TakeAction Minnesota Celebrates Session Wins that Put People Over Corporate Greed

Saint Paul, Minn. – TakeAction Minnesota today celebrated the signing of Paid Family Medical Leave and a budget that makes major strides toward putting people above corporate profits – including victories decades in the making to secure paid sick leave, health care access, and drug affordability. In addition to leadership in policy design, TakeAction Minnesota executed a robust field and organizing program, reaching out through canvassing and phonebanking to 391,324 Minnesotans, having 12,318 conversations, and leading 6387 people to take action on these bills this legislative session.

“For decades, people-first organizations have organized to stop corporate-backed policies that put profits ahead of the needs of Minnesota workers, immigrants and families,” said Amanda Otero, deputy director of TakeAction Minnesota. “While greedy corporations fought tooth and nail to protect their profits, we joined a diverse coalition of partners and state leaders to turn the tide. This session’s foundational wins for workers, health care access, and clean air and water are just the beginning and we won’t stop until we build a Minnesota where all of us can live in joy no matter where we live, what we look like, or how old we are. We thank lawmakers for these historic wins and will continue our efforts to make our jobs fairer, our communities safer, our healthcare more accessible, our economy more sustainable, and corporations less powerful. Minnesota, we are just getting started.”

In coalition with other people-first organizations, labor unions, and numerous Minnesotans from all over the state, TakeAction brought organizing and power to the Capitol to advocate for Earned Sick and Safe Time, a nation-leading Prescription Drug Affordability Board, a public option that will broaden access to affordable health care, and a Cumulative Impacts bill to build up environmental protections for overburdened communities.

Years of organizing and policy advocacy finally paid off as the Minnesota Legislature passed those landmark policy wins. TakeAction Minnesota also worked in coalition with organizations and lawmakers to support many other people-first provisions that advance reproductive rights, 100% clean energy, public education funding, workers rights, and many more priorities.