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
Last week, legislators took a brief spring recess to observe Passover and Easter, but the work hasn’t stopped. Next Friday, April 17, is third deadline which requires all budget bills to pass out of their individual committees and into the Ways and Means Committee. We set the two-year state budget last session and there has been no supplemental budget targets set this year. If a committee wants to consider putting together a supplemental budget this session, they have to find the cuts within their jurisdiction to cover it. My co-chair has had no appetite to have that discussion together.
And unfortunately, I’m not sure how serious my colleagues across the aisle are in getting anything done. While we passed a handful of technical bills off of the House floor on Thursday, the remainder of our House floor time this week has been the GOP pulling bills out of the committee process and onto the House floor for surprise votes. Whether it was their attempt on Tuesday to distract from the Iran War by discussing which students can play high school sports or discussing bills that have no path forward, my colleagues across the aisle swing from cruel to unserious.
It is especially disappointing when those same colleagues shut down bills that could truly help those struggling right now like a $50 million bill to help small business owners struggling from the impacts of Operation Metro Surge. Or a $40 million bill to keep folks in their homes. It is time to get serious and stop playing games.
Democrats are committed to helping Minnesotans afford their lives and thrive. We want to see kids have the opportunity to grow up here. We’re fighting for legislation that lowers some of the highest costs for families: health care, child care, groceries, housing, and energy. Gun violence prevention continues to be at the top of mind, as well as making sure our cities and counties have the tools they need to provide services to their residents.
Highlights from Committee this Week
The House Education Finance Committee only met once this week due to our GOP colleagues turning a brief floor session into 2+ hours discussing which student athletes can participate in high school sports. We missed getting to discuss a bill that would prevent special education cuts. On Thursday, when I had the gavel, we had a thoughtful discussion on teacher pay and access to affordable health insurance for our school districts who have been facing rising costs.
Under Co-Chair Gomez’s leadership in the House Taxes Committee this week, members heard proposals to expand the child tax credit alongside potential funding mechanisms — including broadening the net investment income tax and imposing a 1% tax on equity holdings exceeding $10 million.
On Thursday, we heard legislation, HF 4841, which would raise Hennepin County sales tax revenue to permanently fund the Hennepin County Medical Center. While the details of the legislation continue to be worked on, it’s imperative we find a bipartisan solution to save HCMC, the number one trauma center serving our entire state. It is my hope that any increase in the sales tax would be temporary and that we would find a statewide solution for this important statewide asset.
When Co-Chair Davids held the gavel, we heard a bill on expanding the sustainable aviation fuel credit, as well as a handful of bills on exempting different types of businesses from a variety of taxes.
Minnesota Values Project Survey
Groceries, rent, healthcare, childcare costs are all adding up. As we’re seeing the consequences of the Trump administration’s federal budget emerge in Minnesota, I’d like to hear from you. Please take a moment to fill out this survey: surveymonkey.com/r/MVP2026Survey
Connected to Community
Constituent meetings are winding down with five weeks left in the session. I was grateful to meet with Linda Sandvig from Beacon Interfaith hear about the work they are doing on affordable housing and the important role supportive housing plays in stabilizing lives.
High school students Edhita (Edina) and Jonathan (Eagan) shared the opportunity that HOSA has provided them in their school districts to explore the medical professional field while in High School. Edhita is thinking of going into surgical medicine and Jonathan into epidemiology.
I also met with a group of teachers on a statewide teacher health insurance pool as well as teacher pay. Additionally, two neighbors were at the Capitol with the Carpenters Union to talk about the need for us to pass a bonding bill and the importance of investments in building out our housing supply. These workers take care of us (our students and our important infrastructure), we need to take care of them.
Keep in Touch
Please continue to contact me anytime at rep.cheryl.youakim@house.mn.gov or 651-296-9889 with input or questions. Email is the quickest way to get in touch.
