Dear Friends,
I wanted to update you on the status of a bipartisan proposal called the 5% Campaign. The 5% Campaign seeks an increase in funding for home and community based services and intermediate care facilities for developmentally disabled Minnesotans.
The funding increase would allow home and community care facilities to attract and keep high quality workers for this critically important profession.
This is a priority that has broad bipartisan support. There are more than 70 co-authors on this legislation, and 120 legislators voted to recall HF2408, the 5% Campaign bill, from committee and put it on the General Register so it can be brought up for a vote on the floor at any time. That's nearly 90% of the legislature!
We can pass this bill today. No politics. No gimmicks. We can show that we're prioritizing the important work done by those that care for some of our most vulnerable citizens. This increase is long overdue.
Unfortunately, rather than bringing the bill to the floor for a simple up or down vote, the motion was blocked by members of the majority on three separate instances. There was a great deal of finger-pointing and looking at the past when the motion was debated on the floor before it was ultimately defeated.
The facts are simple: we can pass this bill using an extremely small portion of the $1.2 billion surplus. It would pass with super-majority, if not unanimous support. Minnesotans are tired of politicians finger-pointing and assigning blame. They sent us to St. Paul to get things done, and to support the priorities we have as Minnesotans.
This is one of those priorities. I hope we can put aside politics and pass this bipartisan piece of legislation. I want to thank my colleague, DFL Rep. Jerry Newton who represents a neighboring portion of Coon Rapids, for authoring this piece of legislation, and am grateful to him for his work on this bill.
Tax Correction bill passes
Today the House and Senate voted by wide bipartisan margins to approve a tax bill to correct some of the mistakes that were made in 2013. I joined my House Republican colleagues in unanimously opposing DFL tax increases last session, and was happy to vote to correct those mistakes today. The tax bill repealed the gift tax and three business-to-business taxes including the warehousing tax, the commercial machinery repair tax, and the telecommunications tax. It also conformed much of Minnesota's tax code to the federal code, restoring important tax deductions for Minnesotans filing their taxes.
If you have not yet filed your tax return, the Department of Revenue is asking that taxpayers wait until Monday to file. If you have already filed your taxes, the Revenue Department will automatically review your return to ensure you receive the deductions you are eligible for.
This is a good start, but was not a perfect bill. With a $1.2 billion surplus, we could have passed far more tax relief than the $443 million in today's bill. I hope we will consider additional ways to provide tax relief to the wallets of Minnesota families as session continues. I will keep you posted on the status of additional tax relief.
Have a great weekend,
Mark
Thanks,
Rep. Mark Uglem