Greetings,
Congratulations to Paynesville coaching legend Brad Skoglund for receiving word he will be inducted into the Minnesota State High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame this fall. With more than 400 career wins, four state tournament appearances and strong mentorship for countless more Paynesville athletes, Coach Skoglund is well-deserving of this award.
Also, it is nice to see EV-W girls/women’s basketball pioneer Peps Neuman receive a great honor by having the school’s auxiliary gym named in her honor. Peps has done so much for advancing women’s athletics as a player and advocate over the years. It is good to see her legacy is being carried on so young EV-W athletes can learn from this inspirational woman.
At the Capitol, the end of this week marks the first deadline for bills to make preliminary progress in House committees. That means the hearings schedule has been packed and I have presented numerous bills this week.
One bill (H.F. 1101) I presented allows cities to conduct fundraisers to pay for National Night Out events designed to foster positive relationships between law enforcement and citizens. There has been concern over tax implications on these fundraisers and my bill provides clarification.
Other bills I brought to committees this week pertain to leveling the tax field for dual-service military members (H.F. 1893), bringing long-range planning to pavement management on our roads (H.F. 1957, improving stolen military valor law (H.F. 1892), implementing zero-based budgeting at state agencies (H.F. 136), and bringing the state in line with a federal requirements regarding Head Start buses (H.F. 1224).
I will pass along more news on these bills and others I have authored as they make their way through the process. The important thing for now was to meet the first deadline so they remain alive in the House.
With so much time spent in committees, the House floor was fairly quiet this week. One noteworthy bill the full body approved a bill (H.F. 778) to increase oversight and accountability of the Minnesota Stadium Facilities Authority. This bill is geared toward improving transparency and accountability to restore public trust that was broken as numerous reports of unethical activity by MSFA members and executive staff emerged in recent months.
The House also approved a bill (H.F. 434), which provides $5 million from the general fund to the Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) to acquire wetland banking credits. Under state policy enacted in the 1990s, any development project is required to replace lost wetlands or purchase wetland credits. Communities across the state rely on funding for the Local Road Wetland Replace Program to continue local road projects on-time, but the revenue needed to facilitate these transactions had dwindled. The bill we passed was enacted by the governor this morning, ensuring work can begin as scheduled this spring.
Good luck,
Jeff