Senate Floor Session - Mar 26, 2026

Mr. President, I impose a call of the Senate.

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Mr. President, I move that further proceedings under the roll call be dispensed with and the sergeant in arms be instructed to bring in the absent members.

You got it?

we pray. Creator of the universe, source of all life and love, we pause today to acknowledge your presence among us within this chamber, in the halls beyond and in every life touched by the work done here. We give you thanks for the gift of governance, for the calling for us to come together across differences, to deliberate and discern and to seek the good of the whole. Grant the senators and all who serve in this place eyes to see clearly the needs of the people and ears to hear deeply. Voices often overlooked guide all who serve that their work may be marked by justice, humility and care for our neighbors. Amen.

Abeler, barr. Bolden. Carlson. Champion, clark. Cole. Pullman. Swatzinski. Dames. Dibble, dornick. Draheim. Drazkowski, duckworth. Farnsworth. Fate. France. Green, gruenhagen. Gustafson. Hosschild, her. Heintzman, hemingson, jaeger. Hoffman. Holmstrom, housley. Howe, jasinski. Johnson. Johnson, stewart. Klein, koran. Kroon, kunish. Kupik. Lang, latz. Liske. Limmer. Lucero. Mann, marty. Matthews, mae. Quaid. Mcewen. Miller, mohammed. Murphy, nelson, umu. Verbatim. Pappas, pa. Port. Pratt. Putnam. Rarick. Rasmussen. Rest. Seaberger, utgie. Weber. Wiesenberg. Westland. Westrom, wickland, zhang.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move the committee reports printed in the agenda and the addendum be adopted

Senate file numbers 3627-4757-4332-4561, 4069, 4068 and 4339.

House file numbers 3741 and 3802.

Senator Zhang introduces senate file number 4932, a bill for an act relating to state government.

Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate it. I move that Senate file 2061 be withdrawn from the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety and re referred to the committee. State and local governments, my bill. I've spoken with both chairs.

Thank you, Mr. President. Pursuant to Rule 26, I designate the following bills be made special orders for immediate consideration.

Thank you, Mr. President. Members, the bill that I present today, House File 4541, would repeal the state holiday that celebrates cesar Chavez on March 31, his birthday. I was one of the authors of the law that created this holiday with chief author Senator Patricia Torres Wray. The statute says Cesar Chavez Day celebrates the growing Latino community in Minnesota, which continues to grow. I carry this repealer with respect for every worker who fought for their rights during the United Farm Workers movement and for every Latino person who sees themselves reflected in the power of that movement. Many of you are already aware of the New York Times investigation published last week that revealed Chavez sexual abuse and assault of two underage girls, as well as his adult colleague, organizer Dolores Huerta. The investigation was shocking, disturbing and necessary. Chavez has been celebrated for years for his role in the United Farm Workers union, while the women who survived his abuse suffered in silence. The fact that they came forward is a testament to their courage and resilience. Whether they choose to share their stories or not, whether it takes days or decades, we honor and support every survivor. The message from today's workers and leaders is clear. Cesar Chavez Day is no longer how we should celebrate Minnesota's Latino communities. Out of respect and admiration for the survivors who came forward and for every activist who has felt pressure to keep their abuse a secret for the sake of their movement, we must repeal Minnesota's Cesar Chavez state holiday. While we reconsider his legacy, I look forward to finding another way to honor Minnesota's wonderful Latino communities. Whether that's the creation of a Dolores Huerta Day or United Farm Workers Day, I know that we will create a new holiday that we can all celebrate without reservation. Thank you and I appreciate your vote.

Mr. President and members. I want to begin by congratulating the Minnesota Senate for finally coming to its senses and moving to repeal Cesar Chavez Day. For far too long, this state has honored a man whose Marxist ideology and conduct were deeply troubling. It is encouraging to see this body finally recognize the evil at the root of that ideology and take action to remove this stain from our calendar. None of the terrible things we know about Cesar Chavez is new information. The reports of sexual assault, strong armed tactics, loyalty tests and abusive control have been documented and discussed for decades. We knew these things in 2014 when the Democrat trifecta created this holiday, we have known them every single year since. Every year we celebrated this disgusting day was a contribution to the victimization of the girls and women he abused. Honoring him normalized this behavior and silenced the their suffering. Cesar Chavez is part of a long list of communist idols who proved that this ideology is nothing more than the worship of self used to elevate their own status and power at the expense of their most loyal and foolish followers. Members today you have the opportunity to correct this mistake. But before you pick up a microphone or reach for that green button, you should be prepared to answer for your years of inaction, you should be prepared to answer one simple question. What has changed? It's not new information that has been available for decades. It's certainly not sudden compassion for his victims who have never seemed to matter before. So what changed? Chavez was a monster. And this repeal is long overdue, Fully deserved. But do not insult the public by pretending this vote is anything more than an act of shame. Do the right thing today, repeal this holiday, and next time perhaps show some courage before the headlines force your hand. Thank you.

