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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Abigail Whelan (R)

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Legislative Update (5-29-15)

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Dear Neighbors,

The Governor and legislative leaders have been meeting this week to work out differences in three of our budget bills: Education, agriculture and environment, and jobs. As mentioned last week, the Governor vetoed these three bills, which was especially frustrating considering all three were negotiated on a bipartisan basis, with both House Republicans and Senate Democrats meeting each other in the middle as we finished our work on time.

Special Session

While there is still uncertainty on several fronts, I am hopeful we will have a special session before July 1. When it is called, we will be meeting in the State Office Building as the Capitol Chambers are under construction.

As you also may remember from last week’s update, the governor’s veto of our education bill was in large part due to his desire for universal public pre-k. The issue at hand isn’t whether or not we want four year olds to be ready for kindergarten—we all agree on that. The issue is the best approach we can take to achieve that goal.

Instead of mandating an expensive and unproven universal pre-kindergarten program (like the governor has proposed) our education budget makes significant investments in targeted pre-kindergarten scholarships. These scholarships are aimed at helping lower income families have the ability to afford and send their children to an outstanding pre-school of their choosing. These are research proven methods that will help close our state’s achievement gap. The Pioneer Press recently featured a great article on this topic: http://bit.ly/1HG65a6.

Additionally, the governor vetoed the environment and agriculture bill as well as our jobs bill. Like the education bill, both of these bills passed the House and Senate with strong, bipartisan support. I am especially disappointed to see the governor veto the agriculture and environment bill as he is blocking the allocation of millions of dollars that are desperately needed to address the avian flu outbreak that has been devastating Minnesota’s turkey industry.

I will keep you updated as we learn more information regarding the special session.

Upcoming Events

I also want to pass along some information regarding a legislative panel I will be participating in next week. The MetroNorth Chamber of Commerce is hosting a legislative panel next Wednesday, June 3rd, from 8:00-9:00 am at the Rasmussen College campus in Blaine. The event is free of charge for MetroNorth Chamber members. There is a small fee for those of you who wish to attend and are not members. I hope to see you there!

Also mark your calendars for the Draw Summer Event Series in Ramsey - lots of outdoor fun on Thursday evenings all summer long! For details, see http://www.cityoframsey.com/thedraw-summerevent.

Stay in Touch

As always, feel free to contact me if you ever have any questions about negotiations or how things currently stand here in St. Paul. Feel free to email me at rep.abigail.whelan@house.mn to let me know your thoughts and concerns. It would be a privilege to communicate with you.

 

Have a wonderful weekend,

Abigail