Dear Neighbors,
On Wednesday. Governor Dayton delivered his eighth and final state of the state address. It is pretty incredible how far Minnesota has come since Governor Dayton took office. Former Governor Tim Pawlenty left Minnesota in rough shape with a $6.2 billion budget deficit and he borrowed $1.9 billion from our schools. Minnesota has bounced back amazingly well; but don’t take my word for it, this is how Minnesota ranks against other states.
Going from deficits and borrowing money from our schools to surpluses and record investments in things like education helped make Minnesota the best state in the country. Governor Dayton deserves a lot of credit for that leadership.
The key to Minnesota’s success is its people. Every Minnesotan deserves an opportunity to succeed, and we can only make that a reality by continuing to invest in the things that make life better for all of us. As your voice at the Capitol, I’ll work to ensure everyone has access to a quality education, a job that rewards hard work with fair pay, world-class healthcare, and a secure retirement.
Veterans Day on the Hill
I want to extend a big thank you to everyone who visited the Capitol on Monday for Veterans Day on the Hill. This year’s focus was on helping surviving spouses keep their homes, stopping predatory lending against veterans’ benefits, and increasing access to the outdoors for disabled vets. It was great to see so many Veterans and advocates working to make sure their voices are heard.
Protecting MN Seniors from Abuse
Last year, the Star Tribune published a series that detailed serious abuses, sexual assault, and other mistreatment going uninvestigated in Minnesota’s senior care facilities. After investigations by AARP and the Office of the Legislative Auditor, Governor Dayton joined legislators to announce a broad set of reforms and investments to hold providers guilty of abuse accountable and protect the health, safety, and dignity of seniors and vulnerable adults.
While significant changes have been made and the backlog of uninvestigated claims is being investigated, I’m committed to making sure we do everything we can to ensure this never happens again. Our seniors deserve to live with safety, security and dignity. We owe it to families to not delay and take action on meaningful fixes now.
As always, don’t hesitate to reach out with any thoughts, questions, or concerns.
Sincerely,
Andrew Carlson
State Representative