This week I had some great visitors to my office. I had the amazing opportunity this week to talk with a number of students from Hutchinson who asked so many great questions on policy and my role at the State Capitol. We discussed the marijuana bill and the intricacies of all the different amendments that were offered, school safety legislation, and how all the checks and balances in state government work.

Thursday was also the National Day of Prayer with a sizable gathering on the capitol lawn of Minnesotans coming together to pray for a better future for our state. Even when things can feel overwhelming here it is important to remember that God has a plan.

The big piece of legislation we debated this week was the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act. This legislation would give workers up to 24 weeks of paid time off per year, 12 for personal medical leave and 12 for caring for another family member. Unfortunately, this benefit would need to be funded by a nearly 3 billion dollar increase in payroll tax. This will be a massive burden for our business community and is likely to lead to even more price increases being passed on to consumers. With inflation already at a record high government should not be enacting policies that will make it worse and damage household budgets even more.

As an alternative, my colleague Representative Baker unveiled his MN FaMLI proposal that would offer a similar benefit without the huge financial burden and onerous regulations. Here is how the two plans compare.

Unfortunately, the majority continues to push forward with their radical and expensive agenda and ignore any of our attempts to improve legislation and keep our state fiscally responsible.

Conference committees have been in full swing this week which signals that this legislative session is almost to the end. While I am not serving on any of these joint committees they provide one last opportunity for our Republican members to influence the final bills that will head to the governor’s desk. Unfortunately, House Republicans have been shut out of three of these conference committees in Democrat’s continued abuse of trifecta control of state government. I believe it is a terrible precedent to set not having all of the perspectives gathered to provide input on these finalized pieces of legislation.

With just over two weeks left in this year’s legislative session, the final budget is coming into view with a nearly 40% increase in government spending and over $9.5 billion in new taxes and fees. With so many Minnesotans facing difficult personal budgets I find it very concerning that our state is continuing the trend of out-of-control spending.

What are some of the legislative priorities you would like to see cross the finish line in the last few weeks this year?