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Our Progress!
The House recently passed HF 29, a bipartisan bill that will boost funding to address violent crime and provide counties with the tools they need to prosecute heinous crimes statewide.?
With additional public safety investments, and in partnership with the Minnesota Attorney General?s office, this bill, which has already passed in the Senate, would allow us to hire more prosecutors so they can expand their scope to charge violent crimes. These offenses, including crimes like assault, kidnapping, sexual assault, robbery, burglary, human trafficking, sex trafficking, homicide, and more, are an assault on our communities and our society.?
Further, we passed HF 90, a bill funding our public defenders. Under both the US and Minnesota Constitutions, we provide the right to due process. Criminal defendants are entitled to a state-appointed lawyer if they cannot afford one. There have been longstanding budget shortfalls in The Office of Public Defense which have meant overworked public defenders who cannot adequately defend the number of defendants that they are assigned.?
Last night, the Minnesota House voted to pass two important bills aimed at addressing food insecurity in our schools and community. HF 5 would create a state program for schools to provide up to two free meals per day to all students, and HF 213 would provide an investment of $5 million for food shelf programs in light of record numbers of visits to food shelves last year.??
It's simple: hungry kids can?t learn at their full capacity. We have a real opportunity to make a large quality of life improvement for many struggling Minnesota families. As a child, I was food insecure. I was proud to vote for these bills to ensure we feed every Minnesotan in need.
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