Thank you for the honor of representing our Hopkins, St. Louis Park, and Edina neighbors at the State Capitol.
Have a great weekend,
Rep. Cheryl Youakim 46B – Hopkins, Edina, & St. Louis Park
We’ve made it to Friday. It’s been a busy week at the Minnesota Legislature.
Despite being tied in the House, we are passing handfuls of good, bipartisan bills through the House Ways and Means Committee (on which I sit) and off of the House floor. Although with that progress comes deep frustration as we’re getting blocked on solutions that desperately need action like: gun violence prevention, more mental health support for our students, and delivering economic aid for families and businesses impacted by ICE. It is also important to pass a robust infrastructure bill will create more local jobs, and help jump start our economy. There seems to be some movement and bipartisan support to make that happen.
On Tuesday, Governor Walz gave his last state of the state address. He emphasized the importance of restoring civility to continue the good work for Minnesotans. It was great to have Hopkins Council Member Heidi Garrido join me as my guest. You can read the governor’s full remarks here.
With just over two weeks left in session, the House Ways and Means and the Taxes Committees have kept me busy. I sit on both of these committees and we will be wrapping up the bulk of our work this week. You can see below the stack of bills we heard in the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday. I also thought you would appreciate the little token our House Taxes Co-Chairs gave us Thursday to memorialize our work together this session.
Progress continued this week with the passage of a bill regulating HOAs, banning predictive market wagering, and our Housing Committee’s tenant-landlord relations bill, which passed unanimously. There are several smaller bills that also passed this week brought by individual members and others that help clarify existing laws.
Connected to Community
As the session is winding down, we are not getting as many groups visiting the Capitol. But on Monday I had a special treat, seeing our local firefighters at the Capitol. Thank you Hopkins Fire Chief Wenshau and Deputy Fire Chief Odden as well as Edina Fire Chief Slama for stopping by!
HCMC Update
Thursday, I sat in on a meeting with Hennepin County legislators to get an update on the work being done to stabilize Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), the state’s largest safety net hospital and trauma one center. Legislators met with medical providers and hospital administrators from HCMC. Many of you have written me about the importance of keeping HCMC open. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and we are working hard to make something happen before we adjourn. This one of the top bipartisan priorities.
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.
Have a great weekend!
Rep. Cheryl Youakim 46B – Hopkins, Edina, & St. Louis Park
We made it to Friday. It was a busy week with a flurry of activity to meet our committee deadline for policy bills to advance. We will be on a brief break before we come back to work on bills that include funding before the April 17 budget deadline.
Floor Activity
On Monday, we unanimously passed legislation off the House Floor to repeal César Chavez Day amid a lengthy investigation into his involvement in the sexual abuse of young girls.
If you’ve been following the local news, you may have seen coverage of the Governor/House Republican school voucher standoff. As I mentioned in my last email newsletter, my education co-chair Kresha publicly threatened to block all other legislation if the GOP didn’t get their main priority passed, which prioritizes aid to nonpublic schools.
Unfortunately, on Wednesday, in what should have been a short, procedural floor session to continue advancing bills, my Republican colleagues lived up to their promise and made a motion to go end session and go home. All but four GOP House members voted to go home without fraud prevention solutions and without finishing our work on bipartisan bills that have passed off the House floor.
They voted to go home without relief for our small businesses, restaurants, or renters from the federal actions. To end session without stabilizing our food shelves after SNAP cuts or help for those who will be losing their insurance coverage. And without passing legislation to protect our schools, hospitals/clinics, or places of worship from unfettered federal agents. I was very disappointed to say the least, and I’m glad some of my Republican colleagues used common sense and voted no with all of my DFL colleagues.
Equally frustrating was when my DFL colleagues and I brought three common-sense bills forward — two on gun safety and one to keep ICE out of schools without a judicial warrant. Instead of honest debate, the other side simply blocked us. This motion would simply have allowed the bills to be placed on the General Register so that they could be brought up on the House floor for further discussion and amendments.
