Dear Neighbors,
Earlier this week, Minnesota Management and Budget announced a forecasted budget surplus of $1.65 billion. Additionally, the February Economic Forecast revealed that Minnesota continues to have low unemployment and a stable budget.
While Minnesota's economy is performing well, we need to remain cautious and fiscally prudent. A new presidential administration could mean several restructured fiscal policies, in addition to other unknown variables. Our state’s surplus creates an opportunity for us to act now on making improvements to Minnesotans’ lives, not only in our community but across the state. We can achieve this through investments to strong public schools, affordable college and job training, and increasing access to good jobs and affordable, quality health care.
Additionally, our transportation infrastructure has been neglected for far too long. The House Majority has had three years of low interest rates to pass a robust bonding bill for improvements to statewide infrastructure projects. It is time to push politics aside and get the work done.
Please feel free to share your thoughts on how the surplus would be best utilized.
Preemption
Yesterday evening, the Minnesota House passed HF 600, known as the ‘preemption’ bill. The legislation would create a uniform standard for businesses across the state. I think the bill has some merit, however, specific provisions of HF 600 have serious implications that will roll back benefits for over 150,000 Minnesotans. If we want to create meaningful policy change, it’s important for us to be forward thinking as we do this, and not take away earned benefits of people in the process. For this reason, I could not support HF 600 with its current language. I have spoken with the author of this bill and we discussed how to find a compromise with both workers and businesses. I will continue to work on this effort.
Please keep in touch on the issues important to you. It’s an honor to represent our communities at the Capitol.
Sincerely,
Paul