ANNOUNCER: Welcome back. And now our, emcee, Quinn Nystrom. Moderating remarks from state leaders.
QUINN NYSTROM: OK. Welcome back, everybody. I don’t know if I’m clapping for myself. I’m not. I’m clapping for an excellent second part of the day. So welcome back, everybody. We are going to– I need to just make sure I’m on the right part. We are going to kick it off with a conversation, as you had heard earlier. All state representatives and state senators were invited to attend and to participate today because it is a legislative forum. So I’m going to be facilitating it.
So we will kick it off. And maybe what I’ll do is, because you are new to the table, Representative Fischer, maybe you can do an introduction. And just so you know, we were also just doing an intro name, kind of where we represent, and then also sort of a physical description of what you look like. We have a lot of people online. So take it away.
PETER FISCHER: Oh, there we go. All right, let’s try it again. Thank you. For those of you online, my name is Peter Fischer. I represent District 44A. And for those that like to get an idea of where is 44A located, that is down here in the metropolitan area. It is representing two suburbs that are on the northeast side of Saint Paul.
The suburb that’s the largest part of my district is Maplewood. And thank you. I’ve got some constituents out there. It’s good to see Daryl and Nikki here. And then on top of it, the other suburb I represent is the city of Little Canada. So those are the areas that I represent.
Thank you. I see somebody from Little Canada over there. Thank you. So in terms of physical description, I’m not used to describing myself. I’m 5-10, male. I am very much bald on top here with a little bit of gray on the sides. I wear glasses. I am Caucasian, I’m about 190 pounds, so I’m a little bit overweight for my height. So those are part of my description. And from there, I also wear glasses. I gotta remember that part. All right. No, thank you for the opportunity to be here.
QUINN NYSTROM: Thank you. And do we want to go right down the line and have you introduce yourself.
KATIE JONES: Sure. Hi. Thank you, everyone for being here. My name is Representative Katie Jones. I represent 61A, formerly Frank Hornstein’s seat. So I’m a first termer to this legislature. And I represent Downtown Minneapolis and kind of the southwest area.
So my physical description, so I am a 5 foot 4 female. I’ve got brown hair. I’m starting to develop some wrinkles underneath my eyes. And wearing a blue dress today. I’m also Caucasian.
QUINN NYSTROM: Great. Thank you so much. Do you want to reintroduce yourself for anybody who maybe is joining from the after-lunch crowd?
BRION CURRAN: Yes. Thank you. I’m pinch hitting today to join you back on this panel, I’m Representative Brion Curran. I represent District 36B, the White Bear Lake, Vadness Heights area in the northeast suburbs. My pronouns are they and she. I am a quite short person with short brown hair, clear glasses. Today, I’m wearing a black blazer and a black t-shirt that supports the elimination of the subminimum wage.
QUINN NYSTROM: OK. Thank you so much. And what we’re going to do is I’m going to kick it off. As you and I were speaking, you were like, oh, I’m so much better if it’s sort of a Q&A or a little bit more conversational instead of just standing up at a podium, which I think we probably all like better. So maybe if you want to kick it off by starting to talk about some of the work you’ve done and seen, and we can just get the conversation rolling from there.
PETER FISCHER: Certainly. Thank you for the opportunity. And where I want to start off, first of all, kind of setting the table a little bit, is four years ago, I chaired the Human Services Policy Committee. The last two years before this cycle, I chaired the Human Services Policy Committee. Did I say policy the first time? I meant four years ago, it was the Behavioral Health Division. Thank you. I’m sorry.
So I had Behavioral Health. Two years ago, I had the Human Services Policy Committee. Currently, I am on the Human Services Policy and Finance Committee. So I’m not chair of that, but I do chair or be co-chair of the Environment Committee starting on Monday.
One of the things I want to mention out there is over the last two years, as being chair of the Human Services Policy Committee, we were able to move a lot of great things forward in this space. And when this work was done, it was all done in a very bipartisan way.
I will say that in the human services world, there’s been a lot of opportunities for great bipartisan interaction. And to give you an idea of how all that worked out is when my policy bills came to the House floor for the last two years, I had 100% support for each year that I had my policy bill come through and very little debate on it.
