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State Representative Dan Fabian
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-9635
For more information contact: House GOP Communications 651-296-5520
Session Update
Dan’s Email Update
Friends –
This week has been busy here at the State Capitol with budget bills and committee hearings.
House File 960, a bill I co-authored was introduced in Capitol Investment this week in regards to flood hazard mitigation. The bill is a flood hazard mitigation grant that includes funding for flood mitigation projects in our area which include: Springbrook, Two Rivers Watershed District; Hay Creek-Norland, Roseau Watershed District (including the Roseau diversion project); Brandt-Angus, Middle-Snake-Tamarac Rivers Watershed District; Grand Marais and Red Lake Watershed District. In regards to flooding this spring we continue to work with the DNR and the local watershed district to identify retention areas upstream from Roseau. I’d like to thank the folks who came to testify at this committee. They did a great job pointing out the importance of these projects. Testifiers included: John Finney, Red River Watershed Management Board, Dan Money, Two Rivers Watershed District Administrator, Rob Sando, Roseau River Watershed District Administrator Nick Drees, Middle-Snake-Tamarac Watershed District Administrator, Jeff Pelowski, City of Roseau Mayor, and Myron Jesme, Red Lake Watershed District.
We passed a budget bill in the Environment, Energy and Natural Resources on Wednesday evening that reduces spending by the DNR and the MPCA. A lot of what I talked about on the campaign trail is contained in this bill. The final notes are being placed in the bill, stay tuned for more information in next week’s update. We are also addressing the very serious issue of Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS).
We also passed an Education finance budget bill this week as well. Education finance was the number one concern that I heard from teachers, school administrators and school boards on the campaign trail. I am happy to say through hard work and negotiating that we have closed the funding gap that exists between rural and metro school districts.
This bill as written will increase per-pupil funding by $126 through 2014, and adds funding for small schools with less than 1,000 students. For too long our small rural schools have come out on the short end of the funding stick. This bill takes significant steps to either preserve or in some cases increase funding from current levels.
The reason we are able to increase funding is because the bill repeals the integration aid program and redistributes the money to the per-pupil formula to benefit every student across the state. This bill also reduces mandates to local school boards, saving money. This bill repeals the statute that allows the state to delay state aid payments to certain school districts in order for the state to avoid short-term borrowing for cash flow purposes.
This bill also strengthens early childhood education by establishing a parent aware ratings system for early education facilities; participating in the ratings system is voluntary. This rating system creates scholarships for children to attend highly rated facilities.
In the days and weeks ahead these bills will be heard on the House floor and differences will be made between the House and Senate and will finally be sent to the Governor for his signature.
The Northern Freeze girls’ basketball team, made up of players attending both, Marshall County Central and Tri-County schools went to the state tournament, and they did a great job. The team’s record for the season was 26-1. Great job! I also wanted to congratulate Liza Hoglo on her selection to play in the MN girls basketball coaches associate sponsored basketball all-star games. Way to go!
If you haven’t already, please take a moment to fill out my online survey, I appreciate your input and respect your ideas.
www.surveymonkey.com/1Asurvey
Please feel free to contact me at any time. I try very hard to respond to individual concerns, sometimes they are late but please know that I take your concerns seriously.
Have a great weekend,
Dan
P.S. Please pass this email on to your friends and family and encourage them to sign up for my email updates at www.house.mn/1a
News Items
- REP. FABIAN EXTENDS GRATITUDE TO TRAILS4TRANSPLANTS ORGANIZERS IN WARREN - (Posted: Jun 11 2013 2:46PM)
- June Town Hall Meeting Schedule - (Posted: Jun 3 2013 2:28PM)
- REP. FABIAN: MINNESOTANS DO NOT WANT FORCED DAYCARE UNIONIZATION AT THIS TIME - (Posted: May 20 2013 2:42PM)
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