Hello Friends, I hope you’re staying safe and dry during this particularly rainy start to summer. We’re no strangers to the Minnesota River flooding in Shakopee, but for those of you driving around the state this holiday week, be sure to check the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s road status updates here to see how your travels may be impacted - and stay safe! In addition to more rain, this week also brought new laws! On July 1, several new policies and investments we passed at the State Capitol this year took effect, including a new law I authored in the House that requires plain language in Minnesota’s driver’s license tests. If a Minnesotan has the required knowledge to pass the written portion of their driver’s test, they should be able to do so without the barrier of needlessly complicated or confusing language. Regardless of their background, we want safe drivers on our roads, and a huge part of that is taking and passing this test. Our new law complies with federal law and makes Minnesota safer. Other highlights of the new laws taking effect include investing $43 million to improve student literacy, criminalizing the use of “deep fakes” to influence an election, and nearly $80 million in lottery proceeds covering more than 100 projects to protect Minnesota's natural resources. You can read about these new laws and more in this summary of what was enacted on July 1. What Didn’t Pass?Since the Minnesota Legislature adjourned at the end of May, I’ve been talking with a lot of neighbors about what we accomplished, which I also briefly covered in my previous legislative update. But equally important is the conversation around what didn’t quite make it over the finish line this year. Even with all the progress we made, there’s only a finite amount of time during the legislative process. Though we passed a historic Capital Investment bill last year - in which I secured over $30 million for local infrastructure projects for Shakopee - we were unable to pass another bill this year, largely due to the lack of Republican support (Capital Investment bills typically require a supermajority to pass). That doesn’t mean the projects this year’s bill would’ve funded go away, and I will continue to champion investment in local resources like the Shakopee Innovation Hub and the Louisville Regional Trail Corridor. The legalization of sports betting was a popular topic of discussion at the legislature this year, and though it didn’t pass, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t significant progress. In Shakopee, we have the unique perspective of having close contact with multiple stakeholders on this issue, with the tribes, the tracks, and the charities being key players. I reached across the aisle on this issue, and for the first time ever, we were able to build consensus on a path for legalized sports betting - setting the foundation for a future solution. I spoke with Peter Callaghan at MinnPost on the topic, which you can read here. |