Bills prioritize Minnesota workers, public safety, economic development, and consumer protection
SAINT PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota Senate passed its first five budget bills of the 2023 Legislative Session this week, with a focus on reducing costs, protecting consumers and workers, creating good-paying jobs, and ensuring all Minnesotans have safe and thriving communities.
“We are moving quickly to get the work of building a budget done, and these budget bills are the first piece of that puzzle,” said Senator Judy Seeberger (DFL-Afton), who serves as Vice-Chair of the Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee. “Minnesotans expect us to support the priorities we all share and that’s exactly what we are doing by helping the family budget, ensuring more good-paying jobs across the state, and making sure everyone lives in a safe community.”
The Senate passed five budget bills this week: the Agriculture, Rural Development, and Broadband Omnibus, the Commerce and Consumer Protection Omnibus, the Judiciary and Public Safety Omnibus, the Jobs and Economic Development Omnibus, and the Labor Omnibus.
Some highlights of the bills are below:
Commerce and Consumer Protection
- Exodus Lending Grants, which offers alternatives to payday lending for Minnesotans (legislation chief authored by Senator Seeberger)
- Establishes a Prescription Drug Affordability Board to review increases in drug pricing and prevent exorbitant increases
- Helps protect students and seniors from predatory behavior
Judiciary and Public Safety
- Provides state funding for the costs of sexual assault exams, soft body reimbursement for law enforcement, firefighters, and EMS workers, public safety radio equipment grants, public safety officer death benefits expansion, enhances penalties for fentanyl distribution (legislation all chief authored by Senator Seeberger)
- Invests in crime and violence prevention grants and Youth Intervention Programs
- Funds law enforcement recruitment and retention
- Reduces forensic evidence backlogs
- Increased funding for Minnesota Courts and Public Defenders
Agriculture, Rural Development, and Broadband
- $100 million for border to border broadband (chief authored by Senator Seeberger)
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Learn more about Sen. Seeberger.
