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Minnesota House of Representatives

State Representative Bob Dettmer

279 State Office BuildingState Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4124

For more information contact: Jodi Boyne 651-296-0640

Posted: 2012-01-20 00:00:00
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NEWS COLUMN

January 20 Legislative Update

Neighbors,

Yesterday legislative leaders from the Minnesota House and Senate unveiled the agenda for Reform 2.0. The 2012 Reform 2.0 agenda focuses on creating a competitive business climate to foster job growth, high performing education, improved health care and government effectiveness. The upcoming 2012 Legislative Session is going to be one based on reform. Our government will never be able to live within its means if our public systems are not updated.

I believe it is time to restore the confidence of Minnesota job creators and grow the private sector economy. Reform 2.0 aims to reduce property taxes on commercial and industrial property and encourages growth. It will also bring much needed common sense and competitiveness to government regulations.

A high performing educational system ensures that Minnesota’s future is a bright one. As a former teacher, making sure our students receive a quality education is very important to me, and the future of Minnesota’s workforce depends on it. Reform 2.0 includes aggressive strategies to turn around the state’s lowest achieving schools. It also implements stronger evaluations to help teachers be effective in their classrooms and improve student achievement.

We have proposed a plan to fight nationalization of health care with an array of user-friendly reforms. One change will privatize some public health care programs, improving payments to doctors and hospitals, and saving the state money. Another reform will create a Return on Taxpayer Investment Report to determine if taxpayer dollars are effectively being used to meet the goals of particular public health outcomes.

An effective government has the ability to save taxpayers money. In Minnesota, our government is 20 years behind in streamlining government and taxpayers are paying the price. Our reforms will reduce the size and cost of government, create more transparency for local governments and equalize the pay and benefits of public employees with the private sector.

After traveling my district to meet with business owners, local government leaders and interested citizens, it is clear that Minnesota is ready for a change - ready for the reform it needs. Reform 2.0 is not a Republican agenda. It is Minnesota’s agenda.

Bob

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