Legislative Update Friends, We are getting down to the final few weeks of session, and there is still a lot of work to do. This week, we heard some pretty unbelievable comments in the Tax Committee. There was talk about adding another tax tier in Minnesota, and one Democrat member openly talked about “class warfare.” That is not me putting words in anybody’s mouth. That was said out loud in committee. Minnesotans are asking for affordability. They are asking us to stop making it harder to live, work, raise a family, and run a business in this state. It is our job to advocate for the citizens of Minnesota, not develop new ways to take more money from those who are already struggling to pay the bills. We also saw another bill on the house floor this week that would have the government step in and forcefully reduce what private businesses can pay their own executives. I believe the role of government is to foster opportunity for business to thrive and grow which allows them to create more jobs and increase wages for those they employ. And all of this is happening while Minnesota is still dealing with a massive fraud problem. Federal agents were at 22 locations across the state this week tied to fraud investigations. Billions of taxpayer dollars have already been lost. The answer cannot be more spending, more taxes. We need common sense legislation that eliminates the opportunity for fraudulent behavior and holds individuals accountable the commit fraud in our state. We need to protect taxpayers, support the people who are working and building businesses here, and ensure that money already allocated is going where it is supposed to go and being used for the purposes it was meant for. I will keep standing up for common sense and accountability as we head into the final stretch. Thank you to everyone who continues to reach out. It matters, and I appreciate hearing from you. Have a great weekend, Representative Bryan Lawrence House District 27B |