REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE
Representative Clients
Our team represents businesses, non-profits, trade groups and advocacy groups in a number of industries and on many different issues. Our strengths are in education, energy, health care, housing, human services, taxes, transportation, appropriations and procurement, regulatory, justice and equity, and capital funding.
Community Connections
We believe that we have a responsibility to be good corporate citizens by being actively involved in groups that support our community and our clients. Our government relations staff are board members, committee members and active participants in many groups outside the office.
LEGISLATIVE SUCCESSES
Minnesota is fortunate to be home to a large number of social service organizations dedicated to supporting Minnesotans with disabilities to live their lives where and how they choose. In recent years, however, it has become increasingly challenging for these service providers to maintain the workforce needed to provide these critical supports. This is largely due to legislatively set service reimbursement rates that do not provide for the wages necessary to attract and retain a sufficient number of quality staff. Representing disability service provider organizations, Fredrikson’s Government Relations Practice Group members Kevin Goodno and Anni Simons have served in leadership positions of a nonpartisan coalition of more than 100 disability service organizations that has successfully secured multiple state general fund investments in the legislatively set disability services reimbursement system. These reimbursement rate increases, implemented during multiple legislative sessions, have resulted in significant annual ongoing increased funding for the critical services that support Minnesotans with disabilities.
In an effort to strengthen access to high quality community mental health services across the state, a broad coalition of community mental health service providers came together with the goal of passing legislation to broaden the paths qualified candidates can take into the mental health services workforce, in a way that doesn’t sacrifice quality of mental health services. Representing these community mental health service providers, Fredrikson’s Government Relations Practice Group member Anni Simons partnered with a second mental health services lobbyist to lead these service providers through the stakeholder engagement and legislative process to successfully reach their goal. The enacted legislation represented the outcome of a yearlong collaborative process involving ongoing discussions and negotiations with mental health advocacy groups and MN state agencies. By addressing the previously narrow, prescriptive and complex statutory requirements for background qualifications, the enacted law provided a concrete step forward in mental health service providers’ ability to carry out their missions.
As our state faces a growing number of seniors interested in accessing needed services and supports in their own homes, there is continual need to examine when and how state level regulations for facility based care apply to home based care. Representing a group of providers of home based care services, Fredrikson’s Government Relations Practice Group members Kevin Goodno and Anni Simons successfully enacted legislation bringing clarity to the specific area of statutory notification requirements for when individuals involved in the criminal justice system access facility or home based care services. The enacted legislation better ensures the safety of individuals who provide care services to Minnesotans throughout the state, while also clarifying the applicability of current statute for all impacted stakeholders.
The healthcare industry is multifaceted, and during Noah’s tenure with Fredrikson & Byron, he has delivered desired outcomes for clients again and again. From increasing the state Medicaid reimbursement rates for air ambulance services to, most recently, being instrumental in defeating problematic PBM legislation, Noah is known to be a results-driven advocate in the healthcare sphere. With the Addition of Logan Murray, Angela Caulk, and Linda Upmeyer, the Iowa Government Relations team hopes to not only expand on Noah’s work but also grow the reach and scope of the team’s success.
Andy worked on behalf of a pro-bono client to reform the process by which children in foster care are notified of their right to legal representation and secured ongoing state and local government funding for his client to provide pro-bono legal representation to these children. This work led to recognition by Minnesota Lawyer magazine.
As an expert in the state’s capital investment process, Andy secured the largest ever state capital grant to a local government to address a complex road and rail grade separation project. As part of the negotiations, Andy also aided the city in receiving funding above and beyond their legal requirements from the affected railroad. Between the state grant and the excess railroad commitment, the city’s cost share was kept under 20% of the over $70 million project.
Andy has many success stories in the affordable housing space including:
- Assisting a client in the creation of an innovative affordable housing development state tax credit.
- Hundreds of millions of dollars in new development funds through Housing Infrastructure Bonds and general fund appropriations.
- Supporting record investments in emergency shelter, rental and mortgage assistance, and other housing needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Minnesota Association of Townships approached the Government Relations team to discuss confusion that was created due to redundancies in the state’s land planning and use statutes. The Government Relations team drafted a legislative solution that would minimize any disruption in township governance and in one legislative session was able to pass that solution into law. Townships now have clear zoning authority in the state of Minnesota.
The Rural Health Advisory Committee exists to advise the Commissioner of Health on the medical needs of Greater Minnesota. A voice for the dental profession was absent on this committee until the Fredrikson Government Relations team lobbied the legislature to add a permanent seat for a licensed dentist. Despite several attempts to have the position more broadly defined, we successfully advocated for a dentist to be added as the leader on oral health issues.