And it’s because this is an area that we all agree. We want to make sure that we’re supporting people out there who are vulnerable, people who, that if we’ve got the right policies in place, are able to live great, fulfilling lives and be very independent. And that’s the goal that we all want to have. And it’s something that Democrats and Republicans share together on.
So I kind of want to set the stage from that side. I think that as I’m looking forward, as we’re going into this new two-year cycle, where I think the challenges are going to be is it’s going to be more around finances. And that is going to be the biggest challenge. And I would say that from some of the colleagues that I’ve talked to so far this year, that what I am seeing is that they wish that we had more dollars available than we do. We know we’re going to have some challenges out there. And the big challenges are going to be because we don’t know what the federal government is going to do for funding coming across.
So what I’m going to say in that space is I think it’s going to be very confident that when we finish by the middle of May, that we’re probably going to have our bills, our policy bills and our funding bills, all in place. And I think in this space, that the biggest challenge will be that there’s not going to be enough dollars to address all the issues that we would like to out there. The needs are very great and we’re just not seeing all the dollars we’d like to.
I do know that some of the great concerns that I always hear is making sure that we’re providing the supports out there, so that people who are vulnerable, people who are disabled, are seniors, making sure that we’ve got the supportive services out there, so that they can have a great quality of life and be able to live as independently and the way they’d like to.
And I think there’s a lot of agreement on that across both party lines. And I know Represent Curran and I have worked on a number of bills over the years, and we’ve always felt that very strong commitment. And we want to make sure that continues.
The challenge is going to be is when the federal government decides what they’re going to have for funding going forward. They’re talking about severe cuts to what they would pay to the states. And those cuts may be in the range of $2 to $4 billion. We’re not going to know that until after session is over.
The likelihood is that we’re going to have to come back in the fall, probably September or October, and we’re going to have to be faced with how do we balance our budget now that we’re $2 to $4 billion out? It means there’s going to be a lot of pain out there.
What we’re going to have to do is figure out where are things that we can try to be more efficient on? Are there policies we can change, that could give us a little bit more flexibility and capacity out there? And so these are things that we’re going to want to keep in mind. So I’ll pause at that point in time and let some of my other colleagues answer.
QUINN NYSTROM: And we’ll break for water. If you would give an overview of kind of the work. I know you said you are in your first term, but maybe what inspired you to run for this office, and then what you’ve seen this session, and what you’re hoping to get accomplished in a kind of complicated session possibly on a federal and state level.
KATIE JONES: Yes. Much more complicated than when I first started running about a year ago. But I really come here today because of the– I’m really focused on the ways that we get around. Not everyone in Minnesota can drive. Actually, one out of three Minnesotans can’t drive for one reason or another. Because of age, ability, accessibility, affordability, choice. There are a lot of reasons.
And I’m so thankful for my colleagues here who can focus on some of the health and housing and other issues that really touch everyone, including people who have disabilities. And one of my foci is really on transportation. For the last eight years, I’ve sat on the city of Minneapolis’s Infrastructure Committee.
And we were an advisory committee, making recommendations to the mayor for his budget in Minneapolis. And we made sure to prioritize sidewalks with curb ramps. And I know this has been going on for the last 30 years since the ADA was passed. But we are still having to fight for that today.
And the number of years– We did the math once that if we were to keep up with our current spending levels in Minneapolis to reach the current standards for ADA ramps, it was going to take us like 200 more years to get them all in place. And that’s just not acceptable. So we made sure to put that at the top of our priority list every year that I was there. And so that’s what I’m going to continue to do here at the legislature.
But not only for the ramps but also for transit. My campaign manager actually moved around in a wheelchair. And he opened up my eyes as to how functional buses are compared to trains. I mean, if you’re getting onto a bus, and there’s already a stroller on, and there’s a wheelchair on, and you’re a wheelchair user, good luck. You’re going to have to wait for the next bus.
I personally don’t drive, or I don’t frequently drive. I use transit, and I also bike and walk. And so I’ve been in those shoes of having to wait another 20 minutes for the bus. It’s not great. It feels like you’re disrespected, like you haven’t been seen, that you’re not valued.
