Dear Neighbor,
The State Fair is underway and I invite area people to visit the House of Representatives booth when I am there from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Aug. 26.
There are some interesting new features at the booth this year, including a replica of the speaker’s setting in the House Chamber. The replica scene is complete with a desk, flags, gavel and iconic Abraham Lincoln portrait.
The House’s annual survey also will be available, allowing Minnesotans to weigh in on issues such as firearms regulations, legalizing marijuana, the state’s minimum wage and more. The House of Representatives exhibit will be located in the Education Building on Cosgrove Street, just north of Dan Patch Avenue.
As for legislative news, the agenda for a Sept. 9 special session to provide disaster relief is in place. Aid will be appropriated for 18 Minnesota counties that sustained significant damage during storms last June.
I was hoping Gov. Mark Dayton would walk the walk after he publicly said he was open to repealing some new taxes during the special session. No such luck.
New taxes on farm machinery repair, warehousing and telecommunications are all damaging mistakes made by Dayton and fellow Democrats earlier this year. All three have bipartisan support for repeal. The problem is, Democrats could not decide which wasteful spending increases to reduce to compensate for eliminating these bad taxes.
Instead of doing the right thing, they just left this work off the agenda for the special session. Farmers and other hardworking Minnesota taxpayers will now pay the price.
It is good we are providing disaster relief, but it would have been nice to provide some quick tax relief while we are at the Capitol.
Sincerely,
Tom