Dear neighbors,
Things at our capitol have been very busy as we continue working on the issues important to Minnesotans. I wanted to take a moment to update you on some of the bills I have been working on.
Tax Relief Update:
The House had been working hard this year to pass a tax relief package as soon as possible. I’m pleased to share with you that the tax relief bill has passed. This bill includes $430 million in tax relief for Minnesotans. More than 1.2 million Minnesotans will get a tax break in the form of federal tax conformity, business-to-business tax repeals, and increased support for the Working Family Tax Credit.
Minnesota is one of only two states in the country with a gift tax, and I authored legislation this session to eliminate that tax, and bring more federal conformity to the estate tax. I was pleased to see the gift tax repealed in the tax bill, and that the estate exemption increased from $1 to $2 million.
I’ll have more information to you on the particulars of this tax bill soon.
Guaranteed School Lunches for Reduced Price Students
The bill calls for $3.5 million of Minnesota’s budget surplus to be used to ensure that all K-12 schools in the state can afford to have a school lunch policy that provides a hot lunch to students currently on the reduced-price lunch program. This policy change has the potential to affect over 60,000 students statewide, and passed the House floor on a unanimous vote of 130-0. Once this bill passes the Senate, and is signed by the Governor, no child in our great state will go hungry in a Minnesota school because of an inability to pay. You can click on the photo below to watch a short video with some clips from the floor debate:
Other bills I’ve authored this year include:
Student Safety While Studying Abroad
This bill would require study abroad programs that partner with MN higher education institutions to report to the state on the safety of their study abroad programs, and would provide students and parents with records about deaths, accidents, and other incidents involving our MN Students who study abroad.
Senator Terri Bonoff, Chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee, is carrying this legislation in the Senate; it is moving forward, and we are working to ensure that it is included in the final Higher Ed Omnibus bill. Many of you have told me that this is a high priority for you, and you can read more in a recent Minnesota Public Radio report here: http://blogs.mprnews.org/oncampus/2014/03/study-abroad-bill-would-require-safety-reporting/
Women’s Economic Security Act
Unfortunately, women entrepreneurs in Minnesota are still under-represented in high revenue, high job growth potential industries, such as those in high tech. One of the bills within the Women’s Economic Security Act package is my bill that appropriates a $500,000 grant to the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) to assist women entrepreneurs enter and succeed in these fields. DEED has in place an accountability system that will allow us to measure our return on this investment. You can see more about the Women’s Economic Security Act from the KSTP story here: http://kstp.com/article/stories/S3369513.shtml?cat=12681
Public School Maintenance Barriers Removed
This bill streamlines our local school districts’ state reporting requirements involving school facility maintenance projects, while maintaining an appropriate level of accountability. Enactment of this legislation would save our schools time and money, freeing up these resources for our children’s education. The bill was heard in the Education Policy committee last week and makes its last stop in Education Finance on Monday.
Digital Audiovisual Tax Repeal
This bipartisan bill would provide an exemption for a tax on digital audio and audiovisual work. Folks who participate digitally in continuing education seminars should not pay a tax on these seminars while those sitting in the actual "classrooms" do not.
Keeping the Heat On for Low-income Families and Seniors
Low-income individuals and families who are Xcel Energy customers and qualify for energy assistance from the state get a portion of their electric bill paid with Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program funds. I authored this bipartisan bill to make sure that when electric prices increase, there is a base funding level of $8 million that helps Xcel meet the needs of low income individuals while still keeping the heat on for their other low-income rate payers who may be delinquent on their bills.
As always, thank you for the honor of serving in St. Paul. Please don’t hesitate to contact me at any time at rep.yvonne.selcer@house.mn or 651-296-3964.
Best,
Yvonne Selcer
State Representative