Dear Neighbor,
Congratulations to the 17 Gold’n Plump employees who are being recognized for their achievements in graduating from occupational English classes.
It is commendable for them to embrace the English language and have the dedication to learn it. Their motivation and ambition in this regard is just a small sample of the success people can achieve in this great country. I wish them continued success as they build upon this achievement and also commend Gold’n Plump for investing in people and sponsoring such a worthy program with vast benefits to our area.
As for news from the Capitol, this week Gov. Mark Dayton unveiled his proposal for our new state budget. He wants $42 billion in General Fund spending, up $3 billion from this biennium and an increase from $34 billion when he took office.
The governor’s budget also includes around $9 billion in new taxes, tax increases and fee increases over the next decade. This includes a new 6.5 percent gas tax, a half-cent sales tax increase in seven-county metro and an increase in license tab fees.
Bear in mind, this comes just after the governor and the former majority raised our taxes by almost $3 billion when they set the current budget. Now they want to come back for more tax increases and these would hit us all.
There also are some interesting things that are not in governor’s budget plan. For example, there is no funding increase for nursing homes. Long-term care is a high priority of mine and of the House majority’s. We will issue our own budget plan after the state receives an updated economic forecast in February and one of our goals is to provide more support for nursing homes.
This is especially important for the citizens of Greater Minnesota. If you look at the first five bills the House introduced this session, many are geared toward benefiting parts of the state like ours. They include:
• Growing additional better-paying jobs for all – House File 1
• Making sure every child receives a world-class education – House File 2
• Protecting aging adults’ quality of life – House File 3
• Refocusing transportation dollars on roads and bridges – House File 4
• Ensuring fair access and affordability in health care – House File 5
A bill I introduced (House File 215) plays off House File 4 by directing the existing sales tax collected on auto parts purchases toward roads and bridges. I want to emphasize this is not a new tax, we simply would be dedicating one that already is collected to support our roadways. This would put another estimated $157 million directly toward our roadways each year. There is enough revenue coming in to support our state, it is just a matter of how we spend it. Let’s focus on our priorities by enacting common sense like this.
Please stay in touch and I’ll let you know how things develop.
Good luck,
Jeff