Dear Neighbors,
For those who celebrate Easter or Passover, I hope you had a memorable holiday. I was grateful to spend time with my family.
Although we are still on our recess, I wanted to take a moment to provide you with a mid-session update.
Education
Last Thursday, Governor Dayton shared his plan to extend voluntary pre-Kindergarten funding for over 4,000 students in more than 59 districts and charter schools throughout the state. After next school year, families in Bloomington school districts could lose pre-K opportunities if investments we passed last year aren’t made permanent. Special education costs also continue to rise for many school districts. Gov. Dayton has proposed increasing these state investments by $16.9 million.
Improving school safety is a bipartisan priority this session. The Governor has a plan to invest $15.9 million to help districts make safety upgrades to schools and provide support to students who may pose a danger to themselves or others. His plan also includes $5 million of school-based mental health grants. I support these initiatives for Minnesota students and our earliest learners, and will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure our kids have the world class education they deserve.
Bonding
Sizable capital investment (bonding) bills are commonly considered in the even-year of a biennium. They contain funding for important infrastructure improvements of our state buildings and other assets. Our higher education facilities, prisons, bridges, dams, affordable housing and more are all in need of repairs and maintenance. Gov. Dayton announced his robust $1.5 billion bonding proposal prior to session. Investments in key infrastructure should be made now while interest rates are still relatively low. The House and Senate majorities have not released their bonding proposals yet.
Senior Safety
Recently, the Star Tribune published a series that detailed serious abuses, theft, neglect, and other mistreatment going uninvestigated in Minnesota’s senior care facilities. After investigations by AARP and the Office of the Legislative Auditor, Gov. Dayton joined legislators to announce a broad set of reforms and investments to hold providers guilty of abuse accountable and to protect the health, safety, and dignity of seniors and vulnerable adults.
I’m committed to doing everything we can to ensure this behavior stops. We owe it to families to take action on meaningful fixes now. I will be pushing for changes this session.
Taxes
The Minnesota Legislature must work on how to align our state taxes to the federal code after passage of the Trump Tax Bill last December. Forty percent of the total bill consists of tax giveaways to corporations and nearly fifty percent of new individual federal tax cuts go to the wealthiest Americans.There are also concerns about how this new law unfairly penalizes certain states, including Minnesota by limiting deductions of state and local taxes. If the Minnesota Legislature fully “conforms” to the new federal law, an average Minnesota family’s state income taxes could increase by close to $500.
Alternatively, the Governor’s plan would cut taxes for over 2 million Minnesotans by rolling back last year’s tax breaks given to corporate special interests (including big tobacco) and estates of very wealthy Minnesotans. The richest Americans and large corporations were the biggest winners under the federal bill. It’s important that any tax changes we make at a state level provide some balance by giving benefits to working families.
Transportation
The House Transportation Policy and Finance Committees are working on compiling their final Transportation Omnibus bill. I am hopeful there is a still a chance for the 35W/494 interchange project to be included and will keep you posted on any developments.
Another transportation proposal emerging this session is a constitutional amendment from the House and Senate majorities. This would dedicate sales tax proceeds from auto parts and repairs to transportation projects. No one disputes that our roads and bridges need better upkeep. This plan, however, would pay for transportation upgrades with money taken from other things we value, like education and health care. It remains to be seen if this will move forward in the Legislature and ultimately end up on the general election ballot.
Health Care
The rising cost of health care is placing a significant burden on too many Minnesota families. One proposal would create a MinnesotaCare Buy-In option. For over 25 years, MinnesotaCare has provided quality coverage to low and middle-income families with access to providers across the state. This would provide another, more affordable health insurance option for 100,000 more Minnesotans. Under this plan, consumers would pay their own premiums (about 25 percent less expensive than current rates on the private market) with no ongoing support from taxpayers.
House and Senate Republicans have introduced other proposals, like new requirements for Medical Assistance (MA) recipients. Minnesotans on MA, many of which are seniors, pregnant women, or people with disabilities or mental illness have extremely low-incomes, under about $16,000. Most recipients already work. Removing health insurance from this population would result in more uncompensated care with other health care consumers ultimately paying for it.
Stay Informed
Please always feel free to reach out with any questions, input or suggestions on any bill or legislative matter. Additionally, if you are interested in following legislation moving through committees or the House Floor, you may do so using any of these resources:
Broadcast television schedule:
www.house.mn/htv/htv.asp
Broadcast television channels:
www.house.mn/htv/channel.pdf
Webcast/mobile streaming schedule:
www.house.mn/htv/schedule.asp
YouTube:
www.youtube.com/user/MNHouseInfo
Thank you. It’s an honor to represent you at the Capitol.
Sincerely,
Andrew Carlson
State Representative