Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Today, the Office of Minnesota Management and Budget released the February forecast, revealing that our state has a $900 million surplus heading into the 2016 legislative session. With this positive financial outlook, House Republicans will look to invest in two key areas: transportation and tax relief.
You may recall that last session, a final transportation bill was not signed into law due to the governor's insistence on raising the gas tax, a tax which would have risen as the price of gasoline increased. I heard strong opposition to this proposal in my district, as it would have cost Minnesota drivers hundreds of dollars more per year. Governor Dayton seems to have backed off his proposal, making way for transportation legislation this session.
Last year, the House passed the Road and Bridge Act, a comprehensive, $7 billion transportation proposal that will pay for road and bridge improvements for the next decade. For Minnesotans, roads and bridges are a top legislative priority, and this plan will repair or replace 15,500 miles of road and 330 bridges statewide—all without a tax increase.
The Road and Bridge Act offers fiscally stable, long-term funding for roads by committing already collected transportation taxes like the sales taxes on auto parts and on car rentals, placing them in a dedicated transportation fund. Furthermore, the Road and Bridge Act uses a portion of the surplus, Trunk Highway Bonds, and finds cost savings at MnDOT to fund road and bridge repair and improvements statewide.
The vast majority of Minnesotans use our roads to get to work and drive their children to school. However, over the past decade state spending on transit has increased significantly while investments in our roads and bridges have increased on a much smaller scale. This disproportionate investment in light rail and public transit is changed with the plan put forth by Republicans, which sets out to refocus transportation dollars on roads and bridges. Investing more in our infrastructure also means we can focus on much needed road improvement projects like the expansion of Highway 8 from two lanes to four lanes between Forest Lake and Chisago City.
The Road and Bridge Act is currently sitting in conference committee, awaiting final negotiations with the Senate. I will keep you updated on its progress this session.
In addition to transportation investments, tax relief is also a top priority this session. Last session, the House passed a $2 billion middle-class tax relief bill which included relief for everyone form middle class families to aging adults to college students.
From new dependent care credits to help Chisago County families cover day care costs to phasing out the taxes on social security and veteran pensions, there is relief in this bill for almost every Minnesotan.
And while tax relief and transportation are the top two major priorities for the legislature this session, I want to hear more from you about your priorities for state government. The session begins on March 8th, and your ideas and input are valuable to me. Please do not hesitate to call, email or write my office.
Child Care Unionization
Just this week, a large group of Minnesota’s home-based daycare small business owners sued the state of Minnesota over child care unionization. They are concerned about the voting process that disenfranchised as many as two-thirds of Minnesota's family child care providers, as well as the legality of unionizing small business owners who would be forced to pay dues to AFSCME. This article from the St. Paul Pioneer Press more fully explains what is happening.
Also, here is a video clip from an Early Childhood Education Committee hearing in which I ask the bill author questions about why unionization is necessary. In the closing segment of this video, I specifically ask the author that if the purpose of this legislation was to increase rates for home child care providers, why didn't Democrats pass a bill to do that since they controlled the House, Senate and governor's office.
This is an important issue for the mostly women-owned child care provider small businesses in our state, as well as the parents who take their children to daycare. I will keep you updated on this issue as more information becomes available.
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Many thanks go out to you for the honor of representing Chisago County in the Minnesota House. It’s a privilege to be your state representative.
Sincerely,
Bob