#mnleg session, wrapped

Dear John,

We believe in a Minnesota where we all have the care we need, clean air to breathe and clean water to drink. We believe in public goods that serve us, and that are universal, where no one is carved out or left behind. This legislative session proved that Minnesotans are ready to fight for that, and a good deal of elected leaders are with us. We got to this moment through decades of Minnesotans organizing and sharing stories. 

To make sense of the action-packed session, we compiled highlights, wins, and shenanigans in a 3-part “2023 #mnleg session wrapped” series. Check out part 1 on Instagram. and head to our profile to see parts 2 and 3. 

I’d love to hear from you about the moments you'll remember – good or bad. Reply to this email or comment on the #mnleg session wrapped posts to share your thoughts. So many of the stories we’ll hear about session will focus on what went down at the Capitol. But that’s not where all the work happened.  

This session, TakeAction had 12,318 conversations with Minnesotans about what we were fighting for. We moved 6,387 people to take action to support these campaigns, including 1,030 of you who shared personal stories.  

Because you stuck with us throughout session, here’s where we landed on a few key efforts: 

#PaidSickDays 
We won them! Statewide! After more than a decade of organizing, and thousands of you sharing your stories, this essential right for workers is finally the law in Minnesota. Starting 2024, all Minnesota employers will be required to provide a minimum amount of Earned Sick & Safe Time to their employees.  

Cumulative Impacts Bill 
It passed! There’s more work left to do in rulemaking to strengthen the power communities have to push back on the permitting of polluting facilities and expand the geography covered by the bill (right now, it excludes rural Greater Minnesota). That said, this bill is nation-leading legislation addressing environmental racism and air pollution. The messages you sent, in addition to organizing led by the Frontline Communities Protection Coalition, were essential to saving and strengthening this bill. 

Affordable healthcare and medicine 
The Prescription Drug Affordability Board and the MNCare Public Option also passed after years-long efforts. TakeAction’s founding issue was health care, as many of you know. These are huge strides forward to fight for the care we all deserve.  

The last week of session put things into perspective in a serious way. We can win a lot with the power we have, but we can’t win everything we need. Two examples: session ended without passage of the Keep Nurses at the Bedside Act and Gov. Walz used his first-ever veto to deny hard-won protections for Uber and Lyft drivers. We should celebrate that we’ve won protections for workers – like paid sick days – but we also must look the harsh reality in the face: CEOs representing organizations like Uber and Mayo Clinic will do whatever it takes to stall our progress or even send us backward. 

One big fear I had going into this legislative session was that corporate interests would pit us against each other, pushing us to fight over crumbs. That we’d start to believe we could win less, that we deserved less. I’m grateful to every moment each of us held our values and our demands firm. Take care of yourself so you can stay in the fight – we need each other and there’s so much more left to win. 

Onward, 

Sabrina (she/her) 
Campaigns Director