Legislative Update - Rep. Tom Murphy

Legislative Update

Friends and Neighbors,

This week at the Capitol House File 35 was brought to the floor. This bill adds inflation automatically into the budget forecasts we receive twice per year. This essentially means that government would be giving itself an automatic raise based on the inflation rate, though the bill does not include any deflationary metrics if we were to see that in the future. I voted against this bill because I believe every one of your tax dollars should be accounted for, not just automatically added to the ever-growing spending of government.

Lights Out in Minnesota

Yesterday we debated the Blackout Bill that would turn the lights off on Minnesotans on the most critical and coldest days of the year. House File 7 would require all electricity production in Minnesota to be carbon neutral by 2040. Democrats have been on a rampage to pass along expensive clean energy mandates that will cost Minnesota utility customers even more totaling over $3,800 per year. (Center for the American Experiment)

By 2040, all our energy will need to be produced by wind, solar, or hydroelectric. No nuclear options, no local county or township control, and no control for our local energy companies. Rolling blackouts as we’ve seen in California and Germany are also an inevitability in Minnesota this bill with an estimated 55 hours of production shortfall each year that would likely happen during the coldest part of the winter. This could have deadly consequences for the most vulnerable Minnesotans.

The consequences don’t stop there. Energy production is a major employer in Minnesota and this bill would kill over 79,000 jobs across Minnesota. How are families expected to keep up with the rapidly increasing costs of energy and everyday life when Democrats want them jobless as well?

Effects back Home

Our local incinerators in Perham and Alexandria were exempted from this legislation with the focus of the bill falling on a similar solid waste facility in Hennepin County.  I suspect that our local incinerators will likely be under the microscope again in the future. Democrats’ bad energy policy doesn’t stop there. When we decommission incinerators all that garbage is redirected to landfills. Landfills that do nothing to innovate and simply store waste in perpetuity. A leaking landfill liner in lake country would be an environmental disaster! The lack of innovation cannot compete with modern incinerators that not only capture most gasses released but also provide ash to concrete production.

Democrats continue to push extreme legislation that fail Minnesotans. My Republican colleagues and I will continue to stand up against their bad ideas. Please share your thoughts and legislative concerns with me by phone or email at 218.640.1707 and rep.tom.murphy@house.mn.gov. You can also follow and engage on Facebook and Twitter @TomMurphyMN.

Thanks, 

Representative Tom Murphy

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