Page 2

2323 MN Senate
Building Capitol Update—January 31, 2019
95 University Ave W
St. Paul, MN 55155
• I serve on the follow-
ing committees:
Health and Human
Services Policy & Fi- January 31, 2019 SD 50 —Bloomington, Richfield
nance, Commerce and
Consumer Protection
Finance and Policy, and Committee Work Begins In Earnest
Local Government.
Now that the legislative St. Cloud).
• I’m proud to author session is well under way, com-
the Alec Smith Emer- mittees have begun to meet Also on January 22nd, the
gency Insulin Act. more regularly. The commit- Local Government Committee
tees that I serve on cover a heard from the new Chair of
• I’m also looking for- wide variety of issue areas and the Metropolitan Council, Nora
ward to meeting with state departments, and the com- Slawik. Chair Slawik is a former
Bloomington and Rich- mittee activity I’ve been a part legislator and mayor of Maple-
field residents about of reflects that. wood, and I look forward to
issues that are being
working with her to address the
discussed this year. It’s common for committees regional planning and infrastruc-
• My Senate website is to begin the legislative session ture issues that the Met Council
www.senate.mn/ with presentations from rele- is responsible for.
vant state departments. On
senatorwiklund January 17th, the Health and The following day, the Com-
Human Services Finance and merce and Consumer Protec-
How to contact me
Policy Committee heard from tion Finance and Policy Commit-
at the Capitol: staff with the Department of tee heard a presentation from children that you may have
Human Services regarding man- Commerce Commissioner Ste-
aged care procurement, and heard about.
ve Kelley, a former Senator and
Phone: how the department determines member of the Commerce
651-297-8061 which plans participate in public I’m looking forward to con-
Committee. tinuing to work with my col-
health programs. On the 22nd,
we heard from the Department leagues as budget and policy
E-mail: of Health regarding adverse On January 24th, the HHS discussions move forward this
sen.melissa.wiklund childhood events, as well as Committee heard a bill that year, and I hope you’ll keep in
hearing the first bill of the year, arose from a news story about touch with me if you have ques-
@senate.mn
authored by Sen. Jerry Relph (R- food stands operated by tions about any issues.

Representative
Michael Howard
(50A)
651-296-7158 Listening Session with Local Legislators
rep.michael.howard I hope you’ll be able to join
@house.mn
talk about the 2019 session. Minnesota History:
me for a listening session with
our other district legislators! The listening session will be On February 1st, 1886,
Representative This Saturday, February 2nd, held at Northwestern Health St. Paul’s first Winter
Andrew Carlson Sciences University (2501 W
Representative Andrew Carlson
84th St, Bloomington) in Lec- Carnival opens, featuring
(50B) (DFL-Bloomington), Repre-
651-296-4218 sentative Michael Howard (DFL- ture Room 2, from 10-11:30am. competitions in curling,
rep.andrew.carlson Richfield), and I will be hosting a This will be an opportunity for skating, and ice polo, as
district residents to directly
@house.mn listening session to hear from
share your thoughts and ques-
well as the first ice pal-
neighbors about the issues
they’re concerned about, and tions with us, and I hope you’ll ace in the United States.
take advantage of it.
Page 2 Capitol Update —January 31, 2019

Alec Smith Emergency Insulin Act Introduced

Last week, I was proud to join a bipartisan
group of legislators at a press conference to
announce a series of bills focused on addressing
the skyrocketing costs of insulin. Patients with
Type 1 diabetes depend on regular access to
insulin, and far too many, sadly, are unable to
afford it. I was proud to have the opportunity to
join my colleagues, including Senator Matt Little
(DFL-Lakeville), Senator Melisa Franzen (DFL-
Edina), Sen. Scott Jensen (R-Chaska), and Rep.
Howard, to bring visibility to this crisis.
I’m the Senate author of S.F. 472, the Alec
Smith Emergency Insulin Act, named for a Rich-
field resident who died in 2017 after being faced
with just such a circumstance. S.F. 472, authored
by Rep. Howard in the House, would provide a
way for those who face the highest costs for
their insulin, the uninsured, to receive an emer-
gency supply at no cost, with demonstrated fi-
nancial need. It will also allow pharmacists to fill
an insulin prescription on an emergency basis if
the prescription has expired.
These bills came out of the work done by
legislators that began with a roundtable discus-
sion last December. The discussion included
Alec Smith’s parents, who have bravely told
Alec’s story, and continue to take action to try
and prevent similar tragedies from happening in
the future.
I’m hopeful that progress can be made, and
drug companies and insurance companies will be
held accountable. We must change the focus of
the conversation to patients and their needs,
rather than stock prices and profits for insurance
companies and drug manufacturers.

Information on Bills
My office often gets questions about which
bills have been introduced and on what subjects.
Every legislative session, thousands of bills are
introduced, and they can run the gamut on top-
ics—from agriculture to zipper merges.
One of the most common questions I get is
how to track bills, and where they are in the
process. The best place to get information about
bills is the website of the Revisor of Statutes.
The Revisor’s office is responsible for drafting
bills and amendments. You can access the Revi-
sor’s website at www.revisor.mn.gov. From
there, you can search for bills by number (H.F.
for House bills, S.F. for Senate), keyword, au-
thors, topic, or committee.
Once you find the bill you’re looking for, you
can see where it’s awaiting action (either in com-
mittee or by the full Senate on the floor), see
who the authors are, read the language, and
access other information.
It’s important to remember, as well, that the
legislature operates on a two-year (biennial)
cycle, so bills that are introduced in the odd
years are still viable in even years, but will not be
viable once a new biennium begins.

Looking Ahead...
In the coming weeks, I look forward to meeting with
Ginny Arthur, the president of Metropolitan State Universi-
ty, about cybersecurity, as well as the City Manager and Di-
rector of Public Works with the City of Richfield. I’m also
anticipating a breakfast meeting with Richfield legislators, and
City elected officials and staff, and meetings with constitu-
ents representing Certified Public Accountants, physical
therapy students, the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition, the
Minnesota Nurses Associations, and private college students.
If you have time, I hope you’ll stop by the Capitol and say
Senator Wiklund confers with Sens. Chuck
“Hi!” otherwise, I’ll see you around town! Wiger (DFL-Maplewood) and Susan Kent (DFL-
Woodbury) on the Senate floor