By Rich Larson, News Director
With the state legislative session in full swing, Democrat Representative Todd Lippert said the DFL has some top priorities for the year, including emergency housing assistance, broadband distribution, education funding, and childcare grants.
“Among those top priorities is emergency housing assistance. We want to provide $50 million for emergency housing grants, make sure the eviction moratoriums extend until the end of the peacetime emergency to make sure that people have a roof over their heads. Broadband distribution is a key concern, obviously, so we have $120 million for broadband. That’s going to be enough to connect 155,000 Minnesota households that still need access to high-speed broadband, and that’s enough to get that done. We want to be supporting our schools, supporting students to help them catch up with learning lags that may have happened or extra expenses that school districts have incurred. And childcare grants are something else that will be very important.”
Another priority that Representative Lippert brought up is the state’s response to climate change. He said that as a member of the Climate and Energy Committee, he and his colleagues heard testimony last week regarding Northfield’s Climate Action Plan, which is being held up as a model for what other state municipalities can do to respond to climate change. He said the House Climate Action Caucus, of which he is a member, issued a report last fall calling for a 45% economy wide reduction in emissions, and provided a number of strategies to get there.
“One of them is putting more of the climate action plans in place, so that there are plans at the local level and the cities that want to do this have the resources and support to get this in place. It takes some time, but there are more and more cities that are feeling the need to do this, they want to do it. And so, one thing we can do at the state level is support that, provide those resources to help local municipalities do what they want to do.”
Lippert also said that, by and large, big business and utilities understand that more climate laws and restrictions are inevitable, and he said the municipal CAP’s are helpful so that businesses can prepare for coming changes.
“They’ve been appreciative of the goals that have been set, and many of them are exceeding those goals. Because they need to be able to plan…and know what the framework is going to be, and the direction we need to go. Part of our work on the Energy and Climate Committee is to have those thoughtful conversations. We know that we need to respond to climate change as quickly and as aggressively as we can. So, what are the best ways we can do that, and how do we all pitch in our two cents so we can get there?”
And Lippert said that Northfield is leading the way for many of the changes that need to happen.
“Northfield is being seen as a leader on climate, and is influencing state conversations. And I think that’s great. It’s what organized citizens can do, and we’re seeing Northfield be a leader.”
Representative Todd Lippert’s Full Conversation with Jeff Johnson can be heard here.
Northfield Hospital & Clinic unable to expand vaccination program
Last week, the State and Federal governments made significant adjustments to the Covid-19 vaccination protocols. What had been stringent guidelines on priorities within the first group eligible for vaccination, have now been relaxed. The Minnesota Department of Health is now providing more flexibility for hospitals and healthcare systems to use all available doses as quickly as possible, offering available doses to individuals most at need for protection, including those over 65.
However, in a statement released on Friday, Northfield Hospital and clinics said there is not enough vaccine available at the moment to effectively expand the vaccination program.
Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said that, in fact, it will take quite a bit of time before the federal government can provide the state with enough vaccine to cover all those who are eligible.
“The reality is that we have far more Minnesotans wanting the vaccine than we have doses available,” she said. “Now we desperately need the federal government to step up and provide us with more vaccine.”
NH&C said they do not have doses available for individuals over 65 at this time, nor have they set up a vaccination waitlist. When they do have the vaccine, they will make it available.