And I value all Minnesotans, regardless of how we get around. And so I want to make sure we’re building a transportation system that is inclusive of all Minnesotans and making sure that that system is also providing good quality service.
I’ve taken a ride with Metro Mobility. It is a good service, but I know it can also take rather long. And so I think we really need to continue valuing that service. Actually, I met with a constituent who was paraplegic. And his wife was talking about how he had been so fulfilled in his job and his career. He was a therapist. And it was because of Metro Mobility that he could get to his job.
That’s a great asset. And the better that we can make our standard Metro Transit bus and train system, the faster we can get that going, the more people we can carry, the better that we can serve everyone. And so those are the things that I’ve been pushing for, making sure we have dedicated lanes for buses and trains. That makes it so we can get to places faster. And that gives us all more dignity and equity in our ability to get around.
QUINN NYSTROM: That’s great. Thank you. Representative Curran, do you want to touch on a couple of things?
BRION CURRAN: Yeah, absolutely. And thank you for allowing me to come back up on a different panel.
QUINN NYSTROM: Of course.
BRION CURRAN: So as chair Fischer went into some different policy proposals and financial barriers that we’re facing this session and that we have faced in other sessions. And Rep Jones talked about some accessibility concerns. Before Rep Hicks left today, she and I and others were sort of touching on a conversation surrounding civil rights.
And I think the disability community is right in the middle of some real civil rights issues, not just in Minnesota but across the country. And so I think it’s important too that as we’re having these conversations, we’re really pushy about rights in this conversation.
Because a lot of times, it does come down to dollars. It comes down to resources. It comes down to infrastructure. And that’s where the answers that our community gets are no over, and over, and over again. But here in the state of Minnesota and in our country, we have rights. And we respect and honor the dignity of everybody, as Rep Jones said.
So I want to make it clear too that as we’re doing a lot of the work that folks might see as sort of technical, very legislative, we’ve got a real values-based problem on our hands. And we cannot let the narrative be taken over, that our community is expensive, that we don’t have the time, that we don’t have the money. We don’t have the resources. We don’t have the infrastructure.
That’s not an answer. It’s not an acceptable answer. But frankly, it’s just not an answer. We have heard no time and time and time again for on a lot of these issues. And we can debate those back and forth and try to pass policies year after year. But what I will not tolerate and what I know a lot of us here won’t tolerate is saying no when it comes to civil rights.
That is a deep, deep issue here in this country. And we are not going to go back when it comes to the rights that people are afforded in this country. And I am disappointed that up until now, the disability community and the rights that folks have hasn’t been highlighted in a lot of our civil rights conversations.
I’m also disappointed at the reason why we’re having this conversation of why it’s so important to uplift the rights in the community and expand those rights. Because I’ve been talking to folks here today and had other conversations where accessibility is part of the problem, but it’s just about seeing people as having equitable access.
And again, as our attorney general said earlier, equitable. What is it that you need to achieve the thing that your neighbor is able to achieve without assistance? And that’s not a burden. That is a right. And so I’m encouraged that folks are coming together and continuing to, as I said earlier, share space together in solidarity and not taking no for an answer. And showing up over and over and over again and bringing another friend and another neighbor with you every single time.
Because as soon as we start to roll back rights, the other things that we are talking about, policies, accessibility, infrastructure, those will be removed from the table as even a piece of the conversation. Because as soon as people don’t have rights and become less than, what do we have then to include people in the conversation or attempt to accommodate the needs of people?
So I want to stress the importance of as we’re talking about all the needs people have, the policy barriers that we have, the financial barriers that we have, we can’t even address all of those things. If people start to strip away our rights. And we are not here for it. I’m not here for it. My colleagues aren’t here for it. We’re here for you. And I know that you’re here with us. And please keep showing up.
[APPLAUSE]
QUINN NYSTROM: Very well said. A question that I want to kick off, and you guys can decide who wants to take it first. But I know we have a lot of advocates in the room, but we also have a lot of people viewing virtually. I think there was a couple hundred the last that I heard.
And I think you mentioned about how you serve the people. And sometimes, I think, like I said earlier, we see elected officials. And sometimes, we put them up on a pedestal, or we think they’re not accessible to us. And so what I would love to ask the three of you is, what are some of the things that you’ve seen that just everyday people advocates have done that have been very impactful, right?
