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State Representative David Bly
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-0171
For more information contact: Zachary Stephenson 651-268-1644
NEWS COLUMN
A PROGRESS REPORT
This week the 2007 Legislative Session hit its midway point, and I am happy to tell you that I have been very pleased with the work we've done at the Capitol so far. After a sea-change election last fall creating a new DFL majority in the House, we set a demanding set of goals for this year. House Democrats promised to work together with Republicans on the issues that matter to the people of Minnesota: education, health care and property tax relief. At this point, I can say that we've made progress on that promise.
So far, this has been a session marked by civility and compromise. The first major bill to pass into law was a Renewable Energy Standard; landmark legislation designed to reduce our state's dependence on fossil fuels. The legislation had been controversial in the past, but we worked together with advocates and stakeholders and came up with a bill that eventually won overwhelming support in both the House and Senate and was quickly signed into law by the Governor.
That bill, which would be the crowning achievement of any other session, was passed in February. Since that time we've been working hard to deliver on many other issues. The House passed both a transportation bill and a capitol investment bill in March. In years past these bills have typically been passed in May. But we worked hard to finish these bills early in an effort to avoid another divisive, costly special session.
In the past few weeks we've also unveiled our education plan, which invests almost a billion dollars in new money into our schools and provides for all-day Kindergarten for every Minnesotan. This bill renews our commitment to making Minnesota the nation's education leader.
We've also proposed a health care bill that will drive down costs and increase access to our health care system. The centerpiece of this proposal is a plan to provide all children with access to quality health care.
Neither our education bill nor our health care bill increases taxes.
Finally, we proposed a way to provide significant, fair and permanent property tax relief to every Minnesota property owner. The bill contains over a half billion in property tax relief, which contrasts to an expected $600 million property tax increase if we do nothing. To pay for this bill, we propose a new income tax bracket for couples making over $400,000 in a year.
Overall, if our plans become law, we'll see important new investments in our education, health care and transportation systems along with significant property tax relief. Sounds like a successful session to me.
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News Items
- Rep.-elect Bly Selected as Vice Chair of Housing Finance and Policy Committee - (Posted: Dec 21 2012 12:06PM)
- House Passes Flood Relief for Southern Minnesota in Special Session - (Posted: 2010-10-18 00:00:00)
- Governor signs eminent domain law to protect landowners - (Posted: 2010-05-03 00:00:00)
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