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State Representative Andrew Falk
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4228
For more information contact: Ted Modrich 651-296-5809
NEWS COLUMN
Looking beneath the surface
The 2011 legislative session continues to roll along and there has already been a flurry of activity at the Capitol. I’ve already discussed the Republican’s irresponsible passage of HF 130, a bill that raises property taxes, raises tuition, cuts child protective services, cuts police and firefighters, and does not create a single job. The GOP rushed this bill through the process and spent a grand total of thirty-three minutes in conference committee before sending it back to the floor for passage. In addition, this bill passed by the minimum number of votes on a strictly party-line basis. Fortunately, Governor Dayton chose to veto their reckless bill.
There are many bills traveling through the legislature that may sound good on the surface; however, upon taking a closer look, you realize there are many provisions that do not have the best interests of Minnesotans at hand and are being pushed by an out of touch agenda. For example, HF 07, authored by Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R – Mazeppa), would repeal a number of mandates on local units of government. That sounds good on the surface but upon taking a closer look, the bill also contains repeal of the 1984 Local Government Pay Equity Act (LGPEA) that ensures that women who work in local government are paid the same as men.
Another example is HF 63 authored by Rep. Pat Garofalo (R – Farmington), which just passed off the floor of the House, expanding the state’s Alternative Teacher Licensure program. Minnesota is known nationally for having high standards that must be met before a person can become a licensed teacher. Under this bill, an individual could become a licensed teacher in Minnesota with as little as five weeks training. In addition, the bill did not require the individual to have a degree in the subject area that individual would be teaching nor did it require a connection to our colleges and universities nor did it contain teacher performance assessments. Minnesotans expect great teachers in the classrooms and while this bill may allow a few exceptional individuals who want to teach an alternative pathway into the classroom, it also opens the floodgates to a horde of problems. That’s a risk that I’m not willing to take when the future of Minnesota’s kids is at stake.
Finally, there is HF 1, which also just passed off the House floor. The goal of this bill is to streamline environmental reviews and permitting. I agree with the need to improve permitting and environmental review and I applaud Governor Dayton for issuing an Executive Order to accomplish those goals. Unfortunately, all this bill does is streamline, or as the dictionary defines, remove resistance, to the standards that have been put in place to ensure that our air and water are protected. Furthermore, this bill rewards bad behavior. Everyone wants business to play by the rules, so there is competition and a fair playing field. This bill punishes those businesses that have played by the rules and allows those who want to shirk the rules to get away with it. That’s not fair and that’s not right. In addition, this bill is unfair to rural districts like ours. This bill forces any court cases relating to environmental review decisions to be heard at the Court of Appeals, requiring businesses to have to travel all the way to St. Paul. This is just another power grab and attempt to marginalize rural districts and citizens in outstate Minnesota.
I offered an amendment to correct this flaw, but it was not adopted. I will continue to fight for our district and ensure that we are treated fairly.
We have many challenging issues facing us this legislative session and many bills that claim, on the surface, to solve those problems. But a closer inspection reveals that these bills have far too many terrible consequences for the people of Minnesota and are just another attempt by the Republicans to cram their radical agenda through the legislature.
On these issues and the many others confronting us this legislative session, I’d appreciate your input. Please feel free to send me your comments, concerns and suggestions. You can reach me by phone at 651-296-4228 or email at rep.andrew.falk@house.mn.
Andrew Falk
State Representative
District 20A
News Items
- HOUSE APPROVES ENVIRONMENT, NATURAL RESOURCES & AG BUDGET - (Posted: May 20 2013 3:05PM)
- House approves HHS budget that saves $50 million through reforms - (Posted: May 17 2013 12:00AM)
- HOUSE PASSES HIGHER EDUCATION BILL FREEZE TO TUITION, INCREASE LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT OF U of M and MnSCU SPENDING - (Posted: May 17 2013 12:00AM)
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