ST. PAUL, MN – After a highly productive first week back at the state capitol in which lawmakers unanimously approved additional financial assistance for Minnesotans impacted by the ongoing propane crisis, State Representative Carly Melin (DFL – Hibbing) is picking up the pace.
The Range lawmaker’s second week of the 2014 Legislative Session included testimony before four separate legislative committees in less than 24 hours. Today, she voted in support of a $500 million middle class and small business tax cut package, a bill she helped pass out of the House Taxes Committee one week earlier.
“We’re moving at a very fast pace,” said Melin. “Minnesotans expect their elected officials to get things done. This DFL-led Legislature is living up to those expectations and getting results that benefit the people of Minnesota. We made big progress last Session by investing in all-day Kindergarten and freezing college tuition. Minnesotans should expect more progress this year on priorities like job creation, a bonding bill, increasing the minimum wage, and women’s economic security.”
Melin’s second week back at the state capitol started with a Health and Human Services Policy Committee hearing on Tuesday evening about the Minnesota Compassionate Care Act (HF 1818), a bill she authored that would allow Minnesotans with serious illnesses like cancer and multiple sclerosis to access and use medical marijuana if their doctors recommend it. Committee members passed the bill on a bipartisan basis. It is scheduled for its next hearing on Tuesday, March 11th in the Government Operations Committee.
The following day, Melin testified before three other committees on three separate bills she is authoring, including:
-
HF 2300 – Legislation amending Minnesota’s Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination based on family status or status as a family caregiver (passed on a voice vote in the Labor, Workplace and Regulated Industries Committee and sent to the Civil Law Committee).
-
HF 2576 – Legislation reforming Minnesota’s expungement laws to give Minnesotans who made a past mistake a second chance in life to seek employment opportunities and housing options (passed on a voice vote in the Judiciary Committee and sent to the Public Safety Committee). The bill was the product of a bipartisan, joint working group between the House and Senate.
-
HF 2421 – Legislation limiting the authority of the DNR to seize firearms owned by someone who violates the state’s ban on using bait to hunt deer, unless the person has a prior conviction or shoots a deer while using bait.
As those bills await additional hearings, the entire House passed a $500 million tax cut package on Thursday by a vote of 126-2. The bill (HF 1777) cuts taxes for middle class Minnesotans by enacting federal tax conformity and repeals three new business-to-business taxes. The vote came less than a week after a new budget forecast showed that Minnesota is facing a $1.2 billion surplus, a stark contrast from the $627 million deficit and over $800 million in debt to schools Minnesota faced this time last year.
“I’m pleased we’re in a position to pay for middle class tax cuts and maintain a structurally balanced budget,” said Melin. “There’s no doubt that our surplus is the result of hardworking Minnesotans and businesses, but I think credit should also go to strong fiscal management at our state capitol. The DFL-led Legislature restored a sense of fiscal responsibility that was absent in recent years. We eliminated a massive deficit, repaid the school shift in full, and made new investments in priorities that Minnesotans broadly share like education, job creation, and property tax relief. And now our fiscal house is on strong footing for the first time in years. It’s a big deal.”