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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Eric Lucero (R)

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5 Weeks Remaining

Friday, April 21, 2017

Dear Neighbor,
 

I hope you and your loved ones had an enjoyable Easter and Passover last week/weekend.  I was out of town last week traveling to Texas to spend precious time with family.

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Rep. Lucero with colleague Republicans in vibrant color on the House Floor this week.


CONFERENCE COMMITTEES
The House came back into session Tuesday this week to begin conference committee negotiations with approximately five weeks remaining before the Constitutional deadline to adjourn.  The purpose of conference committees is to rectify differences between House and Senate versions of bills.  For each bill passed off the House and Senate floors, an equal number of members from each the House and Senate (typically 3 or 5 members from each body) meet to negotiate details of bill language.  Once language is agreed upon, identical copies of each bill are sent back to each the House and Senate to be repassed.  After identical copies of each bill are re-passed by each body, the bill is then sent to the Governor to either be signed into law or vetoed.


HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
The House version of the Health and Human Services (HHS) omnibus bill passed off the House floor two weeks ago and is currently being negotiated in conference committee.  Highlights of the bill contain much-needed reforms including $622.37 million in cuts from current law, elimination of wasteful and ineffective MNsure, and pro-life language that will require clinics to begin reporting medicinal abortions performed via tele-medicine.  Medicinal abortions performed via tele-medicine is when the abortionist prescribing the drug to kill the baby is in a remote location separate from the location of the mother.  State law currently requires clinics to report a variety of abortion data, but data on medicinal abortions performed via tele-medicine is not reported due to a loophole in current law creating an incomplete picture of abortions in Minnesota.  The medicinal abortion tele-medicine reporting loophole needs to be closed.

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Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer (seen on left) listens to testimony Thursday from Steve Bot, Chair of the I-94 West Corridor Coalition (seen on right), at the Transportation Conference Committee.


TRANSPORTATION
The House Transportation Bill includes Corridors of Commerce funding which I chief authored as well as an amendment I authored and successfully added to the bill to increase the funding priority of road projects that were previously funded by Corridors of Commerce.  This is important language to fund the three-lane expansion of I-94 from Saint Michael to Albertville.  I-94 Corridor Coalition Chair Steve Bot testified in front of the Transportation Conference Committee in favor of the language and Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer is a member of the Conference Committee fighting to retain the language.

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Rep. Lucero meeting with representatives from Elk River School District to discuss education funding.


EDUCATION
Equity in education funding has been one of my top priorities I’ve been fighting for in the Legislature.  Closing the funding gap is important to ensure our children have maximum educational opportunities.  The K-12 education funding bill passed off the House Floor and currently being negotiated in conference committee moves us in the right direction by beginning to close the funding gap our schools receive vs. funding metro-area schools receive.

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Rep. Lucero meeting with Wright County Sheriff Joe Hagerty and Lieutenant Eric Kunkel at the
Capitol to discuss public safety.


STAYING IN TOUCH
As always please contact me to share any issues, concerns, or feedback you may have that will assist me best represent you.  The best way to reach me is by email at Rep.Eric.Lucero@House.MN or by phone at 651-296-1534.

Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,
Eric Lucero

State Representative
District 30B
Albertville, Hanover, Otsego, Saint Michael, and the Wright County portion of Dayton