thank you, Mr. President. From the very beginning, Cesar Chavez Day and the recognition of this one man completely overlooked the role that women played in the farm worker movement. Incredible, incredible movement where we as women had significant leadership roles. No movement is just one person. So for really far too long, we have asked women to keep quiet. We have asked them to downplay their accomplishments, to take abuse in the name of movements and in the name of the collective good. So let this repeal be a declaration for women, especially for women of color, saying that we will not be kept silent. We will not accept abuse in the name of anything. And going forward, we will hold those who believe that that women are second class citizens who can be kept quiet and quietly abused. And those who believe that children hold no value and they can be abused. We will hold those people accountable for their actions. And lastly, we will not diminish the accomplishments of the Latina people in America and in Minnesota because of the actions of one man. He does not represent the culture. His actions do not represent our resilience, our fight for justice for all. And he does not represent the heart and the strength that our women mean to our people. There is no shame today, Mr. President, because we believe in women, we believe in children. And this action represents that. Thank you.

House file number 4541. A bill for an act relating to state government eliminating Cesar Chavez.

Thank you, Mr. President. Senator Coleman votes aye.

Senator Housley votes aye.

And thank you, Mr. President. Senator Liske votes aye.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Senator Carlson votes aye.

Senator Hochschild votes aye.

And Senator Latz votes aye. All members having voted, who desires to vote? The Secretary will close the roll. There have been 67 eyes and 0 nays. The bill is passed and its title agreed to members. We will now take up House file 3425. Senator Port.

Any discussion on House file 3425, Senator Duckworth.

Senator Duckworth offers the A4amendment. The Secretary will report the A4amendment.

Senator Duckorth, to your A4amendment.

Roll call requested. Roll call granted.

Members, we're on House file 3425. I'm going to Senator Rest.

The point of order is well taken. Members, we are House filed 3425. Any additional amendments or discussions before we go to third reading? Who Senator Holmstrom.

Senator Holmstrom offers the A1amendment. The Secretary will report the A1amendment.

Senator HolmsTom to your A1amendment.

Roll call requested. Roll call granted. We're on the A1 Holmstrom Amendment. Senator port.

Any other discussion? And I believe, just so that I'm clear, that there was a roll call requested. Is that right? All right. Any other discussion before we vote? CNN the Secretary will take the role on the A1. Holmstrom AM.

it.

Thank you, Mr. President. Senator Coleman votes aye.

Thank you, Mr. President. Senator Lisky votes aye.

Thank you, Mr. President. Senator Carlson votes no.

Senator Hochschild votes no.

And Senator Latz votes no.

House file number 3425. A bill for an act relating to housing appropriating money for grants to supporting housing providers.

Thank you, Mr. President. I appreciate it. I promise I'm not bitter about my amendment not passing. But there's something else I wanted to touch on regarding this bill in general. No matter how well intended it is, there's an underlying more pervasive, larger issue that I just want to highlight before we vote on it, which is this. We're asking to take $9 million in excess and move it from a government agency back into a general fund or use it for a different purpose. Well, that $9 million is available because 10 million was appropriated back in 2023 as part of a budget or government spending bill. And here we are in 2026, three years later, with $9 million of taxpayer dollars that has just been sitting in a bank account. It hasn't been sitting in the account of our constituents. It hasn't been in their savings account, their checkings account. It hasn't been in the account to pay for their child's college tuition in the future. It's not in their retirement account. It's not earning interest. It's not growing for them. But the government has been more than happy to hang on to it for three years. And this is just one example. I can only imagine the millions or probably billions, government excess of taxpayer dollars that are just hanging out there, not with the people who earn them, who worked hard to bring those dollars home for their families and to provide for them. That's a larger issue, Mr. President. If we can't take a $19 billion surplus and return any of it, any of it to taxpayers, hang on to millions or billions for years, and then just simply repurpose it, not return it to them, but repurpose it. We've got a larger, more pervasive structural issue with how we're managing the finances of the state of Minnesota. And people are fed up because to add Insult to injury, Mr. President, not only did we hold on to millions or billions of their dollars and not use it, we allowed billions to go out the door in the form of fraud. Until or unless we do something about that and get serious about protecting the tax dollars of the people of Minnesota, we continue to fail them. We're spending way too much of their hard earned money. We're taking it and keeping it year after year and watching it go out the door in fraudulent schemes and programs. Mr. President, if by the end of this session we haven't done them the service of fixing it not just once, but for good, then we will have failed the people of Minnesota yet again. And I'm telling you, they're getting pretty tired of it.

