Dear Neighbors,
I hope you all are having a good week and staying warm! Last Saturday, Senator
Torres Ray, Representative Wagenius and I held our first town hall for this
session. Thank you to all who attended! I was particularly pleased at the
number of people who came who hadnāt attended one of our events before. It was
a great opportunity to hear from you and gain your input. There are many things
going on at the legislature, so I wanted to give a few updates. Please reach
out if you have questions or concerns.
Black History Month
Every month we need to remember to center underrepresented voices in our
communities. This month serves as a reminder that it is important to honor
African Americans in America and their history, and to uplift their voices.
Minnesota has some of the worst racial disparities in the country; it is clear
that we must do better. Iām glad that the DFL has put equity as central to all
we are doing this year.
Black Caucus
Reps. Rena Moran, Hodan Hassan, Ruth Richardson, and Mohamud Noor, and Sens.
Bobby Joe Champion and Jeff Hayden announced the formation of the United Black
Legislative Caucus as part of Black History Month. The goals of the caucus will
be to elevate and advocate for issues relating to Minnesota's Black
communities. Iām glad our legislature has become more diverse so our elected
leaders reflect and can advocate for the underrepresented voices throughout the
state.
Racially restrictive covenants
Appropriately aligned with Black History Month, the first bill to pass on the
House Floor was my HF 51.
The bill addresses the racist housing history in Minnesota by allowing
homeowners to formally renounce racially restrictive covenants on their home
titles. Restrictive covenants were used in the past to prevent minority
communities from moving into residential neighborhoods and are common in our
areas of Minneapolis. They were legal until 1948, but the language of
restrictive covenants still exists on many houses. The bill would allow
homeowners to attach an affidavit to their home title repudiating the racist
language, but it would not remove the language form the title in order to allow
for future research on the impacts of racist housing policies.
As the chief author of the bill and as a homeowner of a house with racial
covenants, I am thrilled the bill received unanimous support. I hope that the
Senate will now hear the bill and pass it as well.
Read the Star Tribuneās coverage of the topic here.
Helping People out of the Payday Lending Trap
My bill had a public hearing in the Jobs and Economic Development Finance
Division on Tuesday. HF 367 would deliver grant funding to support the
nonprofit, Exodus Lending, which helps people by paying off their payday loans
upfront and allows them to pay off the debt interest free, in installments over
one year. Payday loans are marketed as āquick-fix solutionsā to financial
emergencies and usually range from $200 to $500, but people are almost always
forced to take out additional loans to cover the high interest rates.
The bill was held over for possible inclusion in a larger omnibus bill. Iāll
keep you posted on its progress.
Wage Theft
Minnesota workers deserve to take home every wage and benefit earned for their
time worked. But each year, more than 39,000 workers face wage theft by their
employers, resulting in millions in lost wages overall. For this reason, my
colleagues and I are working to prohibit employers from denying wages and
benefits to their employees. One of our top ten bills introduced this session
addresses this issue, and it received a hearing on Wednesday. Much of the wage
theft is a result of discrimination, which is another inequity gap we need to
work on closing. This bipartisan bill is one step in the right direction.
National School Counseling Week
This week is National School Counseling Week. Our Minnesota school counselors
impact studentsā lives every day, and we are grateful to them this week and
every week! When you see your school counselor around, be sure to thank them
for all of their hard, important work!
School Safety
School safety is more than just locks on doors, bullet proof glass and security
cameras. Tuesdayās shooting of the Minneapolis school bus driver is yet another
example of the senseless gun violence we seeing all too often. Preventative
measures have been introduced at the Legislature, such as āred flagā bills,
which would do more to keep guns out of the hands of people who may be
dangerous to themselves or others. While we donāt know if such a provision
would have prevented Tuesdayās incident, Minnesotans deserve to be safe in
schools, on public transit, places of worship, and all public spaces. Iāll keep
working to ensure we can pass these common sense bills to keep everyone safe.
Iām always available to you for any questions or concerns. You can reach me at
651-296-0173 or <email obscured>.
