Capitol Update from Rep. Dan Fabian

Dear Neighbor,

Late last night, House Democrats voted to void all Minnesota boat insurance policies. While the intent of the bill was to eliminate what's called a family exclusion in boat and personal umbrella insurance policies, the bill as passed would render any current boat insurance policies that have a family exclusion immediately void. Usually when legislation that affects insurance policies is passed, it has an enactment date well into the future to allow insurance companies time to update polices to comply with the law. However, this bill has an immediate effective date and applies to all policies in effect on or after that date -- so if your boat or umbrella policy has a family exclusion (most do) you would not have coverage. Another result of this bill would be higher insurance rates.

Even though many amendments were offered to fix this bill, Democrats voted them down. I voted no on this bad bill. If you have questions about the serious nature of this bill, I would encourage you to contact your insurance agent to clarify what is in your policy.

In addition to boat insurance rates going up if this bill is signed, the DNR is proposing to raise watercraft fees. Here are a just a few examples the increases:

• Jet Skis – from $37.50 to $54.50
• Pleasure craft from nineteen feet to less than twenty-six feet – from $45.00 to $65.25
• Watercraft over nineteen feet for hire with an operator - from $75.00 to $108.75
• Aquatic invasive Species surcharge - from $5.00 to $7.25

Add to that the governor’s proposed $0.20 per gallon gas tax increase, and the Democrats are making it more expensive for Minnesotans to own and operate a boat!

 This week, Minnesota Management and Budget released their February budget forecast. Because of lower income tax revenues, the state’s overall revenue projections were down by almost half a billion dollars since November. Even though our economy is growing and unemployment is low, the lower budget forecast shows that Minnesota’s extremely high tax rates are hurting Minnesotans and causing people to leave the state. Even with our already extremely high tax rates and a surplus though, Democrats still want to raise our taxes and fees on gas, doctor visits, and much more. Minnesota is one of the top 5 highest tax states, and we are the top least friendly tax states in the nation.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Democrats in the Public Safety committee voted to pass two gun control bills – one to create new restrictions and requirements on selling or transferring firearms (HF 8, universal background checks), and one to allow anyone to file a court order to remove firearms without due process for the person accused (HF 9, red flag law). Even just borrowing a gun to or from a family member, friend, or neighbor, would be a violation of the law under this bill. If you borrowed a gun without filing additional paperwork, you could be charged with a gross misdemeanor without filing additional paperwork and spend up to a year in jail. I oppose these bills because they are a massive intrusion on our Second Amendment rights.

Here are some photos from this week at the Capitol:

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My door is always open to the needs and priorities of our area. Please feel free to let me know if I can be of assistance to you and your family. I am here to serve you!

Dan