Democratic party delivers for Minnesota

[RandomGuy]

We have long known that Republicans tend to mis-manage states, leading to credit downgrades, poverty, ignorance, and well, death.

Now we get to see what happens when Democrats enact their ideas.

Paid Family And Medical Leave
In May, Walz signed into law a bill creating paid leave for family and medical needs regardless of where someone works. It can be used for a wide range of situations, like the birth or adoption of a child (as long as it’s used within 12 months of the event, blessed or not), or to care for an ill family member, or for one’s own illness, as well as a number of others. No, not for vacation time.

Maximum leave is up to 12 weeks per event, and no more than 20 weeks per calendar year, and since illnesses don’t necessarily fit into neat boxes, the leave time doesn’t have to be consecutive, like if someone needs several days off at multiple times for treatment. People using their leave will be able to return to their prior job or an equivalent one when they come back.

Minnesota is one of several states that saw how monthly payments to low-income families with kids dramatically cut child poverty and decided that would be an excellent idea at the state level,
Minnesota passed its version of the refundable tax credit in June, funding it with $900 million over the next two years to provide up to $1,750 per child for families making up to $35,000 and filing jointly (or $29,500) single). After that, the credit tapers off with higher income, so the benefits will mostly go to the lowest-income families who need it most. And as with the Biden version, it’s fully refundable, so folks who owe less in taxes than the amount of the credit still get the full amount.

The credit will be a one-time payment at first, starting when people file their 2023 state taxes, but the state Department of Revenue is authorized to split it into installments once it has the administrative capacity — which may take a year or more to put in place.

Affordable Housing
On party-line votes, the state Lege approved county tax increases that will raise $1 billion over five years for affordable housing. It’s the first time the state has ever dedicated a tax hike for housing, . Among other things, the package boosts funding for emergency rental assistance to keep people in their homes; provides help for low-income home buyers; creates a state housing voucher program similar to the federal Section Eight program; retrofits older public housing with sprinkler systems; and includes funding to help people in mobile homes buy land if they’re threatened with eviction for redevelopment.

Give EVERYBODY Eat At School
Minnesota is yet another state to jump on the hot new trend of requiring schools to provide free meals to all students in public and charter schools, regardless of income. That’s expected to improve student performance, cut down on bureaucracy, and give rightwing dip s the opportunity to write snippy letters to the editor pointing out as pedantically as possible that it’s not free, it’s paid for by the taxpayer, and if that makes those pinched souls feel better, hooray for them. As of June, there were six states providing taxpayer-funded school meals to all kids, and more are likely in the works.

a big package of labor reforms that includes

A prohibition on non-compete clauses (but existing agreements will remain in place)

Mandated paid sick days for workers (one hour per 30 hours worked, up to 48 hours of sick time a year)

A ban on captive-audience meetings where workers have to listen to anti-union propaganda. The law also bans required attendance at religious or political meetings

Protections for meat packers — none of whom can be children, unlike some other states — and Amazon warehouse workers, who will have to be informed of work quotas and how their performance is measured

Allowing teachers’ unions to negotiate teacher-to student ratios

Creation of a new panel to set labor standards for workers in nursing homes

Provisions to prevent wage theft by construction contractors

Voting Rights Restoration
Walz and the Lege just won’t stop with all the freedom stuff, either. Legislation passed in March restores the voting rights of felons once they’ve completed their prison sentences. That instantly made at least 50,000 Minnesotans eligible to vote again; they had completed their prison sentences but were still unable to vote because they were on parole or probation. [MPR]

Transgender, Abortion Rights
In response to all the rightwing states trying to legislate trans people back into the closet with measures banning healthcare and trans iden y, Gov. Walz in March signed one of the nation’s strongest executive orders protecting trans rights and prohibiting state agencies from cooperating with other states’ efforts to come after trans youth, their families, and providers of gender-affirming care.
The state Lege followed that up in April with bills enshrining the right to reproductive healthcare and gender-affirming care, and another bill prohibiting “conversion” therapy. Walz said after signing them, “In Minnesota, we’re protecting rights – not taking them away.”

And finally, starting yesterday, recreational cannabis became legal in the state for adults 21 and over, after Walz signed a legalization measure into law in May, making Minnesota the 23rd state to allow the gentle bud. The state still hasn’t figured out the details of licensing dispensaries yet, so they may not open statewide until 2024 or even 2025. But the licensing scheme won’t apply to tribal governments, which are free to open dispensaries independently sooner. One dispensary on the Red Lake Nation, which had already carried medicinal cannabis under the state’s earlier law, began recreational sales yesterday to tribal and non-tribal members. Other tribes are likely to open dispensaries soon.

Possession of up to two ounces in public is no longer a crime, and individuals may have up to eight plants at home, but only four flowering at a time. Other rules ‘splained here.

The law will also seal low-level criminal records starting this month; the process may take longer for folks with more complicated records; a board is being created to help past Pot Criminals clear their records (mostly jazz and Allman Brothers, we understand). Cases involving firearms or violence, prolly not, sorry. Some 66,000 misdemeanor offenses are likely to be expunged under the new law.

https://www.wonkette.com/p/minnesota...-shoving-it-in

[Thread]

We have long known that Republicans tend to mis-manage states, leading to credit downgrades, poverty, ignorance, and well, death.

Now we get to see what happens when Democrats enact their ideas.


















https://www.wonkette.com/p/minnesota...-shoving-it-in

And they spawned that Floyd ...got LeBron so directed that he had to deliver an NBA le to White men.

ha, ha.

[Millennial_Messiah]

If the Dems weren't such hypocrites, they would pass equal, sex-blind parental leave. That is already mandated in Europe. Also, why should men always get the short end of the stick, and have to go back to work the day after their child is born? Or even miss the day of delivery because they can't afford to spend a costly PTO day & they're out of "sick" days.

Democrat policy is why single motherhood is at an all-time high in the USA, and for all accounts the USA leads the world in a very dubious statistic, amount of single mothers per capita ("female householders with no male adult present") per household/ per capita.

That's merica for you in a nuts . Leftist, Marxist, pro-divorce, pro-misandry, the single motherhood capital of the world

[clambake]

You had a kid out of wedlock

[Millennial_Messiah]

You had a kid out of wedlock

Nope, actually we've been married legally since late 2016 (else she would have had to leave the USA within 90 days back then) & the divorce is in progress. I'm trying to pay a settlement and get out of monthly child support. Process has been long and a doozy. Fortunately the divorce is in an equitable distribution state and not Texas.

I've had relationships with lots of other women in the mean time, but my relationship with the woman I legally married was over for all practical purposes in 2017, outside of a couple times a year up until 2020 where we'd meet, she'd make me dinner, i'd give her a little money and we'd have sex once or twice... one of them accidentally conceived a baby girl. I say accidentally because she said she was on the pill and she'd just been out of brain surgery and she wasn't in healthy condition for a pregnancy at the time.

[clambake]

Trying to get out of it huh?

[clambake]

If you could only see what we see

[FrostKing]

Looks like the policies are driving away normal middle-class Americans tbh