Dear Friends,
This week, the House spent most of our time in House floor session passing final conference committee bill agreements. The House debated and voted in favor of final passage of the Agriculture, Education, Environment, Health and Human Services, State Government Finance, Transportation, and Tax budget bills. Some of these bills have already passed the Senate. Five bills have been sent to Governor Dayton and he has vetoed all five. He says that he intends to veto every budget bill we have negotiated and passed out of conference committees in the last few weeks.
This means my colleagues and I will go back to the drawing board to re-negotiate these budget bills in an effort to ultimately gain the Governor's signature on the budget.
Conference Committee Agreements
Below are some highlights from the final budget bills passed by the House this week. The highlighted points are provisions that were included to provide common ground between House/Senate leadership and the Governor, and were priorities explicitly requested by Governor Dayton. We wanted these bills to be signed by the Governor, and reflect a good-faith compromise that we hoped he would sign. We hope he will invest some real time negotiating with the House and Senate in the coming days, as he has been absent from budget talks up until very recently.
Ben Kopp Bridge Bill
I am proud to say that my bill, HF745, renaming the bridge over Hwy 52 in Coates in honor of Corporal Benjamin S. Kopp, was passed by the House. Corporal Kopp was killed in service to his country, and displayed courage and character that bring our nation honor, and make us proud to call him our own in Rosemount. Ben was inspired by his grandfather’s service in WWII, and entered service after the September 11th attacks. Many are alive today because of his service, and choice to be an organ donor.
The Rosemount Town Pages wrote a column that tells Ben’s story: http://www.rosemounttownpages.com/life/family/4265354-book-reveals-heart-ranger
Being a Mom at the Capitol
As many of you know, earlier this session we added two new members to our family, Solomon and Shalom. With three children under two years old, it takes some coordination to make sure the kids are squared away while I serve our community at the Capitol during session. The House is family-friendly, so sometime the kids come with me, and sometimes they stay home, but it is certainly a “juggle!
Here is an article in the Star Tribune on young parents in the legislature, which includes my story: http://www.startribune.com/for-minnesota-legislature-s-young-parents-life-s-a-juggle/421574203/
To all the moms out there - Happy Mother's Day!
Keep in Touch
As always, please don't hesitate to contact me with your comments, questions, and concerns. Email me any time at rep.anna.wills@house.mn or call 651-296-4306. You can also follow my updates on Facebook at www.facebook.com/repannawills and Twitter at https://twitter.com/annacwills. If you plan to stop by and visit me at the Capitol, my office is 491 in the State Office Building.
Sincerely,
Anna Wills
State Representative, District 57B