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Coulter

Friends and neighbors, 

It’s good to be back in Saint Paul! We’ve hit the ground running with legislation we’ve been working on for the past several months. Input from the community over the past few weeks has been incredibly valuable as we dive into issues touching all corners of the state. I’ll be serving on the Children and Families, Elections, and Higher Education committees again, as well as the Rules committee.  

As we officially begin the work of the 2025 session, my top priorities remain making child care and early education more affordable, and supporting students at our colleges and universities. It’s also vital that we protect the progress we made over the past two years, especially when it comes to accessibility and protections of our elections system.



While I’m excited to be back, the temporary Republican control of the House is off to a rough start as they introduce dangerous bills that would seriously harm Minnesotans. Republicans have already introduced several bills that would be incredibly dangerous for our students, neighbors, health care systems, reproductive freedoms, transit, and communities. In the Children and Families Committee, we heard the so-called “Parents Bill of Rights”. Despite its name, this bill would allow parents to granularly dictate what their children learn in schools, blocking curriculum and content they don’t agree with. It would also make it easier for vaccine denial, endangering all of our kids to previously eradicated diseases that are now on the rise due to vaccine distrust. In short, it would give people more power to parent other kids and less power to parent their own. 

Another bill puts our immigrant communities in danger by starkly increasing the cost of health care and education for them. At a time where the Trump Administration has made its intentions of mass deportations clear, our neighbors are depending on us to keep them safe from persecution. This is a step in the wrong direction – and deeper into white nationalism.  

Some others bills include gutting the Read Act [ [link removed] ] that we passed last year to improve student literacy rates, halting Paid Family Leave [ [link removed] ] from going into effect, banning trans youth from sports [ [link removed] ], tearing down gun permiting safety measures [ [link removed] ], requiring local law enforcement to turn over data on undocumented people to ICE [ [link removed] ], giving money to anti-abortion organizations [ [link removed] ], stripping the Governor’s power [ [link removed] ], and rolling back DEI & ethnic studies requirements [ [link removed] ] in schools – and that’s just the first 30 bills introduced out of hundreds.  

Thankfully, no bill can pass off the House Floor without bipartisan support since, constitutionally, 68 votes are required. While DFLers will be able to block these bad bills, this is clearly a display of the Trump playbook right here in Minnesota – and a clear statement of what Republicans would do if they were to win majorities in our Legislature. It’s also a pre-cursor to what we are up against later in the session when it comes time to negotiate to complete a state budget. I hope that Republicans will work with us in good faith to deliver for the state, but I want to be clear: Democrats refuse to allow it to cost of the liberties and rights of Minnesotans. 

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Effects of Federal Funding Freezes in Minnesota

While we combat the Trump playbook in the State House, we’re also faced with the direct effects through federal funding freezes. The Trump Administration's actions immediately jeopardize [ [link removed] ] state programs that provide critical health and child care services to families in need, deliver support to public schools, combat hate crimes and violence against women, provide life-saving disaster relief, and more. Here in Minnesota, these freezes have also put medical research and advancements on hold indefinitely at both Mayo and the University of Minnesota. Minnesota is a leader in medical innovation, and the actions of this Administration is directly stalling that progress on things like cancer research. These freezes could also have major impacts on the child care assistance program and Head Start, which allows Minnesotans who otherwise could not afford child care to participate in our workforce.  

We’re working to limit the effects of this uncertainty, and I will keep you updated as we learn more.  

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A Word of Hope

KINDNESS

While we face turbulence both nationally and here in the Minnesota House, I want to leave you with a note of lightness and hope for the future.

I recently had the chance to visit South Metro Childcare Academy, where I got to see how much fun their kiddos have learning. They had this mural in student view that serves as a good reminder for all of us as we navigate hard times and harder conversations with loved ones in the coming years: kindness is a gift everyone can afford to give.  



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Stay Connected

To stay up to date with our important work at the State Capitol, you can see the Minnesota House of Public Information Services’ nonpartisan recaps of high-profile bills, committee hearings, and floor sessions with their Session Daily [ [link removed] ] publication. 

You can also stay up-to-date with the latest by following my Facebook page [ [link removed] ]. 

To share your input or ideas, or if I can ever be of assistance, please feel free to reach out at [email protected] or 651-296-4218, and I will be happy to help. If you were forwarded this email and you’d like to subscribe, click here [ [link removed] ]. If you have a friend or neighbor who would be interested in receiving these, please forward this and encourage them to subscribe. 

 

Thank you, as always, for the honor of serving you.   

 

Rep. Nathan Coulter 

 






Representative Nathan Coulter

5th Floor, Centennial Office Building
658 Cedar St.
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155

Phone: 651-296-4218
Email: [email protected] "(replies to this newsletter are not monitored)"
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Legislative Assistant: Helen Flock, 651-297-8409







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