(St. Paul, MN) The Minnesota Senate Republicans have announced committee structures and Chairs for the upcoming session. Senator Jason Rarick (R- Pine City) will serve as the Chair of the newly formed Senate Committee on Labor and Industry Policy when the new legislative session begins in January.

“It is an honor to serve as Chair of the Senate’s Committee on Labor and Industry Policy,” said Senator Rarick. “Creating workforce opportunities and ensuring a safe working environment for Minnesotans is a critical issue to me, my district, and our state. I look forward to working with stakeholders to increase our workforce training and skills programs so that we can prepare our current and future workforce for the labor demands. In the same light, I hope that we can use this opportunity to ensure existing programs are doing their most for hard-working Minnesotans and that we can increase the resources at their disposal.”

Senator Rarick continued, “I also want to continue to raise awareness, especially for our high schoolers, of the opportunities that are out there in industries like construction, manufacturing, automotive, and health care that do not necessarily require a four-year degree.”

The priority for the session will be balancing the budget in light of an economy recovering from COVID. The Senate Finance Committee is the only committee with hearing time available three days a week, all others are limited to one or two hearings a week, or as needed. Less meeting time will help focus the agendas and ensure public participation can be done safely. There are more committees, 29 in total, from 2020, but with fewer members to accommodate for social distancing. The new committee areas are focused on: data practices and civil law, property taxes, mining and forestry, labor and industry, health and human services licensing, metropolitan governance, and redistricting.