AARP Minnesota 2025 Legislative Priorities
AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that empowers people to choose how they live as they age. We're advocating for what is important to our members and giving you a voice at the state and federal levels. This year, at the state level, we urge lawmakers to fight fraud, make aging a strategic priority in Minnesota, expand affordable housing options, and strengthen Assisted Living protections for residents living in facilities exempt under the law.
2025 Priorities
Address the Growing Fraud Crisis By Creating a Fraud Restitution Fund
A fast-growing fraud industry steals billions of dollars from US consumers every year. Few viable options exist for recovering money lost to scams, but a Fraud Restitution Fund can help solve that problem. AARP urges lawmakers to create a state-level Consumer Fraud Restitution Fund to help scam and fraud victims recover financially. The fund is financed from civil penalty payments that the Attorney General (AG) collects but now goes to the state’s general fund. As things stand now, public civil law enforcement tools—injunctions and orders to pay money—don’t stop scam operations. Getting money back to people will give the AG a reason to go after scammers and incent more people to report financial crimes if they know they could get their money back.
Provide Assisted Living Protections to Older Residents in Public Housing
AARP will fight to ensure residents receiving assisted living services in public housing receive the same consumer protections as residents in licensed facilities. In 2019, when AARP urged the Minnesota Legislature to pass the landmark Eldercare and Vulnerable Adult Protection Act in response to horrific cases of elder abuse, public housing residents receiving these services were not included in the law. It’s time lawmakers provide the same staffing and training standards and protections against arbitrary terminations and retaliation as other vulnerable residents.
Make Aging a Strategic Priority for the State of MN
Minnesota and the nation are experiencing a historic demographic shift, and our communities are now older than ever. AARP advocates for making the Governor’s Council on Age-Friendly permanent to address the opportunities and challenges we face as a state. First established by Executive Order in 2019, the Council has been funded in the last two biennia but is set to expire in 2027. The Council, comprised of older adults, state agencies, and tribal nations, is leading the development of a 10-year multi-sector blueprint on aging and has provided numerous grants to communities across the state to meet the challenges of this demographic shift.
Expand Affordable Housing Options
AARP urges lawmakers to expand affordable housing options that meet the needs of older adults and facilitate aging in place. AARP surveys show that most Americans, including older adults, prefer to live in walkable neighborhoods that offer a mix of housing and transportation options and are close to jobs, schools, shopping, entertainment, and green spaces. Minnesota needs 100,000 units to close the housing gap, but today, thousands of older adults are “house-rich” and “cash-poor.” Many would like to sell their home and buy something more affordable or accessible in their communities, but such housing options are often unavailable.
