Dear Neighbor,
I will be co-hosting a series of town hall meetings with Sen. Torrey Westrom early next month. We are still working to finalize the schedule, but the plan is for a March 8-9 swing through a number of cities and towns all across District 12B. I will pass along details as soon as things are firmed up, but just wanted to provide some advance notice now.
As for news from the Capitol, here is an update of some bills I have authored:
This week I introduced a bill to test for radon when a home’s title is transferred. Nationally, more people die from exposure to radon than are killed in car accidents. This “silent killer” took the life of a friend of my wife’s, Janet, who developed lung cancer due to radon. My legislative intent is to at least let a buyer know if a radon problem exists on a property. I am working with people who have an interest in this issue to make sure we have legislation that is reasonable for all parties.
Another bill I authored had its first hearing in the House Tax Committee this week. The measure would exempt cities and counties from paying the state sales tax on most of their purchases, basically the same exemption given to townships two years ago.
The law requiring local units of government to pay the tax was put into effect in the early 1990s when the state was facing a budget shortfall. Given the choice of either losing substantial amounts of local government aid (LGA) or having the tax imposed on themselves, the local units endorsed the tax.
Most observers seem to agree that taxing local governments is not a good thing. It’s adding a tax onto a tax because local revenues (raised by local taxes) must be sufficient to cover the expense of paying the sales tax to the state. It’s also a cycle whereby the state gives local governments revenue in the form of LGA, but then turns around and taxes those very same units. This all trickles down to we the taxpayers.
I will keep you posted as these and other issues develop in St. Paul. The governor’s budget proposal is starting to be heard in committees and we are still working to sift through the details. We also have a new state economic forecast due the end of this month which will be a big key in helping us shape the next biennial budget.
Please continue providing me with input on the issues as we progress through the session. It is really helpful when local citizens provide me with feedback.
Sincerely,
Paul