about the People’s Agenda.
Free Park Day
On April 25th, it’s Free Parks and Trails Day in Minnesota. Four times a year Minnesota state parks offer free entrance on four days, waiving the need for a $7 vehicle permit. It’s a great way to revisit our local gems or explore a new part of the state. You can use the parkfinder here to plan your next trip.
Keep in Touch
Please continue to contact me anytime at rep.cheryl.youakim@house.mn.gov or 651-296-9889 with questions or input. Email is the quickest way to get in touch.
Enjoy the weekend!
Rep. Cheryl Youakim 46B – Hopkins, Edina, & St. Louis Park
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