Sandra Feist
Name: Sandra Feist
Email: [email protected]
Campaign Phone: 651-492-8389
Campaign Website: www.feistforhouse.org
Twitter handle: Inactive
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/FeistForHouse
Candidate Bio
Sandra Feist is an immigration lawyer who was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2020. She founded her law firm in 2010, which currently employs a team of 14. She continues to manage operations and practice law in addition to serving in the House.
At the legislature, she has focused extensively on criminal legal reform and education policy, as well as protecting Minnesota’s natural resources. Her successes include two groundbreaking bills expanding restorative justice in Minnesota – the Veterans Restorative Justice Act and the new Office of Restorative Practices. In addition, she secured funding to begin the process of a 50-Year Clean Water Action Plan, which is critical to Minnesota’s economic future and the wellbeing of future generations. She has also achieved advances for vulnerable seniors through new legal protections and rights. Last session, she also championed bipartisan legislation to address the disruptive impact of cellphones in schools.
Throughout Rep. Feist’s career, she has focused on bipartisan collaboration. As the Democratic Lead of the Legislature’s Civility Caucus, she collaborates with Republican colleagues and the Office of Collaboration and Dispute Resolution to create opportunities for legislators to develop relationships that lower the temperature and increase effective communication across party lines.
What would be your top three priorities if elected? How might these priorities be affected by the state's projected economic outlook?
Priority 1: Protect and invest in our natural resources for future generations. In particular, I will prioritize completing the 50-year Clean Water Action Plan effort I commenced last term, securing funding for initial development. Water is a vital factor in production, so diminishing water supplies translates into slower economic growth across multiple sectors. This bill takes a multidisciplinary approach to the study, so we can also example environmental justice areas of concern and ensure that all communities can equally access essential clean water stores. Most recent data shows that Minnesota has nearly 3,000 impaired water bodies. This is a matter of urgent concern to the future of our state.
Priority 2: Make our legal systems more just and effective. Over my first two terms, I have focused extensively on enhancing our legal systems to ensure that all Minnesotans are treated equally, and that we achieve our public safety goals through our systems of penalty, supervision, and fines. I championed a generational reform of our probation system, created an innovative Office of Restorative Practices, and led on numerous initiatives ensuring that seniors and low-income Minnesotans can assert their rights under the law. Needless to say, safety and security is directly tied to the economic health of our state and local communities. Further, a system of justice that reduces recidivism and centers rehabilitation will ensure that more Minnesotans are able to contribute to the economy to their full potential.
Priority 3: Ensure that all children in Minnesota have access to high-quality public school education. The State has a responsibility to ensure equitable access to education. This means that we are investing in educational professionals, in school infrastructure, and that we are strategically deploying resources to the communities that need extra supports. I have led the effort to reform “compensatory revenue,” the portion of the education budget that targets funding towards students struggling to meet academic standards. I will continue this effort to ensure a new formula passes into law and we can update a flawed formula.
How would you characterize the business climate in the East Metro? Please elaborate on your answer.
I’m excited by the trajectory of the economy in my district, which encompasses the southern part of New Brighton, most of Columbia Heights, and all of St. Anthony. I’m excited by the investment in rental housing that will provide the density that is essential to enticing more businesses to the area. I also see a moment of opportunity in the post-COVID, hybrid workplace world for business growth outside of the core metro and into the suburbs. While I eventually decided to keep my law office in downtown Minneapolis, I first conducted an extensive search in the suburbs for a space that may work just as well and was more affordable. I anticipate that many downtown businesses and employees are also exploring opportunities outside of the downtown corridors.
Please characterize your perspective on the ideal collaboration between government and the business community when it comes to tackling challenges whether they be education, housing, or workforce development? Do you feel the outcomes of the 2023-2024 legislative session positively or negatively impacted that collaboration and our state's business climate?
The 2023-2024 term brought into relief the ways in which the business community and the legislature sometimes talk past one another rather than diving into the details to collaborate on legislation. In a divided legislature, advocates had different tools to simply stop legislative progress. Over time, my impression is that there was an over-reliance on these tools rather than a desire for true communication and dialogue.
