As a result of my legislation in 2014, the Secretary of State Steve Simon is sending out 10,000 postcards – each month through September 2016 – to those turning 18 and to those with new driver's license addresses, to encourage them to get registered to vote.

This highlights civic engagement and shortens registration lines. What's not to love in Minnesota's focus on access to voting! I'm proud to do this kind of legislative work for our great state.

Read the full MinnPost article "Minnesotans turning 18 will get a reminder from the Secretary of State: Register to Vote" by Joe Kimball. 

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Campaign finance reform is urgently needed. Not only is BIG money flooding our state, but much of it is DARK money: we don't know who is paying. I have introduced a campaign disclosure bill to address this.

But we will also approach this another way: our state constitution says "the legislature shall provide for disclosure..." We can add onto these words through a constitutional amendment in order to bring that intent up to date after Citizens United opened the floodgates.

The Supreme Court ruled that money was “speech” but also said that states can (and must) regulate the disclosure of who is paying. We in Minnesota need full disclosure of who is behind the electioneering in order to make good choices. With a constitutional amendment, we let the people decide!

Wonderful to now have U of M research prove the cost-effectiveness of doulas for low-income women. It was my legislation (and Sen. Sandy Pappas') in 2007 that gave all mothers the right to have a doula with them in childbirth, set up a certification registry, and pushed toward MA coverage, along with my legislation in 2013 that made that happen. So glad to support healthy outcomes for moms and babies.

Check out the StarTribune article "Doulas offer safety, cost savings, University of Minnesota study finds" by Jeremy Olson for more information and a short video about what a Doula is. 

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“Fair share” dues are for paid for receiving the benefits of union negotiations. A current case before the Supreme Court, Friedrichs v. CTA, is challenging as an inappropriate requirement of employees these portion of union dues that go into negotiating and representing workers, who then all share in the benefits of that negotiating and representing.

The very idea of uniting to work together for the common good of the employees is violated when everyone would benefit from negotiations paid for by only some. We usually call those “freeloaders.”

Beyond this basic sense of fairness, we can see this court challenge is one more attempt to break unions, break them financially at the very time that 99% of new income since the 2008 recovery has gone to the top 1%.

Unions were created to BALANCE this inequity. And people were killed in the fight for the right to unite together to require such basics as safe working conditions and fair pay for a fair day’s labor. No business owner could make a penny without the work of those employed. Conscientious employers make sure their employees share in the rewards of the market. Those employers who are focused, for whatever reason, only on their profits need to be required to take into consideration the human beings, and their families, who serve with them.

Far too many Minnesotans are suffering through extreme economic insecurity. Too many are experiencing unemployment or underemployment, low wages, gender-based income disparities, inadequate health care, educational disparities in both K-12 and higher ed opportunities, housing unavailability, the list goes on.

Poverty has been increasing in all age brackets and racial groups since the recession. Disparities that existed before between rich and poor and between racial groups are getting worse. It especially impacts children.

40% of African American children, 30% of Native American children, 25% of Hispanic children, 20% of Asian Americans, and 10% of white children are in poverty. Recognizing that 85% of our population is white, that 10% number is very large. Why so much poverty?!

Our economy is recovering, but most of the gains are going to the top 1% in America. We desperately need to recover an economy that works for all.

That economy is fueled by the spending of the working and middle class. The engine of our economy is and has always been fueled from the “middle out,” never via a “trickle down.” This is where our attention must go.

We must also understand and acknowledge that our state has some of the worst racial disparities in the nation. Minnesota is ranked as one of the best states for overall quality of life, yet it is the second-worst state for African Americans. We cannot rest easy with this reality.

The stress and lack of hope in long-term poverty defeats the soul, closes down the heart, and damages the brain. Poverty must be addressed.

• A livable wage is the straightest shot into the heart of poverty.
  
• Access to good health care, stable housing, and nutritious food are basic rights.
• Opportunities for jobs and educational skills open doors.

Let’s have the political will to go where poverty weighs down our neighbors and help lift the burden. Let’s do it for the children.
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Governor Dayton,    
                                                                                                                                             
COP21 in Paris last week showed that the tide has turned – every nation on the globe agrees we need to change our ways in order to prevent the chaos to civilization that unimpeded climate change will bring.

Young people are at the forefront of this call and determination; their futures depend on it.
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Even the Republicans in the U.S. are amazingly quiet regarding the outcome in Paris; although they may claim climate change is not serious enough to impact economics, they can sense the turning tide.

Now, we need to have the will to do the work to get off the path of fossil fuel production and use.

This requires coming at it from many angles:  renewables, new technologies, and “powering down” our dependency on high energy use of any sort.

This also requires rethinking what jobs we prepare for, incentivize, and expect. Jobs are crucial to pay for the living needs of our families, which then stimulates the entire economy. The question is – what jobs?

The new call to arms in climate change work is “Leave it in the ground.” There is no reason to continue to mine and pump fossil fuels because we simply cannot afford, for global reasons, to burn them.

But you can see the impact on jobs and skills: we will need to refocus, as we have begun to do.
I call your attention to the Iron Range, where I was born and raised, and most of my family still lives. This is where nearly all great-grandfathers worked in the mines, less than a majority of grandfathers did, and today a very small proportion of young fathers, or mothers, do.

The answer is not in more extractive mining of copper and nickel, with its known, long-term, and very serious hazards. The answer cannot be in a mere 300 or so jobs for a mere 20 years, not even a career.

Just as for the global approach to fossil fuels, Minnesota’s approach to this challenge must weigh short-term jobs against long-term livability. Let’s focus instead on jobs of the future for the Range.

So, for sulfide minerals, please, let’s “leave it in the ground.”

Sincerely,
Rep. Carolyn Laine