Oh, thank you, Mr. President. Yeah. Members, here we have another bill that even according to the chief author, is, is temporary, one time money. So again, we're putting a band aid on an economic infection that we are, that primarily Democrats created in this state. What do I mean? Well, members, I have a example here, December 2025, that compares the price of a home to build a home in Minnesota and to build the same home in the five surrounding states. Listen to these numbers carefully. In Minnesota, to build a Medium new home is $560,000. To build it in North Dakota is 495,000. The same house that's over $160,000 less expensive than Minnesota to build it in South Dakota is 366,000. That's almost $200,000 cheaper for the same house in South Dakota versus Minnesota. You build it in Iowa, you're over $160,000 cheaper for the same house. Members, even Illinois, you're at least about $30,000 cheaper for the same house. Wisconsin, you're about $60,000 cheaper for the same house. So members, we need to treat the economic infection and not put a band aid on something that is going to get worse or be the same after the 9 million's gone. And that's what you're doing here. You know one of the problems, we passed green new scam laws on our construction, residential and commercial, that should be repealed. Even Governor Hochul in New York, who was a disciple of the Green New Deal, has said, you know what, we got to repeal some of these worthless laws. They're driving up the cost of everything. Now I edit the word worthless. It's also a scam and it's going to come crashing down after we spent trillions of dollars globally and in this country trying to promote this godless nonsense. So members, let's treat the economic infection rather than just, well, here's some more money we're taking from somebody in here. We'll help you out for a little bit. Hopefully you'll vote for us again. You want to see the problem? Members, especially Democrats, look in the mirror and you'll see the problem. It's the laws that you are promoting and passing in this body and that needs to change. And members, I can't support this bill unless we deal with the infection. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank the author of this bill for her work on this. This is an incredibly important program, one that it is really important for us to protect. This will assist over 3,600 Minnesotans who currently depend on the Continuum of Care program. These are folks who are the most vulnerable, the most at risk. People who are chronically homeless. This is the program that keeps them safely housed. Nearly half of all permanent supportive housing in Minnesota is funded through this program. And when we go out to greater Minnesota, that number drastically raises in southern Minnesota and Rochester, that goes up to 81%. So I want to just recenter us on who we're talking about here. This is Minnesotans who need the this support people who without this will become homeless. And I want TO Just briefly, Mr. President, read a very brief quote from one individual who has benefited from this program, Daryl, who says, I'm a proud U.S. states vet, United States veteran who served my country with honor. After my discharge, life became incredibly difficult. I spent over six years homeless in Red Wing. I had no idea that veteran supportive housing was even available. But thankfully they stepped in and changed everything for me. At first they got me off the streets by placing me in a motel room for a short period and then moved me to Maplewood for a year and a half where I was able to focus on my health and well being. After that I transitioned to Rochester and entered a supportive housing program which truly transformed my life. So members, that is what we are talking about here. Support for Minnesotans in every county and every district across the state. Making sure that they get the support that they need and keep a roof over their head. So thank you Mr. President. I'm proud to vote green.

Thank you Mr. President. And I just want to inform the body, kind of building on Senator Ducksworth's comments. You know, as as much as I appreciate the passion that Senator Bolden and Senator Port have for housing like I do, the body should be concerned about how this agency functions. And when you look at the money that we appropriated, the tax dollars that we took from hard working Minnesotans and we appropriated it for programs, the agency earned $57 million interest on those programs that we decided as a body were important for Minnesotans. So it doesn't matter if you like the program or dislike the program. We should be concerned as a body how those funds are being used or in this case not used. And during the same time members,

had many nonprofits contact me and explain that the program that they were counting on getting funded for, the agency told me the delay in funding the program was due to liquidity issues. Think about that. Hard working Minnesotan tax dollars paid in to the state. We appropriate those funds to an agency and the agency can't get that money out and then they make $57 million off of it. We have a structural problem with how this agency is run. And this has no reflection on Senator Port's bill independently other than this money was appropriated years ago. And I hope as we move towards the end of session we can address how this agency handles appropriations. That is the underlying problem that we must take care of this year. Members, thank you.

