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Fridays with Fatima Volume 5

Hey all – thanks for following along with Fridays with Fatima. We have some great progress on our bills below.
MCH’s 2018 Legislative Agenda can be found here.
REMINDER: Legislators will be heading back to their districts for spring recess, beginning Friday, March 30 through Sunday, April 8. This is a great time to thank them for supporting our agenda or asking them to consider supporting it.
Homes for All Bills
Today marks the first legislative committee deadline, and if you have been tracking committee meetings, you may have noticed an upswing in the number of bills being heard. For example, on Tuesday the Health and Human Services Committee heard over ten bills and ended close to midnight. I’m happy to say, all of the bills on our agenda which need to meet the deadline are cruising along just fine! 
We are working towards securing bill hearings for all of our other bills, and we believe it is likely to happen after the spring recess.

An advocate at the Homes for All rally pushing forward our 2017 agenda

Renter’s Credit
Action Alert!

Governor Dayton’s 2018 tax plan released last week includes two important proposals that make lower-income Minnesotans a priority. Please join us in thanking him!

Call Governor Dayton’s office at 651-201- 3400 or tweet at him @GovMarkDayton to thank him! Scripts below:
Call Script
“Hi, this is [your name] and I live in [your city]. I’m calling to thank Governor Dayton for making everyday Minnesotans a priority in his tax plan. I especially want to thank him for expanding the Working Family Credit and protecting the Property Tax Refund.”
Tweet Script
“Thank you @GovMarkDayton for making everyday Minnesotans a priority in your tax plan. I especially want to thank you for expanding the Working Family Credit and protecting the Property Tax Refund”
Fines and Fees

The campaign to alleviate the burden of fines/fees and driver’s license suspensions is gaining great momentum. Fines and fees from traffic tickets and low-level violations strip assets from communities and create a debt trap that has a significant impact on low-wealth individuals and people of color. Waiving fees or creating an ‘Ability to Pay’ factor would allow Minnesotans to maintain/reinstate their driver’s license so they can get to work, pay their fines, and avoid a criminal record.  

Fortunately,  the Driver’s License bill (H.F. 3356) has been heard in the house and will be considered for inclusion in the House Transportation omnibus bill. That means that when the Transportation omnibus bills go to conference committee, our bill will be discussed for inclusion in the final bill.  

L to R: Susie Schatz (Lutheran Social Services of MN), Rep. Fenton.

This is Medicaid
On Tuesday, advocates with This is Medicaid (TIM) packed the Health and Human Services hearing to oppose a Medicaid work requirement bill. If passed, this bill would create costly and complicated new systems with unintended consequences for state and local government, health and mental health care providers and low-income Minnesotans. You can listen to the hearing here. Fast forward to 4:27:43 to hear the Medicaid bill, H.F 3722.
Thanks for reading – stay in touch next week for more progress!