Lourey wins Senate District 11 DFL primary
Yesterday, voters in Senate District 11 voted to determine who the DFL nominee will be for the special election scheduled for Tuesday, February 5.
The Senate seat became vacant when state Senator Tony Lourey, DFL-Kerrick, resigned in early January to become Governor Tim Walz's Department of Human Services Commissioner.
Stu Lourey
, a former staffer to U.S. Senator Tina Smith and former U.S. Senator Al Franken, won the DFL primary over Michelle Lee 53% to 47%.
Lourey, who is the son of former state Senator Tony Lourey and grandson of former state Senator Becky Lourey, has the support of several labor unions including Education Minnesota, AFSCME Council 5, AFSCME Council 65, MN AFL-CIO, Northeast Area Labor Council, Teamsters Joint Council 32, the Minnesota Nurses Association, and MAPE.
Lourey will face Representative Jason Rarick, R-Pine City, who is serving his third term in the House and represents the southern half of Senate District 11. Third-party candidate John Birrenbach, who is running under the Legal Marijuana Now Party, will also be on the ballot.
Senate District 11 includes all of Pine and Carlton counties, as well as the eastern portion of Kanabec County and a small portion of southern St. Louis County.
House higher education committee learns about Students United
The House Higher Education Finance and Policy committee members heard from Students United yesterday, an independent, non-profit organization funded and operated by students, serving over 65,000 students attending Minnesota State’s seven state universities: Bemidji State University; Minnesota State University, Mankato; Metropolitan State University; Minnesota State University Moorhead; St. Cloud State University; Southwest Minnesota State University; and Winona State University.
State Chair Kayla Shelly and Vice Chair Elijah Norris-Holliday testified regarding the organization’s mission and vision, as well as discussed their legislative agenda. The Students United mission reads, “Led by Minnesota State University students, we are the inclusive voice for all future, current, and former students. We actively work to represent and support Minnesota State University students and advocate at a campus, state, and federal level for higher education policies that make a positive impact for our students and communities.”
The organization’s 2019 legislative agenda includes supporting the
Minnesota State legislative biennial budget request
, as well as a commitment to advocating to uphold the higher education funding policy statute
(135A.01)
that states the Legislature intends to provide at least 67 percent of the cost of public postsecondary education. Students United also supports increased funding for the State Grant program that benefits state university students.
Both Chair Shelly and Vice Chair Norris-Holliday spoke about high levels of debt some students incur. Norris-Holliday attended Winona State University for his undergraduate degree and is currently at Minnesota State University, Mankato working on his master’s degree. He said the top criteria for him in choosing a college was affordability, which he said is why he attended Winona State University.
The committee will continue to hear from organizations regarding their mission, vision and goals. Today, they are scheduled to hear from Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, the Minnesota Private College Council, Inter Faculty Organization (IFO), and Minnesota State College Faculty (MSCF).
Reminder:
for the most recent bill introductions related to higher education, please refer to the
Important Links
below.
______________________________________________________
This Week at the Capitol
Wednesday, January 23
2:30 p.m.
House Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee
Room: 10 State Office Building
Chair: Rep. Connie Bernardy
Agenda:
Fond Du Lac Tribal and Community College: Presentation of Vision, Mission, Goals, and Challenges
Minnesota Private College Council: Presentation of Vision, Mission, Goals, and Challenges
Inter Faculty Organization & Minnesota State College Faculty: Presentation of Vision, Mission, Goals, and Challenges
2:30 p.m.
House Education Policy
Room:
State Office Building Room 5
Chair: Rep. Jim Davnie
Agenda:
Presentations: What Students Bring to the Classroom
Kent Pekel, President and Chief Executive Officer, Search Institute
Angela Jerabek, Executive Director, BARR Center
3:00 p.m.
Senate E-12 Finance and Policy
Room: 1100 Minnesota Senate Bldg.
Chair: Sen. Carla J. Nelson
Agenda: Federal education grants in Minnesota - a presentation by MDE
Thursday, January 24
8:00 a.m.
House Capital Investment
Room: 10 State Office Building
Chair: Rep. Mary Murphy
Agenda:
A tutorial on how local units of government and political subdivisions navigate the complexities of submitting a capital investment budget request to the state.
• Minnesota Management and Budget Office
Continuation of Reports from January 15, 17, and 22 meetings if needed.
9:45 a.m.
House Agriculture and Food Finance and Policy
Room: 200 State Office Building
Chair: Rep. Jeanne Poppe
Agenda:
Department of Agriculture presentation on services for farm stress and rural mental health support
-HF232 (Poppe) – Providing additional funding for statewide mental health counseling support farm families and business operators and the farm advocates program
-HF82 (Kiel) – Providing additional funding for statewide mental health counseling support farm families and business operators
9:45 a.m.
House Government Operations
Room: B State Office Building
Chair: Rep. Mike Freiberg
Agenda: HF13 (Kunesh-Podein): Gender equality provided for under the law, and constitutional amendment proposed.
HF71 (Moran): Equal rights; a resolution memorializing Congress to remove the deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution by the states.
11:00 a.m.
Senate in Session
1:00 p.m.
Senate Higher Education Finance and Policy
Room: 15 Capitol
Chair: Sen. Paul Anderson
Agenda: Presentation from the University of Minnesota Medical Discovery Teams
3:30 p.m.
House in Session
Friday, January 25
9:30 a.m.
Senate E-12 Finance and Policy
Room: 1200 Minnesota Senate Bldg.
Chair: Sen. Carla J. Nelson
Agenda:
The P-TECH School Model - A new 6 year public school model focused on STEM fields and Career and Technical Education
Tuesday, January 29
8:00 a.m.
House Jobs and Economic Development Finance
Room: 200 State Office Building
Chair: Rep. Tim Mahoney
Agenda: Overview from the Department of Employment and Economic Development
