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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Clark Johnson (DFL)

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Legislative Update - April 5th, 2017

Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Dear neighbors,
 
The House has been busy voting on Omnibus Bills! You'll recall from a previous e-updates, I noted that omnibus bills (bills about a similar subject compiled into one) can often have both good things and bad things in them, and I would vote on the omnibus bills in accordance with the priorities of our community. I want to talk about two bills we've voted on in which the bad things far outweighed the good and did not earn my support.
 
Education Omnibus Bill
As a member of the Education Policy Committee, I can honestly say I was proud of the bi-partisan, "meat and potatoes" bill the committee put together that did not include controversial provisions. However, the Education Finance Committee added controversial provisions and (most importantly) underfunded our public schools. To keep up with inflation, our public schools need at least a 2% increase of funding each year. And because I believe we should be using our surplus to invest in our schools, not just maintain the bare minimum, I have chief authored a bill to increase education funding by 2.5%. 
 
But the majority prioritized spending the surplus in other areas, including hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks to the wealthiest 1,100 Minnesota families, and there wasn't sufficient money for the Education Finance Committee to have a sufficient budget. So you can imagine my disappointment when the Education Finance Omnibus bill underfunded our schools by only funding a 1.25% increase. With a teacher shortage in Minnesota and a budget surplus, there's absolutely no reason to underfund our education system. Underfunding our public schools means our school districts either lay off teachers, creating larger class sizes, or pass a levy to fund the difference which causes our local property taxes go up.  I voted against this bill because I believe we can do better for our students and better for Minnesota.
 
Tax Omnibus Bill
At a time when our state has a surplus, I believe we should prioritize investing in students, veterans, seniors and working families. Unfortunately, the Tax Omnibus bill prioritized tax breaks for the wealthy and diverts tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer dollars to reimburse foundations and individuals for private school tuition. While I respect every family's choice to send their children to public or private school, the local public school IS the only choice for many Minnesotans. I'm against using taxpayer dollars to fund private school institutions--and am particularly troubled that this provision is included in a bill when we aren't even fully funding our public schools. I spoke on the floor about the private voucher provision, you can see that here.
 
Coffee and Conversations
On Monday I met with a group of seniors at Timbers in Apple Valley. 
 
 
 
 
We covered a lot of topics but I was troubled to hear so many people share stories about being targeted by fraud schemes. The Attorney General compiled a list of some of the common scams and you can read about by clicking here.
 
There won't be Coffee and Conversations this weekend or next, I'll be visiting family and celebrating the Easter Holiday.
 
Our next Coffee and Conversation will be on Saturday, April 22nd from 10:15 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. and we will be talking about education. It will be at the Apple Valley Library (14955 Galaxie Ave. 14955). 
 
Please contact me if you have any questions.
 
Sincerely,
 
 
 
Erin Maye Quade
State Representative