The 2023-2024 trifecta session was a “shock to the system” and it took a minute for stakeholders to pivot from stonewalling to collaboration. My personal experience was that this pivot did occur and I was able to directly communicate with the business community on bills I carried that impacted their interests, such as the Construction Worker Wage Theft Prevention Act, the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act, legislation impacting manufactured housing owners and residents, and my property tax forfeiture bill. Whether or not we came to full agreement, these productive conversations led to modifications of my bills and I appreciated the input.
My hope is that we’ve all learned some lessons and built foundations for more trusting and deep relationships that will serve Minnesota well in future terms.
What policies, if any, would you support to help employers address our state’s critical labor shortage?
I am incredibly excited about the Office of New Americans, which was made permanent and funded by legislation I chief authored in the House in 2023. This office, within the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), will ensure that new immigrant and refugee residents in Minnesota will be able to efficiently and effectively integrate into our workforce. Common issues involve language barriers to training and employment, transportation access, and licensure issues as professionals from other countries transition their careers to Minnesota in fields such as engineering, dentistry, and education.
I am also the chief author of the North STAR Act, which will create constraints on state and local government agencies collaborating with the federal government when it is for the sole purpose of civil immigration enforcement (collaboration for other purposes, such as crime prevention, are fully permissible). This will ensure that our law enforcement, our schools, our courts, our health clinics, etc. will be able to focus on their core mission of serving the community and immigrant residents will not hesitate to participate in these governmental services. This bill will ensure that immigrants are truly able to fully contribute to our state and economy.
To quote the 2021 Minnesota Chamber of Commerce report: “The success of Minnesota’s economy, both now and in the future, is intrinsically linked to Minnesota’s immigrant communities.” The report’s key finding included this: “Immigrants link Minnesota to the world economy and make valuable and meaningful contributions to our state as employees, entrepreneurs, consumers and taxpayers.”
The 2023-2024 Legislature passed many new mandates on employers, such as Paid Family Medical Leave, Earned Safe and Sick Time, and Worker Misclassification penalties. Do you support the PFML program in its current form or do you believe there needs to be further refinement before the program comes into effect in January 2026? If elected, what steps would you take to understand the impact of a proposal on the many types of businesses in the East Metro and how would you define any exceptions to those policies?
As a small business owner myself, I can share thoughts from personal experience. The Earned Sick and Safe Time went into effect this January. We spent some time figuring out how to ensure that we were in compliance in terms of incorporating information into our employees’ paychecks. My policy is more generous than the ESST requirements, so the leave will not impact our operations. The protections under the ESST bill are truly nominal and the bare minimum that all Minnesotans deserve. I am in regular conversation with other business owners and am open to hearing thoughts about implementation challenges, but at its core, I feel very passionately that this leave is akin to a human right and I’m very proud of this legislation.
Regarding Paid Family Medical Leave, I’ve made sure to ask probing questions of my colleagues as we passed the initial legislation and then the 2024 update to the legislation that incorporated additional input from stakeholders. My feeling is that this will benefit my employees and my firm. In fact, as I look at my benefits package, I believe that this legislation will eventually save me money, provide more support to my employees, and ensure continuity of employees when they need to take unexpected leave. The associated tax – especially for small businesses such as mine – is truly nominal. If the amount is significant, it is because the company in question is significantly larger and more profitable than mine, and I feel strongly that they can and should make this investment in their employees and Minnesota’s economic stability.
All of that said, our statutes should be “a living document” and there is always opportunity to incorporate real-world input into the ways we craft our laws. I am certain that as ESST and PFML are implemented that there will be lessons learned and we will make updates accordingly to ensure that they function as intended.
What are your strategies to address public safety challenges in your district and the state?
As described above in my biographic details and priorities, I am focused extensively on public safety concerns to ensure that we pivot from an ineffective, unjust system of public safety to one where we center the needs of the people who have been harmed, the person who is struggling and causing public safety risks, and the needs of the community. I am very excited about this bipartisan policy space where we have made deep investments in our system of corrections, our public safety professionals, and in supporting victims of crime.
How would you work to improve transportation options in the district/state, including improved safety for transit riders, pedestrian/bike, and drivers alike?