Thank you Mr. President. I am rising to support this Senate file 3425 recognizing and hearing from not only the community that I represent, but the broader Native American community how vital this funding is and how it can help to prevent the historic and tragic homelessness situation of our Indigenous people. Our Native people are up to 30% times more likely to experience homelessness and four times more more likely to live in poverty. And this has been generational. We've seen incredible and positive strives in the last decade or so in ensuring that our Native folks are not experiencing homelessness at the rate that they had. And that necessitates trust based solutions. I want to share a statement from Chief Executive Officer of the American Indian Community Development Corporation, Travis Earth Warner that gives a really direct message to us. All our HUD funded communities are deeply rooted in American Indian culture. Although we serve everyone and uphold fair housing laws, these communities offer a place where American Indians can feel safe and feel supported. And that is not something our communities have felt for hundreds of years. Losing access to this type of housing and services program would have widespread effects. Minnesota already faces significant disparities in homelessness and housing for its American Indian people. And losing metro resources would only make that worse. When people trust us and see that we understand their needs and are here to help, supportive housing absolutely is effective. Without these programs there will be even fewer community resources, especially when demand is growing. We need to ask ourselves why support is increasingly difficult to obtain and why issues like overdoses, visible homelessness and unmet needs continue to rise. Members, right now and right here, Minnesota's leadership has to act to protect these resources in our communities and I ask you all to support. House file 3425.

thank you, Mr. President. Members, thank you, Senator Port, for bringing this up and for us to work on and vote for. Members, many of you are probably aware that I bring a focus and a lot of hard work on youth who are struggling with homelessness in Minnesota. Had the honor and pleasure of being the chief authority of the Homeless Youth Act a number of years ago. And many of you have joined with me many, many times over the years to strengthen what we're doing on behalf of youth struggling with homelessness across the entire state of Minnesota. What we identified and the reason we passed that bill in the first place is because young people who are disconnected from their family really need what we call a continuum of care. A continuum, a range of options. And that includes certainly street outreach so that we're connecting with these young people who are in our communities who are struggling, bringing them into shelter, transitioning them into what we call transitional housing, ultimately connecting them with supportive housing if they cannot become reconnected and rejoin their families for whatever reason. Paired with all of the things that you would then find in that setting, of course, which are close. Food, health care, education, mentoring, love, connection to caring and loving adults. A purpose which gives rise, of course, to hope, dreams, and aspirations for a brighter and better future. And it has shown to be extremely successful. Members every single night in Minnesota, we have more than 4,000 young people who are homeless. We might not see them on the streets. Many of them are out on the streets, but many of them are precariously housed, sleeping on sofas or doing other things just to gain shelter. It's a tragedy occurring right in our midst. These funds that are under threat are essential. Let me tell you what Beth Holger, who is the executive director of the Link, tells us. People are losing housing across the country, and right here in Minnesota, that's devastating. Especially in a state where winters are brutally cold. When people sleep outside in those conditions, they die. For youth, homelessness is even harder. It disrupts their education because it's nearly impossible to focus on schoolwork when you're worried about where you'll sleep, how to stay safe at night. It hurts attendance, grades, and overall learning. And youth without stable housing are far more vulnerable to harm, whether it's sexual assault, being trafficked, or other forms of exploitation. Homelessness doesn't just take away a home. It puts young people at serious risk. We can do better, and we have been doing better slowly, incrementally, over time. In Minnesota, the threat from the federal government threatens to set us way back. And we have young people who would experience even greater harm in higher numbers. So, please, let's vote Green on this. And thank you again, Senator Port, for bringing this to the floor. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you, Mr. President. Just to summarize, this bill takes money that was appropriated back in 2023 and uses it for a different purpose. Money that has been sitting there unused by the Walz administration and the Department of Housing. Senate Democrats gave money to supportive housing. We did nothing with it. They haven't used it to reduce homelessness.

They've been using it in a fund to earn interest. They have earned over $153 million in interest on these funds. Meanwhile, property taxes are going up. This body shifted $400 million from the state budget onto the counties. And that's one of the main reasons why we're seeing property taxes rise so much. Mr. President, what we forget is that we are putting seniors out of their homes because they can't afford to pay their property taxes. This money should go back to the general fund. This money should be used for property tax relief. These funds should cancel back and we should be re appropriating it to aid the entire state, to aid every Minnesota family that is struggling, every Minnesota family that's living paycheck to paycheck, every Minnesota family that is falling behind on their tax bill because we are one of the five highest tax states in the country. And yet here we are with money sitting in a slush fund, just earning interest money in a slush fund after we've seen billions go out the door in fraud. Mr. President, Minnesotans are asking for relief, and I think they deserve it.

