Legislative Update
It has been a busy few weeks as we approach the end of the legislative session.
I previously had a hearing on my bill to exempt Buffalo fire station construction materials from sales and use taxes. I am proud to announce that it has been included in the House Tax Omnibus bill, which we heard on an informational basis in the Tax Committee Friday.
After a lot of work to advance my bill to grant a temporary license to the Maple Lake Ice Fishing Derby, it was included in the Omnibus Liquor Bill in the Commerce Committee last week. I was proud to vote yes on the bill, which advanced to the General Register last week.
My bill that addresses the lack of testing for rape kits has been officially included, in full, in the Public Safety Omnibus Bill. I have worked so hard with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, advocates for victims, and other groups to make this the best bill it can be, and I am proud that it has been fully included in the omnibus bill.
While there has not yet been a bipartisan conversation on bonding, I continue to advocate for my bonding bill for a local dental clinic. This bill is incredibly important to our community, and would appropriate $2 million from bond proceeds for a grant to Wright County for the purpose of constructing and equipping a dental care facility within the Wright County Government Center in Buffalo. This facility would be widely used by Minnesotans in Wright County and beyond.
We had session on Saturday to consider several bills of note. SF1098 was the Prescription Drug Price Transparency Act. I voted no because it takes too big a move towards single payer healthcare. It also has a cost of $965,000 in 2021, $789,000 in 2022 which the state cannot afford. Significantly increasing mandates on drug manufacturers will not lower costs and the reports that are provided will not truly reflect the full costs of drugs as the research and development costs for failed drugs cannot be taken into account.
HF331 would expand Tobacco 21 (T21) statewide. I unfortunately had to vote no. While I support the concept of T21, this bill is achieved through raising the penalties on businesses that make just one mistake four times higher and if they make three mistakes, they will lose their license. While at the same time it eliminates the petty misdemeanor on the youth that buy and possesses tobacco and replaces it with reeducation and community service.
HF 4582 would provide a one-time increase of $500 to MFIP recipients. However, MFIP recipients haven’t had their monthly cash assistance cut. To qualify for MFIP, recipients are required to work. If recipients are currently out of work because of COVID-19, they would be eligible to receive unemployment and the additional $600 per week from the federal government. Each recipient will also receive the $1200 federal stimulus, plus the additional $500 for each qualified dependent child.
Additionally, the Federal TANF fund has a structural deficit, and it would be irresponsible to further put it in jeopardy. If we really wanted to help MFIP recipients, we’d work to open businesses and get people back to work rather than give them a one-time $500 check.
On Monday, we met in legislative session to consider a bill to ratify state employee contracts. Our state employees are incredibly valuable and important to the state, and I believe this bill was negotiated in good faith. Unfortunately, our economic situation has swung from the best it had been in a long time to the worst it has been since the Depression.The additional cost to taxpayers from 15 of 19 contracts in the bill is $444 million in this biennium and total cost of those contracts is $9.705 billion, out of a $48 billion dollar general fund budget. I think it is time for negotiators to take another look at the second half of the biennium to keep the contracts in line with our budget situation. We are all in this together.
Even in the midst of this challenging time, I remain committed and active in my work for our district.
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