Hello from the Capitol!
Last week I met with ISD 196 School Board member: Sachin Isaacs, Director of Finance and Operations for ISD 196: Jeffrey Solomon, and members of the district’s Legislative Advisory Council and Parent Leaders group to discuss legislative issues important to education.
Legislation I am Working on:
I had four bills that I chief-authored heard in committee this past week. The first allows more childcare access and affordability to working families by providing a larger reimbursement to childcare providers. The second bill provides grants to promote innovation for our hospitals, our counties, and providers to address the logjam in available beds across the state. This legislation was suggested by the Governor’s Task Force on Mental Health, so I believe it will have a good chance to become law before the end of session. The third bill I presented in committee this past week was clarifying language for the Stillborn Tax Credit eligibility that was passed last session, and lastly, my fourth bill that was heard this week deals with property tax fairness for manufactured home cooperatives.
Last week, I also introduced a bill that would establish family and medical leave savings accounts for those workers who do not receive paid leave benefits from their employer. The bill would also provide tax deductions for amounts deposited into the accounts.
Human Trafficking:
There are also 2 new pieces of legislation working their way through the committee process addressing human trafficking.
One of the bills allocates $2.3 million for safe shelters and supportive services for sexually exploited youth, training for law enforcement and other frontline personnel, and statewide infrastructure to connect child sex trafficking victims to services.
In 2011, Minnesota established a “Safe Harbor” law which prevents sexually trafficked children ages 18 and younger from facing criminal charges due to their exploitation. However, more funding is needed to address this growing problem.
Misuse of U.S. Bank Stadium Suites:
Last week the Legislative Auditor, Jim Nobles, released a report regarding the misuse of taxpayer funded suites at U.S. Bank Stadium by officials of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority. The audit discovered that nearly half of the tickets for the suites went to family and friends of these officials, instead of their intended purpose of using them as a marketing tool to private businesses in order to pay for ongoing expenses of operating the stadium.
To quote some of the findings by the Auditor: “The Authority’s claim that it needs two suites rather than one is not supported by facts or logic.” “The Authority failed to comply with state law by not maintaining a record of who received tickets to its stadium suites.” “We concluded that the Authority’s use of the tickets violated a core ethical principle.” “Given these and other findings, we recommend that the Legislature exercise stronger control over the Authority and, specifically, its use of complimentary tickets to stadium events.”
The legislature is currently working to reform the Authority to make them more accountable to the taxpayers of Minnesota.
If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding any issue related to state government, please feel free to contact me at either 651-296-5387 or rep.roz.peterson@house.mn.
Sincerely,
