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State Representative Tom Hackbarth
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-2439
For more information contact: Austin Bleess 651-296-5529
NEWS COLUMN
THE BEAST THAT KEEPS GROWING
By Tom Hackbarth
State Representative
We all know about the incessant growth of government over the past few decades. It has gotten larger than ever on nearly every level. The number of people that work for government has increased. The amount of taxes it takes from your wallet has increased. The ways it controls your life has increased. It seems to keep getting bigger and bigger.
In Minnesota the Democrats in the Legislature are growing government and dictating to you how you can live your life. This time they’re doing so in the name of the Omnibus Environment, Energy, and Commerce Bill.
To start out they will mandate what types of bags you can put the leaves from your yard in. Every fall we get to rake our yards and bag all of those leaves. You used to be able to go down to the local hardware store and pick up leaf bags. That won’t be good enough anymore. The Democrats now require you to buy leaf bags that are compostable. Of course, if you live in Minneapolis or St. Paul you are exempted from this provision. But apparently residents of other towns can afford the extra money for these special bags and the inconvenience of having to buy different leaf bags.
They are also growing the size of government and taking more money out of your wallets. Under the bill citizens will have to pay more than $14 million in new fees. These fees will go towards more government programs that are unnecessary. Take for instance the state grants, which total $500,000 to help people compost garbage. Why is the state spending money to buy people compost bins? This seems like a bailout for the compost companies.
On top of that they are adding to the already bloated layers of government. They are implementing requirements for the reporting of greenhouse gas emissions. Putting these requirements into place will simply create another job for a bureaucrat. In a time of a budget deficit our state cannot afford this.
The Governor has proposed numerous reform measures that would make the government run more efficiently. One such proposal is to merge the Environmental Quality Board with the Pollution Control Agency. These two groups do very similar work. By merging them it would remove duplication and reform government. But the Democrats have no interest in reform. They have included specific legislation blocking this merger from taking place!
They have also required more than two dozen reports to the Legislature and working groups to study unnecessary things. They want to study the composting grants, priority chemicals, and storm water. These reports simply add to the multiple layers of red tape and paperwork surrounding the entire process. It is the opposite of the reform we so desperately need.
I voted no on this bill because it will cost you more money. It ignores the need to reform how government works. It dictates to the people how they can live. It is the exact opposite of how government should run.
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