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Fridays with Fatima – Volume 2

Hi all,

We have been meeting with lawmakers this week and securing signatures for the bonding bills. There can be up to five authors on the Senate bill, and we have all five! The House we can have up to 35 authors, and we have 33. We are very excited!

PACK THE ROOM!

If you haven’t heard, Homeless Day on the Hill has over 850 registrants! We predict there will be ~900~ of us total with walk-in registration. This is so great! We love our advocates. On top of that, two committee hearings have been scheduled for that day: one in House of Representatives and the other in the Senate. We are jumping with joy! Thanks to all of you who are registered, and are excited to share your time and voice for such an important need.

House Bill Introduced This Week!
House File 3125…that is the bill number for the Homes for All bonding bill! The bill was introduced by Representative Alice Hausman on 2/26/2018 and will have a hearing on Homeless Day on the Hill.  The hearing will be in the Capital Investment Committee at 3 pm, State Office Building Room 5.
The Senate bill was dropped “in the hopper” (to be introduced) on Wednesday, February 28th! The bill will more than likely be introduced on Monday and assigned a bill number at that time.
*In the Hopper — it’s been dropped off and ready to be introduced by the chief author

Handing our bill over to be introduced!

The February Forecast Looks Bright

Minnesota Management and Budget announced on Wednesday that Minnesota has a projected $353 million surplus. “In its 2018 February Budget and Economic Forecast, MMB said things have improved since November, when the agency announced Minnesota was projected to be $188 million in the red for the 2018-19 biennium, which ends June 30, 2019. This forecast certainly looks much brighter for our Homes for All $10 million dollars appropriations ask, which is being shopped around for bill sponsors.” Read more here.  

Legislative Deadlines:

House and Senate leadership have set the following deadlines for committees to complete their business this session:

  • Thursday, March 22 — Committees must to act favorably on bills in the house of origin.
  • Thursday, March 29 — Committees must to act favorably on bills, or companions of bills, that met the first deadline in the other body.
  • Friday, April 20 — Committees must act favorably on major appropriation and finance bills.

The deadlines do not apply to the House Capital Investment, Taxes, Ways and Means, or Rules and Legislative Administration committees, nor the Senate Capital Investment, Finance, Taxes or Rules and Administration committees.

Thanks everyone for reading volume 2 of Fridays with Fatima!

Hope to see you at Homeless Day on the Hill!

Fatima