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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Tama Theis (R)

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Capitol Update from Rep. Tama Theis

Friday, March 29, 2019

Dear Neighbors,

Here’s the latest news from the Capitol:

Yesterday, we passed a bill to allocate $10 million for the disaster relief account ahead of the anticipated flooding across the state. There was an amendment proposed, which I voted for, that would have increased the funding to $43 million over the next two years, since last year over $10 million was spent on flood response and cleanup for only two floods. That amendment unfortunately did not pass.

Our own community has already experienced flash flooding when an ice jam caused the Sauk River to overflow and flood Anton’s restaurant - luckily no one was hurt. This flood underscored the need for adequate funding for the disaster relief account. The funding we passed yesterday was a start, but I believe we will need to add more to the account to be fully prepared for all of the flooding that is expected this year.

I am a coauthor on a bill introduced by House Republicans this week to address the widespread fraud in the CCAP program identified by the nonpartisan Legislative Auditor. The bill is meant to make sure our tax dollars are being spent wisely and perpetrators of fraud are being held accountable.

I presented two bills in committee this week. HF 2281, to add business management strategies to continuing education requirements for residential building contractors, remodelers, and roofers, passed the Labor committee and was referred to the Jobs and Economic Development Finance Division, and HF 1809, a bill to repeal the June accelerated repayment requirement, was heard in the Tax committee.

This week, Chris Erickson, Shelby Erickson, and Travis Colgrove from the Saint Cloud Education Association visited. I also had great conversations this week some folks from the I94 West Corridor Coalition!

It’s an honor to be your voice at the Capitol. Have a wonderful weekend!

Sincerely,
Tama