Legislative Update - Rep. Krista Knudsen

Minnesota House GOP sent this bulletin at 03/03/2023 12:28 PM CST

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Legislative Update

Monday started out with the Department of Revenue releasing the February budget forecast, which shows a massive $17.5 billion surplus. This number doesn't even include the inflationary spending that is now calculated into the forecast likely putting the surplus closer to $20 billion. State government is collecting unnecessary amounts of tax dollars and yet our proposals to give the surplus back have gotten zero hearings from the majority.

In response to this House and Senate Republicans laid out our ‘Give it Back’ tax plan, which in contrast to Governor Walz’ actually cuts taxes instead of raising them. A top priority is to end the tax on Social Security, something even democrats ran on during the election, but now that we want to work across the aisle to provide relief to our seniors they seem to have lost interest. Our plan also includes property tax relief for a number of Minnesotans who are impacted most because of their location or the businesses they run. The last piece of Give it Back is of course rebate checks to Minnesota Tax Payers to provide some relief as the Biden-Walz economy continues to pinch the budgets of everyone else except government.

The Future Farmers of America (FFA) had their day on the hill this week. I had a great time visiting with the numerous FFA chapters that were around the capitol all day getting tours and observing the legislative prosses in action. These young adults are the future leaders of our great state. It was wonderful to see them all so engaged and learning about how our government works.

Tuesday was also Pro-Life Advocacy Day which culminated with the MCCL Legislative Dinner. The capitol rotunda was filled with so many Minnesotans standing up for the rights of the unborn. It was great to see everyone at the capitol and then at the MCCL Dinner where I had the opportunity to have some great conversations with some of the many people in attendance.

The visitors this week were capped off by the legendary Frank Soukup who was down to advocate for the hospitality industry. Our resorts have continued to be affected by bad government policy and we need to find workable solutions for this industry. We had a great conversation and I trust he will continue to do amazing work in his advocacy.

A Few weeks ago I had the honor to get to speak to a number of classes at Pequot Lakes Middle School and teach them about the legislative process. We talked about how a bill becomes a law and I answered a lot of questions about my job at the State Capitol. I had a great time interacting with all of the students and the experience was a great reminder that even though things can get very heated in St. Paul our state can have a bright future if we can foster our kids into the next generation of great leaders.

To make sure our students have a bright future the House and Senate Republican education teams had a joint press conference on Wednesday to roll out our Reading Reset plan. Currently, less than half of students in Minnesota can read at grade level. If a student hasn’t learned to read yet, how can we expect them to read to learn? With this legislation, we will invest in students, teachers, and tutors to provide science-based curriculum that can effectively make up for lost learning. In Missisippi when a similar Science of Reading curriculum was implemented they went from ranked 49^th for literacy in 2013 to ranked 1^st in the nation in just 6 years. The Science of Reading is proven from decades of research and evidence of its success and it can do the same for Minnesota students.

What are your thoughts on how to address learning loss and getting students back on track to be successful? Share your thoughts on this or any other legislative concerns with me at Rep.Krista.Knudsen@house.mn.govor call my office at 651-296-9918.

Please Reach Out

You can reach my office at Rep.Krista.Knusdsen@house.mn.gov or by phone at 651-296-6746. Follow me on Facebook for more frequent updates.

/RepKristaKnudsen

225 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, MN 55155
651.296.6746

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