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State Rep. Rachel Baker tells Woodlawn officials she is fighting cuts to lead prevention and urging property tax relief
Summary
State Rep. Rachel Baker (House District 27) visited the Woodlawn council to introduce herself, describe her health-focused committee work, say she voted no on the state operating budget and warn that lead-prevention funding in the state budget was cut sharply; she offered to connect the village to state resources for maternal-child health and environmental health.
State Rep. Rachel Baker, newly representing the area after redistricting, attended the Village of Woodlawn council meeting Aug. 26 to meet residents and discuss state-level issues that could affect the village.
Baker described her background as a nurse and nurse researcher and said she sits on health-related committees. She told the council she voted "no" on the recently passed state operating budget and said the governor vetoed 67 line items; she urged local officials to ask senators not to override vetoes affecting property-tax policy. "I voted no on it," Baker said of the budget, and she urged pressure on senators to avoid overrides that could increase property taxes.
Baker also warned the council about lead-prevention funding cuts. According to her briefing at the meeting, the state has previously funded about $7,000,000 a year for lead prevention, but recent changes left roughly $250,000 for the entire state in the latest budget. "We, in this latest budget, cut almost all of the lead funding out of the state budget... $250,000 for the entire state," she said. She said she is working to fight those cuts and to connect local leaders to any opportunities for assistance.
A public commenter (no name given in the transcript) told the council Woodlawn faces elevated health risks and cited local figures: "the village of Woodlawn had 66 asthma-related ER visits" in 2023–24, higher-than-average life-expectancy concerns, and that 16% of residents live in poverty; the commenter asked whether the representative could help secure environmental health funding and strengthen maternal-child programs.
Baker responded that the county has some programs and that she would connect the village to state and county contacts, provide deadlines for capital-budget opportunities and follow up on infant-mortality work and lead-prevention connections. Council members invited the representative to stay in touch and asked staff to coordinate a follow-up conversation.