Like is there ways– I grew up in rural Minnesota, almost three hours away from here. I didn’t come down to the capital ever to meet in my state representative’s office. What are ways, what are some methods that people can do to reach out to you about different things, even if they may not even know a bill number, or they may not even know what year we are on the session? So just kind of real layman terms to people like myself who want to do something but don’t know what and don’t know where to get started.
KATIE JONES: I’m happy to start. Partially because you guys have all been here longer, so you may have something, some more things to say. I’ll say, to date, the thing that has been most impactful to me is honestly just individual stories. When I’m sitting down one on one, whether it is in person, or it is via Zoom, or it’s on a phone call, like hearing your stories, that is what’s motivating.
I’m going to take an example, just recently from the Homeless Day on the Hill, and a woman was telling me her experience, where she did all everything right. Like even when you’ve done everything right and you end up in a situation that is untenable.
Like I will not forget her story. I don’t want to open up her whole story here. But like those are the things– I’m getting chills right now, thinking about Angelique. And that’s what’s going to continue driving me and thinking of because– So I’m an engineer. I like to get into the details. I like to wonk out.
But I’m going to be doing it for her, and I’m going to be doing it for my campaign manager because he’s told me his stories of how he ended up in his situation and moving about in a wheelchair. And so it’s like when we can see, and hear, and feel that there’s another human who’s experiencing this, we feel it deeply. And it’s when we feel that, that’s how we can take the best action.
QUINN NYSTROM: Thank you.
BRION CURRAN: Absolutely. Well said, Rep Jones. And I would just add that as representatives, when we’re at these tables, and have a microphone in front of us, and are able to take the space to share stories, and we try to personalize it as much as we can.
And sometimes, that includes telling our own story to try to get some empathy on an issue and things like that. But as much as we might have lived experience as legislators and why many of us chose to do this work, it is still the most powerful story coming from you.
And it is easy for people who work in the political space to ignore or dismiss the lived experience of a legislator or somebody in government. But it is not easy to dismiss the neighbors, constituents, of folks who are serving you. It’s not easy to dismiss your story, and it shouldn’t be either.
So any time that you’re able to share your personal story, I know that’s vulnerable, that it’s difficult. And if you need some assistance in crafting that message, please reach out. I know, even if someone’s not your legislator, if you make a connection, even with somebody on the Human Services Committee, like those of us who sit at that table, we can help you, and we can help you deliver a powerful story. And those are the kind of things that legislators, that people who make decisions, that has the greatest impact.
And so I would say in the national landscape as well, what we’re seeing that’s very effective is frequent and consistent messaging from everyday people just like you. And talking about how the power that we hold has a significant impact on your life. That is huge. And then again, the more that folks are sticking together and showing up in spaces together– when we see a crowd of folks at the Capitol, it makes a difference.
And even if we are debating a bill or talking about a bill that we know isn’t going to pass this year or even next year, when we can look at the crowd of people who stand up and make themselves known at the Capitol with a powerful message, that resonates, and it sticks with us. So please keep at it.
[APPLAUSE]
PETER FISCHER: And I’ll add just a little bit more. I think my colleagues have covered most of it very well. When reaching out, it’s much easier today than it used to be in the past. We’ve got advances in technology that has really helped. When I first started 13 years ago, Zoom wasn’t an opportunity. Doing something remote like that did not exist. We have that today.
And all of us here at the table and most of our colleagues are just as happy to meet with people by Zoom as they are in person. And meeting by Zoom is still just as effective, and it’s to the point where we’re even starting to do that in committees, making Zoom opportunities in committee.
And so if you’re ever interested in testifying before a committee, besides sharing your stories with your individual representatives, if you’re feeling comfortable enough and there’s an issue that you would like to make sure you want to be heard, come down either to a committee. Or more importantly, if you see a bill’s going to be there and you can’t be there physically, but you have the time to remote in, ask for that opportunity.
