Elliot Schatz, Nova
Youth Gov. Anne Guidera and Lt. Gov. Dane Germany each signed their first official bills into effect in a virtual joint ceremony at 2 p.m. Thursday. The governor signed bill No. 5307: An Act to Offer Inoculation Against COVID-19 to All Immunocompromised Inmates in Minnesota Correctional Facilities by Eleanor Smith from St. Paul Academy. The lieutenant governor signed bill No. 1200: An Act to Require Free Pads and Tampons in Public Schools by Halle Browning from Eastern Carver County.
The Youth Secretary of State Jack Teske first welcomed everyone to the event and then introduced the lieutenant governor. The lieutenant governor then introduced the bill he was signing and the author of the bill, Halle Browning. He signed the bill and the Secretary of State officiated it, and the bill was stamped. This process was repeated by the governor and the author of the bill she signed, Eleanor Smith.
The first bill signed, No. 1200, requires middle and high schools to provide free pads and tampons in their restrooms. The intention is to eliminate the need for some students to miss school because of their periods and help reduce period poverty and shaming.
Bill No. 5307 moves immunocompromised inmates into Phase 1 of distributing the COVID-19 vaccine. The author reasons that it is difficult to socially distance behind bars and that other immunocompromised people are already planned to be included in this phase.
These bills correspond with what the governor and lieutenant governor have stated as their policy on their website; they want to direct more funding to education and reduce gaps that hurt students. They also say that they want to provide COVID-19 vaccines only “to those who cannot access them by other means.”
This was just the first of hopefully many bill signings at this Model Assembly conference.