Floor speech · February 27, 2025 · 2:30
Let the people doing the work find the savings
- Thank you, Madam Speaker. And frankly, if we're to have the most effective and efficient government in the state, we need to involve the frontline workers, the people who are actually servicing and helping our citizens, to have a greater voice.
- The idea for this bill came when I attended a union meeting, and they said, it's that time of year again, we need someone on a committee to figure out what we're going to spend it on so we don't lose it. And that was sort of a common thing, where you had money left over and you came up with a way of spending it.
- I said to them, what are your feelings if, instead of spending it, you saved it, and half went to the general fund, the other half went to an account where the administration, the workers, or the faculty and the administration, decided with a committee how to spend it to help your mission?
- So this bill is meant to listen to our frontline workers that are helping our citizens, give them that voice, allow them to find savings and efficiencies, and then allow them part of that money to get what they need to do their job. We do a great job of guessing, but oftentimes there's a slightly different need in the departments and at the point of the work.
- And so this bill is meant for efficiency, meant for savings, but also, importantly, is meant for listening to the voice of the workers of our state that are working with our citizens, and then giving them an incentive to be able to get what they really need when they give us savings.
- [The Speaker:] There being 133 yeas and 0 nays, the bill passes.
Minnesota House floor session, 27 February 2025 · House Information Services
About this recording
Rep. Quam presents HF 289, the SAVI bill, as its author. It lets state agencies keep part of what their employees save and decide with their workers how to spend it, with the rest returned to the general fund. It was the first bill to pass the House in the 2025 session, 133-0. The clip is his full explanation of the bill and the announced vote; a friendly amendment adopted in between is left out.
