February 19, 2013
Dear Friends,
It was a pleasure seeing and meeting many of you at my town hall meeting this past Saturday. John Pollard from the Minnesota Management and Business Office did a wonderful job of presenting the Governor’s budget and I appreciated your thoughtful questions and comments as I listened to learn how best to represent our community. I also appreciated the time many of you took to fill out my survey. For those who have not yet had the opportunity to fill it out, just follow this link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BXVXG8Y.
As another way to keep in touch, I will be making occasional short videos. If you would like to view the one below, you will find out more about the issues facing us with the governor’s proposed budget and our progress on developing a strong multi-modal transportation system in our community:
http://youtu.be/DM6nofkKzWM
In addition to the budget and transportation issues we are dealing with at our state capitol, the health care exchange legislation continues to progress through our legislature. I am committed to working hard to ensure that this exchange is both helpful in providing affordable, quality health care, and is set up in such a way to maximize provider and consumer participation. Some legislators are expressing concern that the exchange is being set up in such a way that may be too restrictive in the choice of providers that will be available to consumers. I will continue to monitor this legislation carefully as we move forward.
Mental health issues are coming to the fore with tragedy of Sandyhook and others. I have authored legislation that would allow teachers earn continuing education credits for taking classes that would enable them to more easily identify students who show early warning signs of mental health issues. Caught early, the chances for successful treatment greatly improve—a win for the child and society at large.
In the last week I have had the pleasure of meeting with students from our local Alternative Learning Centers, schools within schools that help students find acceptance while meeting the high academic standards that will enable them to be successful adults. One such student conquered a problem with alcohol, and is heading off to an excellent college in the fall. Success stories such as this one should give us all heart for the future.
As always, thank you for the honor of representing Eden Prairie and Minnetonka at the Capitol. Please feel free to contact me at any time.
Best,
Yvonne