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Minnesota House of Representatives

State Representative Matt Dean

301 State Office BuildingState Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-3018

For more information contact: House GOP Communications 651-296-5520

Posted: 2007-03-23 00:00:00
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OP/ED COLUMN

WEEKLY EMAIL UPDATE

Dear Friends,

We have reached the half way point of the 2007 legislative session.
Here is a short update:

Boomsite To Reopen
The Stillwater Boomsite will reopen April 15th under an agreement
between the Department of Natural Resources and The Department of
Transportation. Senator Vandeveer and I worked with stakeholders formed
at a forum we hosted in February. That forum sought input from the
community with the goal of reopening the site. That was successful and
we thank all the community members who provided input and offered their
help. We are now asking community members to send in ideas on the best
long-term use for the site.

Bonding Bill
The state's major construction projects are funded through bonds sold
by the state. Prioritizing the construction projects is the job of the
bonding committee. I am pleased to be on the committee again this year.
Last session we passed a large bill with several local projects
included. The Gateway trail extension, the Stillwater Prison
segregation unit and the Kopp Science center at Century College are now
being built as a result of that work. This year, a smaller bill is
aimed at covering some of the emergency projects. This year, I have
authored two local projects: the Stillwater flood control, and Browns
Creek Trail acquisition. These were included in the House bill that
passed out of all committees Thursday. The bill now goes to the House
Floor next week.

Budget..Big Tax Increases Proposed by Some
This session we will set the state's budget for the next two years.


The good news is that the state has a $2billion surplus to work with.
Put another way, the economy will produce an extra nine percent in
revenue without raising taxes. Some argue that all of this money should
be returned to the taxpayers, while others say that it should all be
spent and taxes raised on top of that.

I do believe that we can and must fund our priorities within our means.
The additional nine percent can be used to fund priorities while also
allowing healthy property tax relief for homeowners.

My friends across the aisle have proposed property tax relief in the
form of increases in payments to cities who receive government subsidies
in the hopes that they might someday not raise property taxes as much as
they otherwise might have. This is misguided in my opinion because the
money should go to those who have been hit the hardest, the homeowners,
not the government.

The proposal creates a new highest income bracket. This "fourth
tier" will be taxed at an all-time high rate and the majority of that
money will go to cities outside our community who receive
disproportionately large subsidies for local government aid.

Some might say "Well they're rich, they can afford it." While it
may be true that our community has its share of successful folks from
the professions and business, a close examination of the numbers
provided by house research shows that the majority of folks in this
class are small business owners or farmers. Too many Minnesotan's
have already left for Texas, Florida or South Dakota along with the
family-supporting jobs that their companies provide.

The "rich tax" as it is being called also (according to the Speaker
of the House) will not provide one additional penny to education or
health care. The DFL won elections across the state on holding the line
on income taxes, providing health insurance to all children and giving
more money to schools. Now a large tax increase is proposed and not one
more child will receive health insurance and not one penny more will be
added to education because of it.

This, like many bills is more politics than anything else. I will
encourage my friends on the left and right to pull together and put
forward proposals that are achievable in the next seven weeks. We need
a balanced budget that is responsible and reflects the best interests of
all Minnesotans.

Here are some more proposals from the past week:

Spending Targets Set
The House Ways and Means Committee approved a resolution setting a
nearly $34.6 billion spending target for the 2008-09 biennium. That is
approximately $126 million more than the governors proposed spending
target.


Help more people receive treatment
That is the goal of a bill approved by the House Health and Human
Services Policy Committee and referred to the House Finance Committee
this week. The bill would allow for people making 165 percent of
federal poverty guidelines to be given free chemical dependency
treatment.

Honoring Veterans of WWII
Dedication of the World War II Veterans Memorial on the State Capitol
grounds will happen on June 9th of this year. Under a bill sent to the
House Finance Committee this week, $500,000 would be dedicated to help
defray costs for World War II veterans who wanted to attend the
dedication ceremony. The money would be used for transportation, meals
and lodging of the veterans.

MAKING SURE OUR KIDS ARE READY FOR COLLEGE
This week a bill laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus would
increase the funding for the Education Planning and Assessment Program,
which contracts with the Assessment and Comprehensive Testing (ACT) to
provide assessments for Minnesota's high school students. The
assessments include an "ACT Explore" assessment for 8th graders and an
"ACT Plan" assessment for 10th graders. These assessments prepare the
students for their post-high school choices and coursework.


Helping Active Duty Veterans
Under a bill passed by the full House today Veterans who are leaving
for Active Duty would be able to cancel cell phone contracts, gym club
memberships, and other types of contracts without penalty. This bill
will allow service members to serve our country without having to pay
extra fines or fees for getting out of contracts.


Best Regards,

Rep. Matt Dean

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