Dear Neighbor,
Legislation Sen. Michelle Fischbach and I authored to rename part of state Highway 23 in honor of fallen Cold Spring police officer Tom Decker passed both bodies of the Legislature Thursday.
City of Cold Spring officials and Officer Tom Decker’s brother, Eddie, were at the Capitol to share in the day. It is rewarding to see such a special tribute receive full support from the Legislature on its way to passage.
This memorial will ensure we identify Decker’s legacy on the 11 miles of highway between Cold Spring and Richmond – the area he was assigned to patrol. The goal is for this memorial to remind people of what is most important: people and relationships.
I want to thank the people close to Officer Decker who assisted me in passing this legislation. I also want to thank legislators at the Capitol for their support on this initiative. Click here for a link of me presenting this bill on the House floor yesterday.
In other legislative news, the House Democrat majority is in the process of unveiling bills that will shape our state’s budget for the next two years. Here is a look at K-12 and transportation:
K-12 EDUCATION BILL
A K-12 education finance and policy bill would spend $15.7 billion over the next biennium. There are good components and others which are cause for concern.
It is good to see the bill includes the early learning childhood scholarships Republicans piloted last biennium, increases the basic funding formula by $209 per pupil and implements all-day kindergarten. The expansion of all-day kindergarten is not fully funded, however, forcing school districts to either subsidize these costs from other areas of their budget or increase class sizes.
The bill also has a number of new panels and task forces that reallocates money away from classrooms instead of focusing on local control, effective teachers and high standards that are the best way to improve academic achievement for all students.
We should be focused on empowering parents, keeping effective teachers in the classroom and reducing unfunded mandates. I look forward to working with legislators across the aisle to build on the areas of bipartisanship and make improvements where needed to come up with a plan we all can support.
TRANSPORTATION BILL
In the Transportation Committee, we received the bill on Thursday and will be doing an in-depth review over the week end. On the first look, the bill could be a good bill with only a few areas that may need further clarification. It provides that all counties may impose a wheelage tax on vehicles. Currently, only the metro counties have the option to impose the $5 wheelage tax. This bill provides the option to all 87 counties and raise it to $10 until 2017 and then provide an option to go to $20 after that date. As we are still reviewing this bill, I will provide an update on this as the finished product takes shape.
REVENUE STILL RISING
We received yet another positive report regarding state revenue this week. Minnesota Management said state revenue exceeded projections in February and March, resulting in $145 million more money than expected.
This April update is great news, the latest in a string of consecutive positive reports dating back to late 2011. The projected shortfall for the upcoming biennium continues to shrink. We continue to have increased revenues without raising taxes; you can cut your way out of deficits.
TOWN HALL MEETINGS
Sen. Michelle Fischbach and I will be conducting two town hall meetings this Saturday and we look forward to receiving input from local citizens. Here are the particulars:
Richmond Town Hall Meeting
8 to 9 a.m. Saturday, April 13
Richmond City Hall
Avon Town Hall Meeting
10 to 11 a.m. Saturday, April 13
Avon City Hall
Note: We will not be able to participate in the Paynesville Expo on April 20 as we will be in session working on the budget bills.
Sincerely,
Jeff