Dear Neighbors,
On Monday, we ended the 2015 legislative session, sending a bipartisan $41.5 billion budget to the governor that does a lot of great things for Northwest Minnesota.
First, a major issue I worked on this session was workforce housing. We invested $4 million for market-rate workforce housing projects that will help attract more workers to our part of the state and fill vacant job openings. Additionally, there are job training grants that will help our businesses train Minnesota workers in a fast and flexible way, allowing them fill open positions more quickly.
For our nursing homes in Greater Minnesota, the Health and Human Services budget bill included $138 million more for our care centers to offer higher reimbursement rates and implement a long-term fix to their funding shortage. Not only is this great news for the folks living in these care centers, but it will also mean wage increases for the caregivers who work in this field. Critical access hospital provisions in the HHS budget bill are also important for rural health care in our part of the state.
For our folks working in the agriculture industry, our budget includes a number of agriculture related grants and additional funding to fight avian flu which has devastated turkey flocks in our state. There is also additional unemployment benefits for people in the poultry industry who have lost their job due to avian flu. Last, my provisions to fund reimbursements for wolf and elk depredation were in the bill, including a provision to pay unpaid claims from 2014 and 2015 after that fund had run dry.
This session, we also passed a $17 billion education bill that includes $400 million in new money for our schools and an additional $60 million into voluntary early learning initiatives for pre-k including early learning scholarships. What's more, the legislation included teacher licensure reform to make it easier for out-of-state educators to be granted a Minnesota teaching license. This could help address the critical teaching shortage in our area. Lastly, the education bill included facilities maintenance funding so rural school districts can receive additional monies for school facilities repairs like replacing boilers or fixing a roof.
Next, another bill I authored that became part of the Public Safety budget bill will allow the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to consider conceal and carry reciprocity agreements with neighboring states including North Dakota. If they chose to grant reciprocity with our neighbors to the west, it would be great for gun owners in our area.
There are also significant environmental reforms in the bill including Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) changes and cost-benefit analysis requirements that are hugely beneficial to our district. Also, at the request of northern rural counties, we included wetland conservation act reforms to address some difficulties with road construction projects in our area.
While this year we did not get a tax relief bill or a long-term road and bridge package because of the Senate DFL's insistence on an unnecessary gas tax, a small transportation bill was still passed which includes $12.5 million for road repairs for cities with 5,000 or fewer residents. There is also an additional $5 million for Greater Minnesota transit. We left $1 billion on the bottom line for next year, and I am hopeful the legislature will pass transportation and tax relief omnibus bills next session.
Finally, we invested additional money for tuition relief which will benefit more than 400,000 college students statewide. This is great news for the students at MnSCU campuses in Greater Minnesota including Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls.
While the governor is threatening to veto our education bill and send us into a special session because there is no universal pre-k funding, I am proud of the bipartisan budget the House and Senate passed this year. We worked together and compromised to pass a comprehensive budget that will benefit Northwest Minnesota and folks across the state.
House File 307
I am happy to report that on Wednesday, Governor Dayton signed my bill, House File 307, into law which allows Minnesota drivers to provide proof of insurance through an electronic device. Thirty-seven other states have similar legislation, and it's a simple change that modernizes state statute.
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Dan
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