Speaker Daudt and I with Butch Karcher of Karcher Foster Services
Sharing Chisago County's success in the America's Best Competition on the House Floor this week.
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
A problem in our mailing system meant some recipients received my weekly email update yesterday with an error message. I apologize to anyone who received that, and wanted to resend my legislative update so you can be up-to-date with the latest news from St. Paul.
Also, since it's the last week to take my legislative survey, I wanted to be sure no one missed out on the opportunity to share their thoughts with me before the results are released next week.
Here is an update from the Capitol.
Congratulations to our Chisago Lakes Area Communities!
It's an honor to represent the Chisago Lakes area—now a national finalist for America's Best Community (ABC)! They competed in North Carolina on Wednesday, and the competition is now down from 350 communities to just eight. They were awarded $100,000 and are eligible for the final grand prize of $3 million.
The ABC Competition was created in 2014 and is sponsored by Frontier Communications, Dish Network, The Weather Channel and Co-Bank. The Chisago Lakes community is represented by the towns of Chisago City, Lindstrom, Center City, Shafer, Taylors Falls and the surrounding countryside.
I am so proud of the work that our incredible Chisago Lakes area team has accomplished in the ABC Competition. More than 100 community leaders have been participating in this initiative from all sectors including business, health care, government and education, as well retirees and even school kids. They have all come together to improve the Chisago Lakes community with a forward looking plan that will help create a new and vibrant future for us all.
I also recently recognized Chisago County on the House Floor, and they received a standing ovation for their work in the ABC competition. You can see the full video here.
The Supplemental Education and Higher Education Omnibus Bill
On Monday, the House passed a bipartisan supplemental education bill that makes reforms aimed at helping our K-12 public schools.
Here are some of the key provisions in the legislation:
- Uses the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCA) as an indicator to measure college readiness, helping to save students money on remedial college courses at MnSCU schools
- Expands higher education opportunities for students with developmental and intellectual disabilities
- Implements fixes to our broken teacher licensure system
- Increases opportunities to expand the diversity of our teacher workforce
- Protects educators and school staff, addressing immediate needs of educators and working toward long-term solutions to stop violence in our classrooms
- Implements innovative programs to help close the achievement gap
This bill builds on the $1.5 Billion investment the legislature made in the current biennium in education, and puts forth additional opportunities to improve student learning, support our educators and provide every child with a world-class education.
Jobs Supplemental Omnibus Bill
On Wednesday, the House passed a supplemental budget bill pertaining to jobs and energy, agriculture and environment.
One provision in the omnibus bill particularly important to families is Chisago County is the efforts to address child care access and affordability issues for Minnesota families. Child care is extremely expensive in our state, and we are looking at ways to address that in the legislature through grants, stakeholder working groups, and input from parents and providers. Additionally, the Jobs bill passed also includes a repeal of the 2014 DFL law that allowed for the unionization of independent child care providers following their overwhelming rejection to be unionized in an election earlier this year.
In addition to addressing child care affordability, the bill also provides $40 million in new funding for broadband internet expansion to help more unserved and underserved communities access reliable internet. Tied in with federal dollars, Minnesota will see well over $100 million in broadband funding—a truly historic broadband investment for our state.
Now this bill, along with the other omnibus bills passed this week, will be the House position going into final negotiations with Senate Democrats and Governor Dayton before session ends in late May. My priorities for the $900 million surplus remain tax relief for the hardworking taxpayers of Chisago County and a transportation bill to fix our roads and bridges that does not include an onerous new gas tax increase.
Survey
It's your last chance to take my 2016 legislative survey! If you haven't done so yet, please take the survey by clicking the link below. I appreciate the opportunity to gather valuable feedback from my constituents in Chisago County.
To take the survey, just click this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Barrett2016
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me. Also, don't forget to share it with your friends and family in District 32B! I will share the results with you soon.
Sincerely,
Bob