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Minnesota House of Representatives

State Representative Tara Mack

345 State Office BuildingState Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-5506

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

Posted: 2012-04-06 00:00:00
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NEWS COLUMN

April 6 Legislative Update

Neighbors,

Hello! I hope you are all having a great week. We spent most of the week here in St. Paul on the House floor, passing bills and getting them to Governor Dayton.

The House passed the final language on the photo ID constitutional amendment this week - the bill needed to be finalized with the matching language from the Senate in order to be voted on. The passage means that a question asking voters whether or not they believe voters should have to show a photo ID before voting on election day will appear on the ballot in November. Minnesotans deserve to have the utmost confidence in our election system, and photo ID makes sure that only those eligible to vote are the ones who decide the outcome of our elections. Photo ID has had bipartisan support in the past, and is a common sense piece of legislation for Minnesota.

I was disappointed to hear yesterday that Governor Dayton vetoed the plan that the Legislature passed to repay the entire K-12 school shift that was borrowed in 2011 after the budget was finalized with the Governor. Our plan repaid 2011's shift in full, and made the first re-payment on the school shift from 2010. The bill made schools and students a priority - and with the state having a surplus of $1 billion, I think it only makes sense to begin to pay down our debt. Prudent financial management says when you have cash on hand, the first thing you do is pay off debt. Debt reduction saves money in interest costs, and leaves more money for hiring teachers, upgrading classroom equipment and other educational services. It is worth noting that since the 2011 session ended, more than $780 million has been restored to schools.

Despite my disappointment with the governor’s choice to veto this bill, I am hopeful that we can come to some compromise to begin to make payments on our obligations to the schools and students of this state. I believe that our government must do the same by responsibly managing our budget without raising taxes or ignoring our debts.

We continue to further our reform agenda, making government work better for Minnesota. For updates, please visit www.reform2.mn

Please contact my office with any state legislative concern you may have at 651-296-5506.

Thanks!

Tara

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