We need to continue to make investments in multi-modal transportation systems that expand from the metro area into the suburbs and beyond. In my district, I would like to see significant expansion of public transit. These types of investments require prioritization of transportation amidst many competing priorities. Ultimately, transportation access is closely interrelated to business growth and we need to continue to build on the historic transportation budget from 2023.
What ideas do you have to address housing shortages and affordability?
I am supportive of the bipartisan efforts to adjust zoning laws to encourage more construction of affordable and other housing. This is a complex issue that will require additional stakeholder dialogue and development, but ultimately, the research and reporting in this area is clear that “NIMBYism” is getting in the way of affordable housing development.
In the context of manufactured housing communities, I am interested in exploring additional funding and reforms to encourage and facilitate resident-owned communities. I’ve worked closely with these communities in previous terms and we’ve made good progress on this front. Manufactured housing is the most plentiful form of affordable housing in Minnesota and represents a huge opportunity.
In light of projected budget deficit/"structural imbalance," what are your priorities for the State's budget?
I understand a “projected budget deficit” and a “structural imbalance” to be very different things. A “budget deficit” describes a budget that anticipates spending more money than anticipated revenue within the budget cycle. On the other hand, a “structural imbalance” exists when current spending exceeds projected revenue in a future biennium. A structural imbalance can and should be addressed through adjustments in the balance of revenue and expenditures in the next budget cycle, which undoubtedly it will be regardless of which political party is in control.
The next budget year will give the Legislature the opportunity to ensure that we address investment and taxation policy with an eye towards a healthy economy and a thoughtful approach. Seeing as every Monthly Revenue Update that we have received since the passage of the historic 2023 budget year has shown that state general fund revenues have exceeded projections, I am feeling very confident in the health of Minnesota’s finances. As of this writing, the most recent difference was $170 Million greater corporate income taxes received than projected. Each month that has passed, we have received an update that corporate income tax has been higher than anticipated, indicating healthy corporate revenues.
All of that said, my personal priorities for the State’s budget remain the same – I would like to prioritize children through a robust Education budget as well as an emphasis on youth within the Public Safety budget.
Email: [email protected]
Campaign Phone: 651-492-8389
Campaign Website: www.feistforhouse.org
Twitter handle: Inactive
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/FeistForHouse
Candidate Bio
Sandra Feist is an immigration lawyer who was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2020. She founded her law firm in 2010, which currently employs a team of 14. She continues to manage operations and practice law in addition to serving in the House.
At the legislature, she has focused extensively on criminal legal reform and education policy, as well as protecting Minnesota’s natural resources. Her successes include two groundbreaking bills expanding restorative justice in Minnesota – the Veterans Restorative Justice Act and the new Office of Restorative Practices. In addition, she secured funding to begin the process of a 50-Year Clean Water Action Plan, which is critical to Minnesota’s economic future and the wellbeing of future generations. She has also achieved advances for vulnerable seniors through new legal protections and rights. Last session, she also championed bipartisan legislation to address the disruptive impact of cellphones in schools.
Throughout Rep. Feist’s career, she has focused on bipartisan collaboration. As the Democratic Lead of the Legislature’s Civility Caucus, she collaborates with Republican colleagues and the Office of Collaboration and Dispute Resolution to create opportunities for legislators to develop relationships that lower the temperature and increase effective communication across party lines.
What would be your top three priorities if elected? How might these priorities be affected by the state's projected economic outlook?
Priority 1: Protect and invest in our natural resources for future generations. In particular, I will prioritize completing the 50-year Clean Water Action Plan effort I commenced last term, securing funding for initial development. Water is a vital factor in production, so diminishing water supplies translates into slower economic growth across multiple sectors. This bill takes a multidisciplinary approach to the study, so we can also example environmental justice areas of concern and ensure that all communities can equally access essential clean water stores. Most recent data shows that Minnesota has nearly 3,000 impaired water bodies. This is a matter of urgent concern to the future of our state.
