Dear Neighbor,
Disappointing news to report from the House this week as, for the first time I can remember, an ag policy bill was stopped in its tracks in the committee process.
The bill includes Department of Agriculture policy, the governor’s supplemental budget items, and important funding for the down payment assistance program, wolf depredation, local food programs, farm transition teams and more.
It’s a good bill, but an amendment from across the aisle to ban the use of paraquat herbicides derailed the whole bill. House Democrats wanted to add this provision to the bill, but House Republicans opposed that move. The EPA has not found a clear link between paraquat exposure and Parkinson’s disease, maintaining its approval of the herbicide. Banning a product without sound science would be a step in the wrong direction and we need to proceed in a logical manner. If we stop paraquat use without science to back it up, what’s next?
The proposal to ban paraquat was defeated and then House Democrats voted against the overall bill in a 7-7 party-line count. In an interesting twist, the very same day the ag bill fell in the House, the Senate stripped the paraquat ban from its own ag bill.
There’s always a chance this ag bill will come to life before this session adjourns but, right now, it’s dead in the water and a lot of people are scratching their head over why partisan games were played with a good bill.
In other news, tax relief has been up for discussion in St. Paul recently is we look for ways to reduce the burden on Minnesota taxpayers. House Republicans have unveiled a package that would provide nearly $4 billion total in tax relief. Key features include $1 billion in one-time property tax relief, eliminating taxes on tips and overtime, and reducing car tab fees. It also lowers childcare costs and provides hundreds of millions of dollars for education at no cost to taxpayers through scholarship-granting organizations.
No matter how hard they work, many people are having a hard time keeping up with higher prices. This tax relief would provide them with some breathing room at an opportune time. It makes sense to use the current, short-term $3.7 billion surplus to provide a one-time rebate to Minnesotans – especially seniors on fixed incomes – who are being taxed out of homes they have already paid for and lived in for decades.
There is still time to deliver tax relief this session, but the House is tied so we need bipartisan support to make it happen.
Locally, the city of Clinton is receiving a $10,000 grant “be used to contract with qualified professionals to prepare construction documents for the preservation of a Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Depot, listed in the National Register of Historic Places.”
The Clinton depot was constructed in 1906 and closed in 1969. Clinton’s Save the Depot Committee purchased the building and rehabilitated it in the 1980s. Congratulations to the people of Clinton for earning this award to help preserve this piece of local history so that future generations may enjoy it and understand more about our past.
Sincerely,
Paul