Friends and neighbors,

It was a fast moving week at the Capitol with committee hearings, constituent meetings, staff meetings and all in the midst of the everchanging chaos that is the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. I am honored to be here and to share with you what has been happening St. Paul.

As Co-Chair of the Family Child Care Task Force, we had 8 specific issues to consider and make recommendations to the Legislature in our final report adopted last week including addressing the difficulties providers face when it comes to licensing and inspection, licensing efficiency, provider recruitment and retention, along with studying other ways to reform in-home family care to spend less time on paperwork and regulations and more time caring for the children.

85% of rural Minnesotans depend on and prefer in-home Family Child Care because it keeps siblings together, creates a home-like atmosphere and usually the same caregiver for many years. 

One of the bills from the task force will establish the Family Child Care Regulation Modernization Project; this will develop a risk-based model for monitoring compliance with family child care health and safety licensing standards.

Providers who have been in the field for ten years with no issues should not be treated in the same way that first-timers are. With this risk-based model for monitoring compliance, licensing sanctions will be also be based on potential risk. My goal with this bill is to create a child-centered, family-friendly, and fair model to reward good behavior while creating barriers for those who violate the rules for health and safety of the children.

Minnesota seniors and their vaccine availability is having a very rocky rollout, especially for those who are most vulnerable to the virus. Every week there is a complicated new plan, system, lottery, or who-knows-what to get vaccines administered, but those who need it most are often being shut out. This inconsistency is frustrating at best, and life-threatening at worst for these seniors – it does not make sense to say we are prioritizing seniors while redistributing and rerouting vaccines to younger healthier people.

I am confused about why the governor continues to build a new public sector distribution system when the infrastructure for private distribution is and has always been in place. Local clinics, pharmacies, and hospitals are run by highly knowledgeable and experienced people who know their community, the people within it, and what they need. We need to use the resources we already have, that people already know how to use.

This, my friends, is universal healthcare in action. Government-run healthcare is not the answer to our problems, but the beginning of problems we know follow in the footsteps of socialism.

Please reach out to me with your thoughts, questions, or concerns. Hearing from you is how I shape my actions here at the Capitol. Please call, email, stop by, or we can meet in district at a social distance!

Sincerely,
Mary