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Dear Neighbors,
I am proud to announce that I was elected earlier this week to serve as co-chair of the Subcommittee on Minnesota Water Policy.
As Minnesotans, we understand the important role that water and our God-given natural resources have on our way of life. We are called to be good stewards of these gifts and I look forward to working in this role to ensure clean, quality water is enjoyed by Minnesotans for generations.
The subcommittee was established in 2019 to review water policy reports and recommendations of the Environmental Quality Board, the Board of Water and Soil Resources, the Pollution Control Agency, the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Health, the Department of Agriculture, the Metropolitan Council, and other water-related reports as may be required by law or the legislature.
Omnibus Bills
The House started moving omnibus finance bill off the House floor Thursday evening as much of our time this week was spent debating bills and amendments. On Thursday, the House approved both the Legacy and Housing omnibus bills.
As a reminder, these omnibus finance bills represent the priorities of the DFL House majority and what they think the state’s two-year budget should look like.
Neither the Housing nor Legacy bill did enough to earn my support.
The Housing bill was full of policies that remove local control and take independence away from housing providers. By increasing mandates and removing local control, we ultimately do nothing to address the issues that are making homeownership unaffordable in many parts of the state.
We need to make it easier and cheaper to build a home in Minnesota, instead, this bill does the opposite.
I voted against the Legacy bill because of issues I had with a number of projects that are funded in the legislation.
Transportation Policy and Finance
This evening we will debate and vote on the DFL’s Transportation Policy and Finance bill. The bill spends $6.9 billion, which is over a 12% increase in funding and raises more than $1.6 billion in transportation-related taxes and fees in the next four years.
Among the taxes is an increase in the gas tax and increases to tab fees, registration, and the Motor Vehicle Sales Tax.
There are several other issues with policies in the bill. Chief among these is a provision that provides driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants.
For these reasons and many more, I am going to be a “no” vote on this bill.
The taxes and fees in this bill are totally unnecessary at a time when Minnesota has a multi-billion-dollar budget surplus.
State Government Finance Bill
We also plan to take up the State Government Finance bill today as well. This increases spending by nearly $40 million over the next two years and will significantly grow the size of government.
It’s especially frustrating that while Minnesotans are struggling, DFLers continue to grow government and refuse to ask agencies to tighten their belts.
There are also election-related provisions in the bill as well. For decades, there has been an informal agreement that election law changes must have bipartisan support. DFLers sadly are abandoning this in favor of pushing their own agenda that will make our elections less secure.
For these reasons, I plan on voting “no” on this bill as well.
Staying in Touch
Please continue to reach out to me to share your questions, thoughts, or concerns. I can be reached by phone at 651-296-4293 or via email at rep.john.poston@house.mn.
Have a great weekend,
John
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