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April 14, 2023

Executive Summary

• Higher Education Omnibus Bill

• Elections Bill

• Public Safety Aid

• National Prescription Drug Take Back Day

Higher Education Omnibus Bill

This week, Democrats passed the Higher Education Omnibus bill to give the Office of Higher Education an 18.5% budget increase. This $650 million in additional spending comes at a time that universities across the state are significant declining enrollment. Over the past 10 years, enrollment at the U of M is down 6% and enrollment in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System (MNSCU) has declined an astounding 28%. 

While I support some components of the bill, it significantly increases spending across the 5 U of M campuses and the 54 MNSCU campuses instead of looking for ways to “right size” these systems in the face of on-going declining enrollments. 

I offered an amendment to require the Office of Higher Education to perform a study to determine whether and how our public higher education systems should be restructured in the face of ten years of enrollment declines and a looming “demographic cliff” in 2025. We need to understand how the State can best target investment of taxpayers’ money to ensure that the institutions are offering the right mix of programs, research opportunities, and campus facilities to keep our systems strong while also keeping costs reasonable for students and families. 

Given the on-going, declining number of students in Minnesota and nationally means we cannot keep doing everything the same way across 59 campuses in the two systems. It is simply not sustainable in a state of 6 million people with less than half of that number in the workforce to pay taxes. Unfortunately, my amendment was not adopted. You can watch my speech on this issue here. 

This bill also failed to adequately fund campus safety. The security of the UMN campus has become a serious concern and I have heard from numerous students and parents about this issue, including from students in our district who have been carjacked. While the bill does provide important funding for public safety in the first two years, it drops off significantly in the last two years. Republicans offered an amendment to provide more funding in FY26-27, but House Democrats rejected it.

As a new member of the Higher Education Committee, I have enjoyed learning about the many excellent programs offered by the University of Minnesota and the MN State College & Universities (MNSCU) systems. We have a world-class system of higher education that is an important driver of economic growth in our state. I want to build on that strength by ensuring both systems are strong and sustainable into the future. 

We have to have serious conversations about reducing administrative costs, minimizing duplication of programs and prioritizing affordability for students. I was disappointed that this bill fell short of improving Minnesota's great institutions and so I voted 'no.' I hope that changes in the Senate and the Conference Committee will improve the bill in the coming weeks.

Elections Bill

Yesterday, the most partisan elections bill in Minnesota history was approved by House Democrats without any Republican support. We had a longstanding tradition in our state of not bringing elections bills to the floor unless they have strong bipartisan support. This has given the public confidence that these bills are not favoring one political party or another and continues a tradition of well-run elections in Minnesota that gives us one of the highest participation rates in the country. 

Unfortunately, this tradition was ignored, which will further politicize our elections and erode trust in the process. The bill was full of troubling provisions including:

• Requiring automatic voter registration. Under this bill, when you sign up for a driver's license or State ID, you will automatically be registered to vote. Additionally, when enrolling for MN Care you will be automatically registered to vote. There is the opportunity to opt-out once you are already registered, but the opt-out provisions are very limited and cumbersome. You have to send in a postcard requesting to opt-out within 20 days of the date a notification letter was sent informing you that you have been registered to vote. With all of the problems with mail delivery, as well as no exceptions for travel or illness, this cumbersome system means that many people who may have wished to opt-out will not meet the deadline. Back in 2018, the Office of the Legislative Auditor found that the Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS) was overtaxed and needed significant changes to adequate process current registrations:
  • There has been no evidence that these concerns have been addressed, yet now we are adding significant numbers and complexity to the system.
  • The SVRS will now have to incorporate new registrations from the Dept. of Public Safety and the Dept. of Public Health.
  • It will have to ensure that non-citizens who are given driver’s licenses but not eligible to vote, are not registered under the new automatic registration system. You will recall that the DFL-passed Driver’s Licenses For All bill that is now state law. 

Our SVRS is already not functioning well and adding these new automatic registrations before the system has been fixed is only going to add to the problems. We should prioritize updating the system before adding automatic voter registration.

