Friends,
Late last month, I announced my retirement from the Minnesota House of Representatives. It’s been the honor of a lifetime to serve as your voice in St. Paul the last 5 years. The trust and confidence you have placed in me to advocate on behalf of you and your family is humbling.
I plan on serving out the remainder of my term, but starting next January, someone new will be representing our district at the Capitol.
Again, thank you for your support.
Champlin Mill Pond Restoration
Work is being completed on the Champlin Mill Pond this week as construction crews are working to remove dirt and silt from the bottom of the pond. To date, 225,000 cubic yards of silt has been removed from the pond. Water depths will be between 16-20 feet when all is said and done.
The DNR will be stocking the pond with fish and installing fishing piers all along the shore. There is even talk of a swimming beach being constructed.
This project has been a number of years in the making and I am excited to see its completion sometime in the very near future.
School Safety
Like the rest of the nation, my heart is breaking for the families of Parkland, Florida as they deal with the aftermath of the unspeakable violence that took the lives of 17 members of their community. The nation is left wondering how we can work to make sure this type of violence never happens again. Here in Minnesota, discussion at the Capitol has focused on steps we can take to improve safety at our schools.
Just this week, the House Education Finance Committee heard a piece of legislation that would allow schools to also use their Long Term Facilities Maintenance Fund for new construction, public announcement systems, and other equipment related to violence prevention and facility security.
This is money that school districts currently have but are not able to use for safety upgrades.
Simply put, no child should be afraid to go to school. We need to do everything we can to make sure our schools are as safe as possible. This includes additional funding for mental health services as well.
One last note on this, I do not support arming teachers. I believe securing the safety of our schools is best left to law enforcement and public safety professionals.
This is an important topic and I encourage you to reach out to me to share your thoughts.
MNLARS
Since its roll-out this summer, our state’s new vehicle licensing system, MNLARS, has been a complete mess. Simple things like transferring a vehicle title or getting tabs has turned into a month’s long ordeal in some cases. Despite taxpayers spending $100 million over 10 years, these problems continue to persist.
Now, state agencies are asking for an additional $43 million to “fix” the problems with no guarantees that this new funding will effectively address the issues plaguing the system.
I am committed to finding a solution to this problem, but would like more answers before committing additional funding.
State Budget Surplus
Last week, state economists revealed that Minnesota is projected to have a $329 million surplus for the remainder of the biennium. This is a dramatic turnaround from the December forecast that projected a $188 million deficit.
The report cited increased revenue as well as an improved economy due in large part to federal tax reform.
How Minnesota responds to the changes made to the federal tax code is something that will dominate discussions at the Capitol this year. The Department of Revenue is on the record stating that with full conformity and no other policy changes an additional $460 million in new state taxes could be collected from Minnesotans in the current biennium and more $1 billion in the 2020-21 biennium.
Clearly such an increase is unacceptable.
On the flip side, if the state doesn’t conform, simple tasks like filing your state taxes may be virtually impossible.
Either way, some sort of conformity will happen this year and I am committed to making sure that Minnesotans will be held harmless with the changes that are made.
Staying in Touch
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at 651-296-5513 or emailing me at rep.mark.uglem@house.mn.
Thank you and have a great weekend,
Mark