As a new member of the Minnesota Senate, I anticipated the intense learning curve and many hurdles I had to overcome, but what I couldn’t possibly have expected was the extent to which corporate lobbies are affecting legislation. It was amazing to see how widespread ideas were thwarted with bipartisan support from powerful forces in the legislature.
Still, with incredible community engagement, activism, and a barrage of support, we have successfully passed laws that will create a stronger and better future for Minnesota. I am honored to share some of these achievements.
I have worked closely with community leaders to advance Duluth’s legislative priorities by making laws or working with lawmakers who are critical to their success, and I am delighted that we have succeeded in implementing a number of them.
We have prevented cuts in the allocation of municipal aid to Duluth and will continue to work on revising the formula to keep up with current trends and prevent property tax increases. We also issued $ 100 million in housing infrastructure bonds to address our lack of affordable housing, and we have funded a number of programs to help local businesses create jobs in Duluth.
I campaigned for an initiative to waive state taxes on additional pandemic unemployment benefits for workers that we passed into law. This individual tax break will affect approximately 553,900 Minnesota workers and families.
I was proud to be a co-author of the Workers’ Emergency Leave Act. In budget negotiations, we secured a $ 250 million allocation to back payments to the frontline workers who looked after us and kept our economy moving during the pandemic.
Working with regional stakeholders, we drafted and passed a bill that will allow the West Duluth paper mill to reopen under new ownership and bring around 80 high-wage jobs back to the closed facility.
We raised significant funds to support childcare providers by focusing community solutions to improve and maintain quality childcare across the state.
We have decided to increase the base salary by 15% for direct support professionals and personal care assistants. These workers, who provide indispensable services to our community and enable people to live as independently as possible, must earn a living.
We have funded the Lawns to Legumes program with more than $ 2.6 million to continue protecting the pollinators on which our food production and ecosystems depend.
The action I wrote for our Duluth Children’s Museum has been funded and will help continue the wonderful educational exhibits and programs it offers our children.
Knowing the dangers the Husky Refinery explosion posed to refinery workers and our Twin Ports community, I co-authored a bill requiring petroleum refineries to contract with full-time certified fire departments.
These were just some of our accomplishments in this year’s legislature, but I would like to share them with you out of gratitude. I am humbled by the incredible hard work and support so many Duluthians have given to bring home these victories. We are incredibly lucky to live, work, and raise our families in this beautiful community. I am proud to be your Senator and look forward to continuing this work with you.
Senator Jen McEwen represents Duluth in the Minnesota Senate. She wrote this exclusively for the News Tribune.