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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Sondra Erickson (R)

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News from Rep. Erickson

Friday, January 9, 2015

Dear Neighbors,

The 2015 Legislative session is underway and I am humbled to be given the opportunity to return to St. Paul to represent our area. I am looking forward to serving you, your family, and your neighbors over the course of the next two years.

Session Begins

This past Tuesday, January 6th, marked the official beginning of this year’s session as all 134 members took the oath of office. Besides member inaugurations, we also elected a House Speaker, appointed some non-partisan staff to their positions and established a few temporary House rules.

Along with taking the oath of office, I served as the Chief Clerk Pro Tem for Tuesday’s session after being selected to do so by my former student and now newly elected House Speaker, Rep. Kurt Daudt. As Chief Clerk Pro Tem, I oversaw business on the House floor which included conducting roll calls. It was a tremendous honor to be able to serve the body as Chief Clerk Pro Tem for the day and something I will not soon forget.

Now that session has officially begun, the top order of business for my colleagues and I is to set the state’s two year budget. I am looking forward to returning fiscal responsibility to our state after two years of reckless spending by the previous Democrat majority.

Committee Assignments

I am fortunate to have been assigned to five committees this session. These include the Education Finance, Property Tax & Local Government Finance Division, and Taxes committees. In addition to these assignments, I will be serving as chair to both the Ethics and Education Innovation Policy Committees.

Serving as chair of the Education Innovation Policy Committee will allow myself to have a hand in developing policy that ensures all of Minnesota’s children are afforded the opportunity to a world-class education. I am focused on improving the quality of education in our state and keeping Minnesota’s children amongst the best educated students in the entire nation.

Session Priorities

House Republicans rolled out the first five bills of the session in a press conference on Thursday. These five bills will serve as our legislative priorities for the session. Here is a quick breakdown of House Files 1-5:

  • House File 1: Grows better paying jobs for all Minnesotans by encouraging businesses to invest in Minnesota by offering tax credits, streamlining our burdensome permitting process, and limiting state agencies’ ability to negatively impact our effort to make Minnesota’s business climate competitive.
  • House File 2: Gives every student a chance for a world class education by reforming teacher licensure practices and empowering local school districts to hire and maintain effective teachers.

  • House File 3: Protects aging adults’ quality of life by attracting top notch long term health care and nursing home workers to the field by offering student loan forgiveness and training scholarships to certain health care professionals. This bill also creates a long-term care savings plan to encourage people to save for future expenses.
  • House File 4: Refocuses transportation spending on roads and bridges and calls for MNDOT to find additional dollars in order to build and maintain our crumbling infrastructure.

  • House File 5: Makes certain that every Minnesotan has fair access to affordable health care by implementing more oversight measures to rein in MNSure and by eliminating unchecked bonuses and compensation for executives.

Stay Connected

As always, I value your opinion on legislation and other events that are taking place here in St. Paul. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you ever have a question or comment on any legislative matter. I can be reached by phone at 651-296-6746 or via email at rep.sondra.erickson@house.mn.

Another great way to connect with me is by visiting my Facebook page here.

Thank you and please keep an eye on your email inbox as I will continue to give you weekly updates keeping you up-to-speed on legislation and events taking place at the Capitol.

Sincerely,

Sondra