• Allowing voter pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds. Data on these applicants will not be part of a public information list until the voter is registered or has a history of voting. Given the recent events in Hennepin County where the County Attorney, Mary Moriarty, issued a memo saying she would not prosecute juveniles as adults and offered a plea deal to two teens who murdered a woman, Republicans offered an amendment to prohibit juveniles who have been convicted of a felony from preregistering to vote. The amendment did not prohibit them from voting, it simply did not give them the privilege to pre-register to vote when they got a driver’s license. Democrats tried repeatedly to shut down the debate on this amendment - it was clear they did not want to vote on this issue because it has caused great division within their party over the past week. Ultimately, this amendment failed, but not after a long debate on this commonsense change. I hope the Senate will consider adopting it. 
• Creating a permanent absentee voter list. Voters who register for the list will receive absentee ballots automatically instead of receiving a registration form for the absentee ballot. We already have serious problems with sending ballots to addresses that have not been updated. Unless there are tighter requirements to purge and update voter lists, this will just create confusion.

The changes in this bill could harm the integrity of our election process and do not have broad bipartisan support. I am disappointed that Democrats did not work with Republicans to address these concerns so we could continue to produce bipartisan elections bills in Minnesota.

Public Safety Aid

I have been working hard behind the scenes with local law enforcement partners to ensure they have the resources to attract and retain police officers and keep our communities safe. The Governor has proposed $550 million in public safety aid for cities, counties, and tribal governments to use, based on population, to hire police officers, buy equipment, or use for alternative public safety approaches.

Unfortunately, the formula used in the Governor’s proposal failed to account for “Joint Powers Agreement” police departments, which are separate entities from the cities they serve. There are three in the state, including West Hennepin Public Safety, which serves the cities of Independence and Maple Plain in our district.

Chief Gary Kroells and I have been working with the Department of Revenue on an amendment that would ensure these JPAs are included in the formula, which I hope will be added in the Tax Committee next week.

Unfortunately, House Democrats are not fully supporting the Governor's proposal and there is an effort to not include Public Safety Aid in the Tax bill, which would go to law enforcement agencies. Instead, they are pushing a $315 million public safety bill that includes $150 million in grants for non-profits, including community violent prevention and intervention programs.

This proposal would not provide additional funding to actual law enforcement. Here’s a recent article about this issue.

I am grateful for Chief Kroells’ leadership on this issue and will continue working with Governor Walz’s staff, our mayors and county officials to try to keep Public Safety Aid, which goes to law enforcement, in the omnibus Tax bill.

National Prescription Drug Take Back Day

Saturday, April 22 is National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. I encourage you to find your local take back location to drop off unused prescription drugs so that they can be disposed of safely. Too often, these drugs get in the wrong hands, leading to dangerous and tragic circumstances.  Find a take back location near you here.

Photos

Had a great constituent meeting on concerns about a proposal to make it harder for teachers to use alternative certification for licensure. This program has been very successful in bringing new teachers and teachers of color into the profession and we should not change what is working - especially when we already have a teacher shortage! Thanks for taking time to come to discuss this important issue!

I enjoyed meeting with Dave Kiser and Shannon Slatton from CCX Media to discuss possible new sources of funding for local public access tv stations. They are currently funded by a cable fee, but now that more people are dropping cable and switching to streaming services, their funding is signicantly impacted. More conversations will be needed before proposals to keep local public access channels strong will come out next year. Thanks so much for bringing this issue to my attention!

Please Contact Me

Many of you have already been in touch to discuss your thoughts on the issues that matter most to you. Thank you for sharing your ideas! Please continue to contact me to discuss any matters to which I can be of assistance. I’d also love to meet you if you are coming to the Capitol!

The best way to reach me is by email: rep.kristin.robbins@house.mn.gov. For occasional updates, you can follow my Facebook Page at @RepKristinRobbins. You can also leave a voicemail on my office number, 651-296-7806, which is checked multiple times/week.

Have a great weekend!

Kristin

239 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, MN 55155
ph: 651.296.7806