By Rep. Jeff Howe
Bills are taking shape as the Feb. 25 start to the 2014 legislative session draws near. This is not a budget year, so much of what we are working on relates to policy.
Here are some bills I am authoring or co-authoring to benefit our area:
H.F. 655: The high-voltage transmission line routing process would be regulated, and designation of a preferred route prohibited in the permitting process.
H.F. 1886: Conformity to federal estate and gift tax exemption amounts provided.
H.F. 1937: School boards authorized to reallocate general education revenue. This allows budget flexibility for schools so they can maximize the use of tax dollars they are provided.
H.F. 1991 Continuing education credits automatically would be approved by the Department of Labor and Industry if certain criteria are met. This provides a more cost-effective system that used to be in place.
H.F. 2117: Restructuring and streamlining the veteran hearing process.
H.F. TBD (To Be Determined): The Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery by Camp Ripley would be known as The Alcuin G. Loehr Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery.
H.F. TBD: Eliminates charges to school districts for state fire marshal inspections.
H.F. TBD: Water appropriations would be restructured to address issues pertaining to irrigation and other uses that have arisen due to proximity to streams and aquifers.
Here is a look at some other items of interest:
FIXING MNSURE: Minnesota’s new government-run health insurance system has been faltering since the day it started. The pace of the individual market enrollment is far behind 2014 open enrollment goals. We are now facing a severe budget shortfall and are considering fixes to budgeting and oversight.
Safe and Supportive Schools Act (Bullying Bill): A bill creates a 24-member unelected board that would be responsible for crafting bullying policies that would apply to all Minnesota schools. There also would be no requirement that a parent be notified if their child is accused of bullying. I believe that with clarification of existing laws we can avoid this very costly unfunded mandate and allow our elected school boards to remain in control of our schools.
MINIMUM WAGE INCREASE: Economic studies show that every 10 percent increase in the minimum wage leads to a 1-3 percent decrease in employment opportunities for low-skill and young workers. Increased labor costs could also lead to higher prices at restaurants and grocery stores, as owners pass the costs on to customers. I support tying our minimum wage to the Federal minimum wage.
SENATE OFFICE BUILDING: The House Rules Committee has not approved the Senate Office Building design and I hope it doesn’t. This building is not needed since there is an abundance of empty office space on the Capitol grounds. The Veterans Service Building has four empty floors and the Centennial Office building also has empty space. There are offices for 40 Senators in the State Office Building; if we place four more Senator Offices in the Capitol building, we will save the $90 million cost of the new building.
GAS TAX: Some majority members already have begun discussions on placing a sales tax on wholesale fuel. This hidden tax will be passed on to consumers, drastically increasing the cost of gas in our State. Let’s look at using the information from the Interstate 94 data center to reduce costs or possibly use General Fund dollars to pay for projects before raising taxes again.
CAPITAL INVESTMENT: A bill to pay for construction projects throughout the state likely will be a headline issue this session. We already passed a $176 million bonding bill last year and the state currently has more than $1.5 billion worth of projects in the pipeline from previous bonding years. There is more than $2 billion worth of requests – far more than we can afford. It will be an interesting debate to see what is included.
-30-