Dear Friends and Neighbors,
After several storms last week, this past weekend was gorgeous weather! The birds are chirping, the lilacs are blooming, and I hope you had the opportunity to get outside to enjoy that small window of time before the mosquitos come out.
In the meantime, the MN Constitution requires the MN Legislature adjourn exactly one week from today, Monday May 23. Among my top priorities continues to be returning the tax overcollection in the form of deep, permanent tax cuts.
NATIONAL POLICE WEEK
We continue to lift up our courageous law enforcement professionals during this very challenging time. Following the 2020 riots in Minneapolis and subsequent efforts by Democrats to defund and abolish the police, nearly 200 Minneapolis Police Officers sought disability retirement. The reverberating anti-police rhetoric by Democrats hasn’t just impacted Minneapolis but resulted in negative impacts across our entire state. There is currently a 10% vacancy rate statewide in the law enforcement profession and law enforcement agencies are unable to attract new recruits directly resulting from the Democrat attacks.
Through thick and thin, the men and women in law enforcement risk their lives every day to protect ours. Tragically, law enforcement officers sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice. In 1962, Congress established National Police Week to honor and give recognition to law enforcement officers who lose their life in the line of duty. This week we remember all the law enforcement officers who have fallen in the line of duty including the five Minnesota law enforcement officers who fell in 2021. We remember those law enforcement officers who kissed their spouse and children goodbye on their way out the door to begin their shift but never came back home.
BLACKOUTS COMING TO A NEIGHBORHOOD NEAR YOU
As summer in Minnesota is about to kick into high gear, the regional grid operator for Minnesota and 14 other states, the Midcontinent Independent Systems Operator (MISO) referenced in the above Star Tribune article, declared a “Maximum Generation Emergency Warning.” A “Maximum Generation Emergency Warning,” or “Max Gen” emergency warning, is a warning message to power plant operators that the supply of electricity on the grid is getting tight, and they need all units on standby, ready to produce electricity when called upon.
The energy capacity shortfall is a direct result of reliable coal and nuclear power plants being forcefully shut down because of disastrous Democrat green energy policy to be replaced by wind turbines and solar facilities that aren’t nearly as reliable. Democrats have been peddling fear for decades of the false idea of human-caused climate change and then harnessing the manufactured fear to force the adoption of foolish and expensive green energy mandates.
Coal, natural gas, and nuclear power plants provide affordable, reliable, and clean energy. Democrat “green energy” on the other hand is expensive, unreliable, and stresses the environment when the totality of the supply chain is factored including the international child slave labor prevalent in the mining and manufacturing of solar panels and batteries. High cost and unreliable energy get passed along to Minnesotans because the prices of ALL products and services become more expensive. Moreover, Minnesota businesses cannot compete in a global economy when our electric grid is unreliable and dependent on the weather.
I’ve been the chief author for multiple years now of the bill to eliminate the moratorium currently in place on the construction of new nuclear power plants in our state. My bill to eliminate the moratorium this term is HF 420. Unfortunately, Democrats continue to kill my bill despite rising energy prices making EVERYTHING more expensive.
BEER & BETTING
Hardworking Minnesotans are contending with skyrocketing car jackings, catalytic converter thefts, soaring gas prices, baby formula shortages, rising interest rates, exploding rent and home ownership costs, and many more consequences from Walz’s soft-on-crime approach and Biden’s inflation. The middle class is being crushed. Despite the pain actively being felt across Minnesota, Democrats continue squandering precious time prioritizing beer and betting expansion over the true priorities of hardworking Minnesotans.
Last week, the Democrat House majority brought two poorly written bills filled with partisan provisions to the House Floor. One bill sought to loosen liquor laws in MN while creating a new 12-member liquor bureaucracy and the other bill sought to expand sports gambling while playing favoritism to the existing tribal casinos.
I voted NO to both bills. We should be prioritizing permanent tax relief giving the surplus back and putting much needed money back into the hands of the people.
STAYING IN TOUCH
Each and every day I’m continuously humbled at the opportunity to represent and fight for the values and priorities of our great community!
Please contact me to share any issues, concerns, or feedback you have to assist me best represent you. The best way to reach me is by email at Rep.Eric.Lucero@House.MN or by phone at 651-296-1534.
Sincerely,
Eric Lucero
State Representative District 30B Albertville, Hanover, Otsego, Saint Michael, and the Wright County portion of Dayton