Priority 2: Make our legal systems more just and effective. Over my first two terms, I have focused extensively on enhancing our legal systems to ensure that all Minnesotans are treated equally, and that we achieve our public safety goals through our systems of penalty, supervision, and fines. I championed a generational reform of our probation system, created an innovative Office of Restorative Practices, and led on numerous initiatives ensuring that seniors and low-income Minnesotans can assert their rights under the law. Needless to say, safety and security is directly tied to the economic health of our state and local communities. Further, a system of justice that reduces recidivism and centers rehabilitation will ensure that more Minnesotans are able to contribute to the economy to their full potential.
Priority 3: Ensure that all children in Minnesota have access to high-quality public school education. The State has a responsibility to ensure equitable access to education. This means that we are investing in educational professionals, in school infrastructure, and that we are strategically deploying resources to the communities that need extra supports. I have led the effort to reform “compensatory revenue,” the portion of the education budget that targets funding towards students struggling to meet academic standards. I will continue this effort to ensure a new formula passes into law and we can update a flawed formula.
How would you characterize the business climate in the East Metro? Please elaborate on your answer.
I’m excited by the trajectory of the economy in my district, which encompasses the southern part of New Brighton, most of Columbia Heights, and all of St. Anthony. I’m excited by the investment in rental housing that will provide the density that is essential to enticing more businesses to the area. I also see a moment of opportunity in the post-COVID, hybrid workplace world for business growth outside of the core metro and into the suburbs. While I eventually decided to keep my law office in downtown Minneapolis, I first conducted an extensive search in the suburbs for a space that may work just as well and was more affordable. I anticipate that many downtown businesses and employees are also exploring opportunities outside of the downtown corridors.
Please characterize your perspective on the ideal collaboration between government and the business community when it comes to tackling challenges whether they be education, housing, or workforce development? Do you feel the outcomes of the 2023-2024 legislative session positively or negatively impacted that collaboration and our state's business climate?
The 2023-2024 term brought into relief the ways in which the business community and the legislature sometimes talk past one another rather than diving into the details to collaborate on legislation. In a divided legislature, advocates had different tools to simply stop legislative progress. Over time, my impression is that there was an over-reliance on these tools rather than a desire for true communication and dialogue.
The 2023-2024 trifecta session was a “shock to the system” and it took a minute for stakeholders to pivot from stonewalling to collaboration. My personal experience was that this pivot did occur and I was able to directly communicate with the business community on bills I carried that impacted their interests, such as the Construction Worker Wage Theft Prevention Act, the Keeping Nurses at the Bedside Act, legislation impacting manufactured housing owners and residents, and my property tax forfeiture bill. Whether or not we came to full agreement, these productive conversations led to modifications of my bills and I appreciated the input.
My hope is that we’ve all learned some lessons and built foundations for more trusting and deep relationships that will serve Minnesota well in future terms.
What policies, if any, would you support to help employers address our state’s critical labor shortage?
I am incredibly excited about the Office of New Americans, which was made permanent and funded by legislation I chief authored in the House in 2023. This office, within the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), will ensure that new immigrant and refugee residents in Minnesota will be able to efficiently and effectively integrate into our workforce. Common issues involve language barriers to training and employment, transportation access, and licensure issues as professionals from other countries transition their careers to Minnesota in fields such as engineering, dentistry, and education.
I am also the chief author of the North STAR Act, which will create constraints on state and local government agencies collaborating with the federal government when it is for the sole purpose of civil immigration enforcement (collaboration for other purposes, such as crime prevention, are fully permissible). This will ensure that our law enforcement, our schools, our courts, our health clinics, etc. will be able to focus on their core mission of serving the community and immigrant residents will not hesitate to participate in these governmental services. This bill will ensure that immigrants are truly able to fully contribute to our state and economy.
To quote the 2021 Minnesota Chamber of Commerce report: “The success of Minnesota’s economy, both now and in the future, is intrinsically linked to Minnesota’s immigrant communities.” The report’s key finding included this: “Immigrants link Minnesota to the world economy and make valuable and meaningful contributions to our state as employees, entrepreneurs, consumers and taxpayers.”
The 2023-2024 Legislature passed many new mandates on employers, such as Paid Family Medical Leave, Earned Safe and Sick Time, and Worker Misclassification penalties. Do you support the PFML program in its current form or do you believe there needs to be further refinement before the program comes into effect in January 2026? If elected, what steps would you take to understand the impact of a proposal on the many types of businesses in the East Metro and how would you define any exceptions to those policies?