Thank you. Members, I rise today to speak strongly in favor of House file 3425. And I just want to speak briefly about the needs that we have in. In the northern part of our state, sometimes we think about these funds going to help people in more urban areas. But in rural areas of our state, in areas outside of the Twin Cities, the need, particularly for these supportive housing funds, is crucial. And one of the. One of the people who has weighed in to share experiences of helping youth is the executive director from Range Transitional Housing up in Virginia, Minnesota. And that executive director shared that a youth just 17 became homeless after leaving a difficult home life marked by her parents, struggles with substance use and mental health. Forced to couch surf and escape an abusive relationship with a much older predatory man, she finally found help through our housing program, which secured her safe housing and connected her with counseling. With support, this youth overcame depression and anxiety, graduated high school, held a job, opened her first bank account and got her driver's license. Now she's rebuilding family ties, moving in with her grandparents and pursuing her dream of becoming an emt. A testament to resilience and the impact of stable support. So, members, please join me today in supporting the funding for that stable support. Let's keep it going. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. President. If I could, and if we could, I would rename the Minnesota Senate to the Omnibus Committee on Creating Homelessness. Democrats are passing policies, passing mandates that are directly responsible for the increase in property taxes that have been inflicted across the state. And those property taxes are causing people to be unable to afford their homes. They're causing homelessness. When this reality is brought to light of the Democrats, what do they do? Turned a blind eye. People on fixed incomes cannot afford their house because of Democrat property tax increases. People that want to buy their first house are unable to because Democrat mandates have made homeownership too expensive. People that are in apartments or other rental units themselves are finding it unaffordable. So Mr. President, members, what we should be talking about are methods to actually make housing less expensive, to actually solve homelessness rather than redistribute wealth and create higher property taxes. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President, members, I appreciate our conversation on this important topic. I would like to flag that we could not have done this work without members of the supportive housing community, especially Allison Nessie, the hard working people at mhfa, Senate staff, Jack Dudley, CJ Larson, Will Freeman, Laura Painter and Eric Olafson and everyone in both bodies and on both sides of the aisle who helped to advance this central piece of legislation in a bipartisan fashion. This bill provides badly needed funding to help seniors, individuals with disabilities and other vulnerable Minnesotans to stay in their homes. It passed on by strong bipartisan vote in the House. And we can act today to get this money out to communities across Minnesota and prevent disastrous consequences of homelessness. I wish that this was the long term solution, Mr. President. That's what the 10, $10 million was originally for. And that's why only a fraction of it has been spent. Because this was creating the baseline to create a long term solution for stably funding our supportive housing community. Unfortunately, Mr. President, I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge how we got here. Last fall, the Trump administration threatened to fully double chronic homelessness across Minnesota in a senseless attack on stable housing. Trump's proposal proposed cuts threatened to take housing away from thousands of cities, seniors, survivors of domestic violence and other Minnesotans who are most at risk of homelessness through defunding of the Continuum of Care program. These cuts targeted LGBTQ Minnesotans, vulnerable communities and attempted to hold funding hostage to force compliance with ICE. They would have especially hurt Minnesotans in rural areas. 92% of permanent housing supportive housing funding in St. Louis county comes from the federal Continuum of Care program. This program that we are opening up to process some funding through 87% and 81% across southeast Minnesota. And without this program, vulnerable seniors and other individuals in greater Minnesota who are facing homelessness would simply have nowhere to go. Minnesota will care for our neighbors. With this bill, we can act right now and ensure that those Minnesotans that are facing disaster have a safe and stable place to call home. Please vote yes.

Thank you, Mr. President. Senator Lisky votes no.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Senator Carlson votes aye.

Senator Hochschild votes aye.

And Senator Latz votes aye. Aye. All senators having voted, who desires to vote? The Secretary will close the roll. There being 39 eyes and 28 nays, the bill is passed and its title agreed to. Members, we are now moving on to the 13th order of business, which is announcements of Senate interest. Any announcements of Senate interest, Senator Luce?

I'm sorry, who did you ask for?

Senator Wicklin, will you yield four questions? She will yield four questions. Senator Lucero.

members? Give me one moment, Senator Wicklin. To the question,

And members, just to be clear the reason why I I did pause for a second to get some clarification. I want you to know that this is really not the place for the announcements of Senate interest, especially if you get into any policy, because this is reserved for announcements as opposed to anything else.

Senator Wickland, will you yield? She will not yield.

Any announcements of Senate interest? Any announcements of Senate interest?

Senator ress

And just to reiterate, it is going to be a great event. We're going to have some great food and you all are invited. Senator Klein, Mr. President, Senate Commerce Committee

Any any other announcements of Senate interest? CNN Senator Murphy for a motion.

on that motion, all in favor say aye. All those opposed say no. The motion prevails. The Senate is Now adjourned until April 7.