 |
| February 5, 2021 |
| Neighbors, As temperatures drop and snow falls at the end of the week here the Senate was still hard at work. I had 3 bills in Committee on Wednesday that would help farmers, speed up COVID-19 Vaccinations, and help our local schools. I also Chaired 2 meetings of the Housing Committee and was busy with meetings with constituents and groups looking to make Minnesota a better place to live and work. Thank you, Rich Seniors 1st Vaccine Plan On Monday, Senate Republicans released their “Seniors 1st” plan and urged Governor Walz to place seniors as the first priority in his updated vaccination plans. The Governor announced that 35,000 doses of the COVID vaccine would be sent to 100 additional sites across the state, allocated specifically for seniors. It was also announced the nine pilot sites throughout the state would be decreased to three under the Governor’s updated plan. To date, Minnesota’s vaccination strategy has been botched. Governor Walz’s administration has continued to change the goal lines, and throughout those fluctuations, our seniors have been left behind. As the most vulnerable people to the virus, we must put them at the front of the line. As we move forward, this administration must do better to ensure that our seniors have flexible and accessible options to receive the vaccine that fit their living situation. As of February 1, there have been over 6,000 COVID-19 deaths in Minnesota. Of those, 90% have been attributed to seniors 65 and older. The state has distributed more than 444,000 vaccines, yet only 25% have been allocated to Minnesotans 65 and older. The “Seniors 1st” plan proposed by Sen. Housley would move towards blanketing the entire states with vaccine sites through community pharmacies already equipped to store, schedule, and administer vaccinations. Getting kids back in School On Wednesday, the Minnesota Senate heard legislation that will protect students’ right to an excellent education at all times. The new legislation, Senate File 2, removes any governor’s authority to close schools or alter school schedules via executive order. Decisions about opening and closing will be left in the hands of individual school districts moving forward, where local officials have firsthand knowledge of their students’ needs. Research has confirmed that our children are not superspreaders, and as we continue to get more and more of a grip on this pandemic, we must begin to shift our focus to what is best for them. Since the onset of COVID, Governor Walz has used his authority to be the sole decider. This decision should never have been exclusively his. With a network of 300 unique school districts, we should have always been working to empower local administrations to make the right choices for our kid’s futures. The bill says the governor may not use executive order authority to issue any order or to authorize the commissioner of education to alter school schedules, curtail school activities, or order schools closed. Gov. Walz’s executive orders closing schools have been among his most questioned and controversial orders of the outbreak. There is mounting evidence, including research from the CDC, that schools pose a minimal risk of spreading the coronavirus. A fall Reuters report that studied 191 countries also found no clear link between school reopenings and coronavirus surges. In addition, Axios looked at several studies and found schools are not Covid hotspots, and the Atlantic Magazine wrote that kids are not superspreaders and that it’s time to reopen schools. The New York Times reported on evidence that schools, especially elementary schools, are not “stoking community transmission.” There is also agreement about the impact distance learning is having on students: The American Association of Pediatrics has said, “The AAP strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with the goal of having students physically present in school. The importance of in-person learning is well-documented, and there is already evidence of the negative impacts on children because of school closures in the spring of 2020.” UNICEF has warned of a ‘lost generation’ and found that school closures are ineffective. “Even with the promise of a vaccine on the horizon, a new report by UNICEF, the United Nations agency for children, warned that “the future of an entire generation is at risk,” with the threat to children “increasing, not Studies cited in the report showed “no consistent association between school reopening status and COVID-19 infection rates. The Sahan Journal found the pandemic has had a “devastating” impact on communities of color in St. Paul Public Schools. CBS reported on a U.K. education watchdog that found kids have seriously regressed due to Covid-19. Not Bailing Out Minneapolis Yesterday, Senate Republicans previewed a bill that would hold cities accountable to pay their mutual aid agreements and provide a process for public safety reimbursement without diverting funds away from education and healthcare. “There are consequences to taking actions to defund the police. It doesn’t matter if you are a small town, a growing city, or a developed urban center: public safety is a priority you cannot ignore,” Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-East Gull Lake) said. “While the governor wants to set up a separate fund to bailout Minneapolis’s City Council from their poor budget decisions, we are holding the line and encouraging them to reconsider their priorities.” “However,” Gazelka continued, “We still want to encourage mutual aid to keep Minnesotans safe. This bill will restore confidence to neighboring cities by ensuring that they are reimbursed when they step up to protect their neighbors with no additional cost to the taxpayers.” The bill will be authored by Senator Bill Weber (R-Luverne), Chair of the Subcommittee on Property Taxes. It allows cities that provided mutual aid but haven’t been reimbursed for it yet to apply to have their Local Government Aid (LGA) adjusted to match the amount owed. The funds would be provided by lowering the LGA from the city that owes the mutual aid payment. “Local Government Aid is a tool we already have funds for. Part of the $4.5 billion increase in spending in Governor’s Walz’s proposed budget is this special fund to protect Minneapolis,” Weber explained. “Respectfully, we have to balance our state budget, and Minneapolis has the money for public safety. If they aren’t paying their bills or need more mutual aid than they can afford after defunding their own police by $8 million, we’re not going to ask taxpayers to foot that bill.” Weber continued, “This process is fair, it encourages law enforcement to be fully funded by cities, and it doesn’t take money away from the education or healthcare needs in the budget.” A major concern with the governor’s funding is that while crime is rising to record levels in Minneapolis, the city council is actively looking for more ways to reduce police funding. Additionally, the disparaging attitude about police from the council has led to more than 100 officers leaving the force. The perception is Minneapolis will get to rely on statewide funds to provide for their public safety needs while other areas rely on tax revenues for public safety. It is essentially a bailout for defunding their police budget. “Wednesday, the governor said to put whatever safeguards on his fund that we want,” Gazelka commented. “Well, we want to be sure that no city council who knowingly votes to defund their police department is bailed out by the rest of the state. Using LGA to reimburse unpaid mutual aid agreements are the guardrails we want in place.” Contacts I’ve heard from many of you but wanted to make sure you have contact information for myself and other elected officials in the State: State Senator Rich Draheim 651-296-5558 Sen.Rich.Draheim@senate.mn Governor Tim Walz 651-201-3400 https://mn.gov/governor/contact/ US Rep. Jim Hagedorn 202-225-2472 https://hagedorn.house.gov/contact US Rep. Angie Craig 202-225-2271 https://craig.house.gov/zip-code-lookup?form=/contact/email-me US Sen. Amy Klobuchar 202-224-3244 https://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-amy US Sen. Tina Smith 202-224-5641 https://www.smith.senate.gov/share-your-opinion Follow me on Facebook @SenatorRichDraheim Follow me on Facebook to see what I am up to in the Senate and around the district! www.facebook.com/SenatorRichDraheim |
