Posse Caucus, advocates urge lawmakers to protect earned sick time and MinnesotaCare expansion for undocumented residents

Representative Cedrick Frazier, co-chair of the Posse Caucus, and community advocates called on Minnesota lawmakers to preserve policies enacted since 2023, saying recent proposals in a divided government would roll back benefits for workers, students and immigrant communities.

The advocates focused on two central items: earned sick and safe time (ESST), passed in 2023 and currently used by workers across the state, and the 2023 MinnesotaCare provision that extended coverage to some undocumented residents. They said Republican proposals in the Senate to create employer-size carve-outs and repeal the MinnesotaCare expansion would remove benefits from tens of thousands of Minnesotans and worsen uncompensated emergency care costs.

"Sick is sick. It doesn't matter if you work in a small business in the metro or as a farm worker in Greater Minnesota," Amanda Otero, co-executive director of TakeAction Minnesota, said. Otero said Senate proposals would "take away earned sick and safe time from over a hundred thousand workers who have been…