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Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Our work at the Legislature continued this week as we approached the third and final committee deadline, which arrives at 5 p.m. today. This deadline marks an important transition, as most committees will wrap up their work and the focus shifts to final negotiations and floor action. With the session entering its final stretch, we remain committed to our key priorities, such as: improving affordability, stopping the fraud, and investing in school safety.
Feeling the Weight of Tax Day
With Tax Day this week, many Minnesotans are feeling the strain of higher costs and growing tax burdens. House Republicans are advancing an affordability plan focused on putting money back in your pocket and providing meaningful relief. The proposal includes a $3.8 billion tax cut, eliminating taxes on tips and overtime, ending the tax on Social Security, and lowering car tab fees. It also returns future budget surpluses to taxpayers, expands childcare tax relief, repeals the retail delivery tax and automatic gas tax increases, provides a one-time property tax refund, and exempts sales tax on pre-owned vehicles.
The DFL trifecta of 2023-24 wasted an $18 billion surplus, grew the budget by 40%, and raised taxes by $10 billion, and they expect taxpayers to continue footing the bill for their financial irresponsibility. While many of these proposals have faced opposition from the DFL, House Republicans continue pushing for these solutions and advocating for policies that lower costs and provide real relief for Minnesota families. I will keep you updated if any of these provisions make it across the finish line this session.
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Fighting for School Safety
Another top priority for House Republicans this session is making sure every student in Minnesota is safe at school. This week, we introduced a comprehensive Safe Schools package that takes a multilayered approach to school safety. The proposal increases funding for school safety in public, nonpublic, and Tribal schools, expands student mental health funding to support early intervention and crisis prevention, provides local options for anonymous threat reporting systems, strengthens school safety plans tailored to each community's needs, reforms student discipline to restore order in classrooms and better support teachers and staff, and gives schools additional flexibility to hire student support personnel.
These are practical, commonsense investments that schools across Minnesota have been asking for. Parents want to know their children are safe, teachers want to know they are supported, and administrators want the tools and resources to address threats before they become tragedies. This package delivers on all of those fronts.
Unfortunately, despite broad support for these measures, Democrats have been blocking this legislation from moving forward. There is nothing partisan about keeping kids safe, and it is deeply frustrating that this bill has not received the bipartisan support it deserves. We will continue to push for this legislation and will not stop fighting until our schools have the resources they need.
Shoutouts
Shoutout to the Menahga National Honor Society for hosting a successful blood drive! They organized the drive and had 63 donors give blood.
 Shoutout to the Park Rapids Girls Golf team on their first tournament of the season and a 4th place finish. Congrats also to Natalie Martin, who medaled with a score of 78.
 Congrats to the Staples-Motley speech team on their recent performance at the Section 6A meet last weekend. The team is heading to the MSHSL State Speech Tournament!
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