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Legislative Update (April 29, 2016)

Friday, April 29, 2016

Dear Neighbors,

Thank you for all your recent emails, calls, and visits. We passed three omnibus bills this week, and it helps to hear your thoughts on the issues we debate. I wanted to pass along a couple provisions you might be interested in.

Repealing MNsure

Since its inception, our healthcare exchange, MNsure, has been a failure. $300 million later, and Minnesotans are left with higher premiums and unresponsive customer service. It’s time we give our citizens a different avenue, and eliminate MNsure. Our health and human services omnibus bill would repeal MNsure and transition our state to the federal exchange. We can’t keep wasting money on a system that only continues to frustrate and harm Minnesotans.

Veterans Funding

We also provided additional funding for various veteran’s initiatives. For Anoka, we allocated funds for veteran rent subsidies. We also helped fund a veteran’s facility in Sauk Centre, and added money to the State Soldiers Assistance Fund. I’m deeply grateful for the sacrifice and service of our military veterans, and am happy to see our bill address some of their needs.

Education Omnibus

We passed an education bill on Monday with a bipartisan vote of 84-46. Two parts of this legislation would address a problem we’ve recently seen in the news: student discipline. One part would form a working group of parents, teachers, and administrators to start to tackle this issue. Another provision relates to teacher safety and gives more authority and support to educators in their classrooms. Teaching can be stressful enough without worrying about one’s own safety.

The bill also helped lower higher education costs, expand broadband technology, and address our state’s teacher shortage. There’s still a ways to go before this could become law, but we’re off to a great start.

Pro-Life Provisions

Our education bill also increased accountability at the U of M regarding fetal tissue research. The bill requires an audit from the Office of the Legislative Auditor relating to the university’s fetal tissue research program. We need to make sure all laws are being followed, and life is respected.

Around Town

On Monday, May 2, Public Record Media will hold a workshop in our area about government records and the Freedom of Information Act. The event is from 6:30 until 7:45 p.m. at the Rum River Branch Library. This is an important event to learn more about government transparency and what government information is available to you, the taxpayer.

Again, thank you for your continued correspondence. If you have any further questions or comments, please reach out. You can contact me by email at Rep.Peggy.Scott@House.MN or call my office at 651-296-4231. You can also send me mail to my office address: 437 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55155.

My best,

Peggy

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