I think that’s one of the things that– I’m of an age where it’s hard for me to always remember, oh, yeah. I’ve got that Zoom capability. And so I know it’s not easy to always remember what’s there in technology. But keep those in mind. Because with what is happening, at least for in the House of Representatives, as we get a new building, we’re going to have much better capabilities than we’ve had in the past. And we’re going to have a space that’s much more welcoming.
So I think the model that we all have is please engage. Please reach out to us. Please share with us, whether it’s by in person, whether it’s by Zoom, email, phones, all available. We love to hear from you. That’s the most effective way. Thank you.
KATIE JONES: And sorry. If I can add one thing. I think the other reason to reach out to us is that I would rather hear from you than from paid lobbyists. They are asking for our time. And it is much easier for me to say, oh, I’m sorry, I have a constituent meeting. So please keep that in mind.
QUINN NYSTROM: And I can assure you that is very true. When a bunch of us diabetes advocates were working to get the Alex Smith Emergency Insulin Act passed, one of the things we did, which we didn’t realize at the time, was to the representatives and the senators who were working on that, we put together just a Word document of people, a little bio of their story, where they were from, and if they were willing to testify. And we gave it to the electeds who were working on it, so that when a hearing came up, they could say, hey, could we get person one and four to testify? Of course, we were more than willing to do it.
And so it was then always, they had different stories that all the different committees, we had to go through. And of course, the pharma lobbyists were always there with their prepared remarks. But I think it wasn’t just my own bias, but we always came off as better, more authentic because we had the lived experience. And even though pharma has a lot more money than us just advocate volunteers, we won, and they lost.
So hopefully that’s encouraging to everybody. And again, even if you don’t know a bill number, even if you don’t know like what you even want to specifically ask, I know that the representatives up here and at the Capitol, they just want to hear from their constituents. They want to hear what’s going on. They want to hear, are you a federal government employee? Even if you think, oh, well, that’s a federal issue. Our state representatives and state senators were set up so that you have more access.
And they can help you, right? If there’s an issue with employee discrimination. This should be a contact for everybody. And so hopefully we can lessen that sort of intimidation factor because you all seem very nice and very approachable. And that you would rather hear from one of us than one of the paid lobbyists.
So we have about just two minutes left to wrap up here. So if you’d each like to either say what you are looking forward to in this session. If there’s, again, a specific issue, or if there is really just any note that you’d like to close on, or if you’re looking for constituents about a certain thing to put kind of a call to action out to the people in this room, and then also the couple hundred people online.
BRION CURRAN: I can start there. I’ll keep my comments brief. I’ve said this multiple times on this panel. I said it on the other panel. Keep showing up. Stay engaged. We hear you. We see you. Some of us share in community with you. So don’t go anywhere. And please let us know how we can help you at every step of the way.
PETER FISCHER: I will say that what I’m looking forward to is continued input not just now, but when we have to start making tough decisions in a couple of months after this session is over, it’s going to be critical for your guidance and input to make sure that as we’re having to make some tough decisions, is what can we tweak to make better, and what are we going to have to sacrifice a little bit?
The best way that’s going to inform me is to hearing from individuals like yourself. Because otherwise, I’m taking a guess. And I can tell you, I’m going to get it wrong because I don’t live with the challenges and barriers that you folks do every day. And I need to hear that experience from you folks to be able to reflect, to make sure we get it right for you.
KATIE JONES: I’m going to talk about transit. So the governor had proposed a $32 million general fund cut in transit, and we are trying to get that restored. He’s using the argument that we passed a lot of– So a sales tax increase in the metro here to now take care of the transit issue. And that was supposed to be expanding our transit service, not cutting it.
So please get in touch with me if you care about transit. We will be having hearings on that in the next couple of weeks here and would love your support.
QUINN NYSTROM: Let’s give all three of them a big round of applause for taking time out of their busy schedule, for wanting to listen to the stories, the advocates. And again, at the end of today, there will be a survey that is sent out. So if you are interested in getting into contact or if you are interested in testifying at one of those hearings, please put that on there because we want to use this as a connector.
And the mission here at this legislative forum for MCD is to bring policy makers together with the disability community, right? And how do we bring us all together and continue those relationships after today I think is the real important thing. So let’s give one more round of applause. Thank you so much for coming today.
PETER FISCHER: Thank you for the opportunity.