Dear Neighbors,
This week I was appointed to the State-County Results, Accountability and Service Delivery Redesign Council and reappointed to the Legislative Coordinating Commission Subcommittee on Claims.
We also passed three important energy bills that I was happy to support. One was to build a natural-gas fired power plant to replace the closing of two coal-fired units at Xcel Energy’s Sherco plant; another clarified the role of electric cooperatives and municipal electric utilities in setting rates charged to members; and a final bill that repeals a solar energy subsidy passed in 2013 and re-creates the Renewable Energy Fund as an account under the state treasury rather than being under a private company as was recommended by the Office of the Legislative Auditor.
Highlighting Three Bills
Each week I like to highlight a few of the bills I have introduced during the legislative session:
- HF 66 - Is a bill that would help provide protections to the citizens that may come under quarantine in the future. Thus making it easier for people to come forward if they have symptoms during an outbreak.We saw a few states that were not ready during the Ebola scare a couple years ago, and we need Minnesota to address this ahead of time.
- HF 402 - Would create a Genetic Marker Pilot. Individual medicine is a new and expanding part of medicine. It helps to choose the right medicine and dosage right from the start, avoid a medicine that your the one in 100,000 that would have a severe adverse reaction to, and save lives and money. One use is in compounding a cancer treatment designed for you.
The most publicized example is with breast cancer, where actress Angelina Jolie was tested and found she was likely to develop a type of breast cancer.
- HF 604 Hands Off Childcare Act. This bill would repeal the unpopular law that allows private childcare providers to be considered state employees for the purposes of unionization.
Rural Finance Authority (RFA) loan program
This week the House also passed a bill to replenish the funds in the RFA loan program. The RFA partners with agricultural lenders to provide low-cost financing to farmers. The RFA portion of the loan is carried at a reduced interest rate to improve the cash flow of eligible farmers. RFA offer loans within the beginning farmer loan and seller assisted program, agricultural improvement program, debt restructuring program, and livestock expansion programs.
It was important to pass this action quickly in the House to refill the RFA now as farmers are getting ready for the growing season and due to inaction last session, the RFA was almost completely out of money. The bill now will move to the Senate for further debate.
Meeting with Constituents
This week I met with a local farmers union members and the FFA Chapters of the Byron and Pine Island School Districts. Some that visited were Mike Frost of Pine Island, John Larsen of Mantorville, Mike Clemens of Rochester, Chris Tissen to discuss the economic development of Byron, and had Jodie Tvedt from the Minnesota Association of Farm Mutual Insurance Companies.
Rep. Quam with three members of the Byron High School FFA Chapter and
one member of the Pine Island FFA Chapter.
Please continue to stay in touch to share your thoughts and ideas on issues important to you. You can schedule a time to meet with me in my office any time by calling (651) 296-94236, or share your thoughts via email by emailing me at rep.duane.quam@house.mn
Thank you and have a great weekend,
Duane