By Rep. Jeff Howe
Our local summer festival season has come to a close, but it has been great meeting with people from our area at the many events I attended in recent months.
People have wanted to discuss a wide variety of topics with me and here is an update on just a few of them:
First of all, we recently received results of a vote which took place to decide whether home care providers in Minnesota form a union. It passed, but barely one in 10 of the 27,000 eligible providers voted on the matter. That meant the initiative was able to pass with only around 3,500 people casting a “yes” vote. It is serious cause for concern that such narrow support was able to gain passage.
I strongly believe in citizens’ right to free association, but government should not use its power to turn private care providers into state employees. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds since a United States Supreme Court decision out of Illinois last June indicated that homecare workers in Illinois are not public employees and therefore cannot be compelled to join a public employee union and/or pay union dues. I urge the Dayton administration to respect the independence of providers who do not wish to participate in this arrangement.
Construction plans for a $90 million Senate office complex continue to march forward, even as it remains highly unpopular among citizens. A recent SurveyUSA poll shows only 21 percent of respondents support the project. A 66-percent majority disapproves and 13 percent are not sure. A whopping 70 percent of women polled disapprove.
The bottom line is this building is unnecessary. Proponents indicate new office space is necessary to house Senators who are displaced during a massive restoration of the Capitol. Two quick things: First, there is plenty of office space in St. Paul that could have been temporarily rented at a far cheaper cost until the Capitol restoration is completed and the Senators could move back to that building. Those alternatives were not given consideration. Second, the new Senate building will not be complete until sometime in 2016, mere months before work on the Capitol is finished. That means Senators need to find temporary housing anyway. So, again, exactly why are we building this new complex?
The new Vikings stadium is another subject District 13A citizens have brought up to me. Concerns over the facility’s large expanses of glass serving as a death trap for birds have made many headlines lately, but another issue – electronic gambling revenue continuing to fall dramatically short of what’s necessary to fund the stadium – is receiving less attention.
The St. Cloud Times reported in late July that, by then, there were supposed to be more than 15,000 machines across the state, but the actual count was less than 1,000. Those machines were projected to take in $225 apiece in bets per day; the reality has been more like $50.
A legal dispute has all but put the biggest supplier out of business. A new manufacturer/distributor is in place and only time will tell whether revenue will increase. Let’s hope so, otherwise this issue may have to be revisited by the Legislature.
My meetings schedule has continued to be a busy one, including recent ones pertaining to local soil and water, and Chamber of Commerce issues.
A meeting with the area Soil and Water Conservation Districts underscored how important an asset that organization is for local residents. The board has expert information and can serve as a valuable resource for citizens as they plan various projects – and advise how to comply with various state and county regulations. I encourage people to contact Stearns SWCD at www.stearnscountyswcd.org or (320) 251-7800 to find out more.
The St Cloud Area Chamber meeting I recently attended was interesting as well. We heard a number of concerns regarding how policies enacted the last two years are hindering businesses in our area. I will continue advocating for reducing or altogether eliminating cumbersome, unnecessary regulations that are slowing our economy and look forward to making progress in this area.
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