In the years I have been here, I’ve never seen a good bill pass without some back-and-forth. Shutting that down — especially with grieving parents watching and our students experiencing the level of trauma and learning loss that they are— is unacceptable.
School security upgrades and increased mental health supports for our students still need to be part of the discussion, but we also need to limit access to dangerous guns to keep our kids safe. I’m asking my colleagues across the aisle: come to the table and work with us. The people of Minnesota deserve better than this.
I spoke during the debate on the bill on prohibiting ICE from staging on school grounds or entering our schools, unless they have judicial warrant, to describe the undue stress their actions have put our students, teachers, and administrators.
Committee Work
This week in the House Tax Committee, staff presented the results of this year’s Tax Incidence Study which showed that Minnesota has the second most progressive tax structure in the country.
Minnesotans at all income levels (except the lowest one) pay about 12% of their income in state and local taxes, with more affluent taxpayers paying mostly income taxes while lower income households pay proportionately more in sales and property taxes. We also heard a bill including extending the funding to counties to build affordable housing and a variety of other bills that were laid over for future consideration
In the Ways and Means Committee we voted to send the majority of those bills to the House floor and then another one back to the Commerce Committee where it will reside for final action.
In the Education Finance Committee this week, when the GOP had the gavel, they brought back up a bill that would require the Governor to opt-in to a tax credit for school vouchers. It was a tied vote, with all DFL members voting no and all GOP members voting yes, so the bill will remain in the Education Finance Committee. We also informationally heard a few bills that would have made changes to PSEO.
On Thursday, when I had the gavel, I presented the K-12 forecast article bill. This bill, of whom I am the chief author, adjusts the funds that go to our schools to the February forecast numbers. I am happy to report that the bill was sent to the House Ways and Means Committee with a unanimous voice vote. I also presented a bill on a proposed structure for student mental health grants to organizations that work with youth outside the school day and in the summer. Organizations that get young people physically active, away from technology, and making connections with their peers could apply for these competitive grants through the Minnesota Department of Education. The bill had a positive reception, but I would like to work with some more stake holders so we laid the bill over for further conversation.
During that committee time, we also heard a bill on ways to retain our teachers and one to create an interagency council on student attendance so that folks are not working in silos as we try to find ways to keep kids in school.
Constituent Visits
Monday started out with a visit from Minnesota Association of Clinical Oncology regarding the need to reform prior authorization, so that cancer patients have timely access to important care. After committee and before session, I met with a dedicated group of social service workers to discuss their priorities for their clients, constituents advocating the importance of access to reproductive care as well as Maxine Maxon and others with SEIU to talk about fair wages and workload in hospitals.
I had the chance to meet with constituents visiting the Capitol Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday on a variety of issues. Sue Dorkin from Mount Olivet Rollings and I talked about clear expectations and standards for waivered services and continued services for those living in their own homes. I had an update on the great work that Children’s First is doing in St. Louis Park and Hopkins and meet with their partners at the Education Partnership Coalition. The Minnesota Association of Professional Employees were at the Capitol on Wednesday, and I had a great conversation with constituent Sarah Merkus who works in cybersecurity for the MNIT within the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Thursday was Disability Day at the Capitol, Thursday, I had a visit from the folks at Vail Place advocating for continued for the amazing clubhouse model they run in Hopkins, Minneapolis, and Ramsey County.
Keep in Touch
Please continue contacting me anytime at rep.cheryl.youakim@house.mn.gov or 651-296-9889. Email is the quickest way to get in touch.
Thank you for the honor of representing our Hopkins, St. Louis Park, and Edina neighbors at the State Capitol. Next week, legislators are on Easter/Passover/Eid recess. However you may celebrate, I wish you a restful holiday.
Rep. Cheryl Youakim 46B – Hopkins, Edina, & St. Louis Park
Recent Comments