As a small business owner myself, I can share thoughts from personal experience. The Earned Sick and Safe Time went into effect this January. We spent some time figuring out how to ensure that we were in compliance in terms of incorporating information into our employees’ paychecks. My policy is more generous than the ESST requirements, so the leave will not impact our operations. The protections under the ESST bill are truly nominal and the bare minimum that all Minnesotans deserve. I am in regular conversation with other business owners and am open to hearing thoughts about implementation challenges, but at its core, I feel very passionately that this leave is akin to a human right and I’m very proud of this legislation.
Regarding Paid Family Medical Leave, I’ve made sure to ask probing questions of my colleagues as we passed the initial legislation and then the 2024 update to the legislation that incorporated additional input from stakeholders. My feeling is that this will benefit my employees and my firm. In fact, as I look at my benefits package, I believe that this legislation will eventually save me money, provide more support to my employees, and ensure continuity of employees when they need to take unexpected leave. The associated tax – especially for small businesses such as mine – is truly nominal. If the amount is significant, it is because the company in question is significantly larger and more profitable than mine, and I feel strongly that they can and should make this investment in their employees and Minnesota’s economic stability.
All of that said, our statutes should be “a living document” and there is always opportunity to incorporate real-world input into the ways we craft our laws. I am certain that as ESST and PFML are implemented that there will be lessons learned and we will make updates accordingly to ensure that they function as intended.
What are your strategies to address public safety challenges in your district and the state?
As described above in my biographic details and priorities, I am focused extensively on public safety concerns to ensure that we pivot from an ineffective, unjust system of public safety to one where we center the needs of the people who have been harmed, the person who is struggling and causing public safety risks, and the needs of the community. I am very excited about this bipartisan policy space where we have made deep investments in our system of corrections, our public safety professionals, and in supporting victims of crime.
How would you work to improve transportation options in the district/state, including improved safety for transit riders, pedestrian/bike, and drivers alike?
We need to continue to make investments in multi-modal transportation systems that expand from the metro area into the suburbs and beyond. In my district, I would like to see significant expansion of public transit. These types of investments require prioritization of transportation amidst many competing priorities. Ultimately, transportation access is closely interrelated to business growth and we need to continue to build on the historic transportation budget from 2023.
What ideas do you have to address housing shortages and affordability?
I am supportive of the bipartisan efforts to adjust zoning laws to encourage more construction of affordable and other housing. This is a complex issue that will require additional stakeholder dialogue and development, but ultimately, the research and reporting in this area is clear that “NIMBYism” is getting in the way of affordable housing development.
In the context of manufactured housing communities, I am interested in exploring additional funding and reforms to encourage and facilitate resident-owned communities. I’ve worked closely with these communities in previous terms and we’ve made good progress on this front. Manufactured housing is the most plentiful form of affordable housing in Minnesota and represents a huge opportunity.
In light of projected budget deficit/"structural imbalance," what are your priorities for the State's budget?
I understand a “projected budget deficit” and a “structural imbalance” to be very different things. A “budget deficit” describes a budget that anticipates spending more money than anticipated revenue within the budget cycle. On the other hand, a “structural imbalance” exists when current spending exceeds projected revenue in a future biennium. A structural imbalance can and should be addressed through adjustments in the balance of revenue and expenditures in the next budget cycle, which undoubtedly it will be regardless of which political party is in control.
The next budget year will give the Legislature the opportunity to ensure that we address investment and taxation policy with an eye towards a healthy economy and a thoughtful approach. Seeing as every Monthly Revenue Update that we have received since the passage of the historic 2023 budget year has shown that state general fund revenues have exceeded projections, I am feeling very confident in the health of Minnesota’s finances. As of this writing, the most recent difference was $170 Million greater corporate income taxes received than projected. Each month that has passed, we have received an update that corporate income tax has been higher than anticipated, indicating healthy corporate revenues.
All of that said, my personal priorities for the State’s budget remain the same – I would like to prioritize children through a robust Education budget as well as an emphasis on youth within the Public Safety budget.