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Dear Neighbors,
Just days remain until the legislature’s constitutionally required adjournment date of Monday, May 23. The Minnesota House continues to pass bills in floor sessions. Conference committees are meeting to hammer out bipartisan agreements. I expect we’ll have a long weekend at the Capitol passing our supplemental budget to help Minnesotans succeed now and in the future. You can keep current on conference committee actions here.
This week, Minnesota House of Representatives unanimously advanced my bill (134-0) to regulate debt settlement service providers. This bipartisan legislation provides an exemption to enrolled agents and their professional firms from the debt settlement services statutes, so they can now legally represent taxpayers on tax audits. This small change will make the process fairer for everyone.
Help is available for Minnesota homeowners hurt financially by the pandemic. Eligible homeowners can apply for up to $35,000 in assistance for mortgage payments and other housing-related expenses through a new state program called HomeHelpMN. The program is funded with $109 million from the federal government through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. You can start the application process through the HomeHelpMN website. You can read more in a Minnesota Reformer article.
You may be eligible for a bonus check for your in-person work during the early days of the pandemic. Check your eligibility at the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry website and sign up here to receive information on the application process. The department hopes to begin accepting applications by mid-June. Then a 45-day application period will begin, with payments anticipated in late summer or early fall.
When the application is ready, a call center and help desk will be available to assist applicants in multiple languages.
Help spread the word to those workers who may be eligible to apply.
The White House announced this week, every home in the U.S. is eligible to order a third round of free at-home COVID-19 tests. Click here to place your order. You can also call 1-800-232-0233 (TTY 1-888-720-7489). Also, a reminder Americans over 50 and those 12 years and older who are immunocompromised can receive a second COVID-19 booster shot. More updates about COVID-19 is available through the Minnesota Department of Health website or the U of M Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP).
The Minnesota House of Representatives Public Information Services offers nonpartisan recaps of high-profile bills, committee hearings, and floor sessions with their Session Daily publication. Subscribe to receive these here. To track bills of interest through the legislative process, I encourage you to utilize the MyBills feature on the Minnesota House of Representatives’ website here.
You can stay up to date on our work by subscribing to these legislative updates and “liking” my official Facebook page. For any questions you have on the resources available to our community or our work in the Minnesota House, you can reach me at rep.andrew.carlson@house.mn or leave a voicemail at (651) 296-4218. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Andrew Carlson
State Representative
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