Sincerely,
Jim Davnie
State Representative
Cooper resident
I hope you all are having a good week and staying warm! Last Saturday, Senator
Torres Ray, Representative Wagenius and I held our first town hall for this
session. Thank you to all who attended! I was particularly pleased at the
number of people who came who hadnāt attended one of our events before. It was
a great opportunity to hear from you and gain your input. There are many things
going on at the legislature, so I wanted to give a few updates. Please reach
out if you have questions or concerns.
Black History Month
Every month we need to remember to center underrepresented voices in our
communities. This month serves as a reminder that it is important to honor
African Americans in America and their history, and to uplift their voices.
Minnesota has some of the worst racial disparities in the country; it is clear
that we must do better. Iām glad that the DFL has put equity as central to all
we are doing this year.
Black Caucus
Reps. Rena Moran, Hodan Hassan, Ruth Richardson, and Mohamud Noor, and Sens.
Bobby Joe Champion and Jeff Hayden announced the formation of the United Black
Legislative Caucus as part of Black History Month. The goals of the caucus will
be to elevate and advocate for issues relating to Minnesota's Black
communities. Iām glad our legislature has become more diverse so our elected
leaders reflect and can advocate for the underrepresented voices throughout the
state.
Racially restrictive covenants
Appropriately aligned with Black History Month, the first bill to pass on the
House Floor was my HF 51.
The bill addresses the racist housing history in Minnesota by allowing
homeowners to formally renounce racially restrictive covenants on their home
titles. Restrictive covenants were used in the past to prevent minority
communities from moving into residential neighborhoods and are common in our
areas of Minneapolis. They were legal until 1948, but the language of
restrictive covenants still exists on many houses. The bill would allow
homeowners to attach an affidavit to their home title repudiating the racist
language, but it would not remove the language form the title in order to allow
for future research on the impacts of racist housing policies.
As the chief author of the bill and as a homeowner of a house with racial
covenants, I am thrilled the bill received unanimous support. I hope that the
Senate will now hear the bill and pass it as well.
Read the Star Tribuneās coverage of the topic here.
Helping People out of the Payday Lending Trap
My bill had a public hearing in the Jobs and Economic Development Finance
Division on Tuesday. HF 367 would deliver grant funding to support the
nonprofit, Exodus Lending, which helps people by paying off their payday loans
upfront and allows them to pay off the debt interest free, in installments over
one year. Payday loans are marketed as āquick-fix solutionsā to financial
emergencies and usually range from $200 to $500, but people are almost always
forced to take out additional loans to cover the high interest rates.
The bill was held over for possible inclusion in a larger omnibus bill. Iāll
keep you posted on its progress.
Wage Theft
Minnesota workers deserve to take home every wage and benefit earned for their
time worked. But each year, more than 39,000 workers face wage theft by their
employers, resulting in millions in lost wages overall. For this reason, my
colleagues and I are working to prohibit employers from denying wages and
benefits to their employees. One of our top ten bills introduced this session
addresses this issue, and it received a hearing on Wednesday. Much of the wage
theft is a result of discrimination, which is another inequity gap we need to
work on closing. This bipartisan bill is one step in the right direction.
National School Counseling Week
This week is National School Counseling Week. Our Minnesota school counselors
impact studentsā lives every day, and we are grateful to them this week and
every week! When you see your school counselor around, be sure to thank them
for all of their hard, important work!
School Safety
School safety is more than just locks on doors, bullet proof glass and security
cameras. Tuesdayās shooting of the Minneapolis school bus driver is yet another
example of the senseless gun violence we seeing all too often. Preventative
measures have been introduced at the Legislature, such as āred flagā bills,
which would do more to keep guns out of the hands of people who may be
dangerous to themselves or others. While we donāt know if such a provision
would have prevented Tuesdayās incident, Minnesotans deserve to be safe in
schools, on public transit, places of worship, and all public spaces. Iāll keep
working to ensure we can pass these common sense bills to keep everyone safe.
Iām always available to you for any questions or concerns. You can reach me at
651-296-0173 or <email obscured>.
Sincerely,
Jim Davnie
State Representative
Cooper resident
