Dear Neighbor,
I hope Memorial Day weekend last weekend was great for you and your family as we remember and honor all those who sacrificed their life in defense of our great country in continuance of our God given liberties. For all our fallen heroes, we remember the words of Christ recorded in John 15:13, Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Many people turned out Memorial Day to witness Honor Guard ceremonies at
cemeteries across our great community in remembrance of our fallen heroes.
BILLS SIGNED IN LAW
Well before the end of the regular legislative session, the Republican controlled Legislature passed a balanced budget Gov. Dayton vetoed in its entirety forcing a second round of negotiations and bills be passed. Gov. Dayton slow-rolled negotiations to the constitutionally required deadline for the legislature to adjourn resulting in the need for a special legislative session to finish passing the second round of bills. By the end of last week, the House and Senate concluded the special session passing bills a second time that will fund state government for the next two years beginning July 1, 2017.
While there were many positive reform provisions spread across all the bills, I did not vote yes to all the bills in the end because of my great concern over the exploding growth of state government spending as well as lack of reforms in key areas such as equity in education funding and the need to eliminate MNsure which I believe are requirements for the future stability of hardworking families and businesses in our community and across our state. I voted yes to Tax Cuts, Transportation, Public Safety, Higher Education, Job Growth and Energy Affordability, State Government Finance, Environment and Natural Resources, and Agriculture. The four bills I voted no to are K-12 Education, Health and Human Services, Legacy, and the $995 million Bonding/Borrowing bill.
Rep. Lucero with Otsego constituent LuAnn during Memorial Day ceremonies.
SEPARATION OF POWERS
Despite signing all funding bills into law, Gov. Dayton took the never attempted before step of line-item vetoing both the Senate and House operating budgets. This is blatantly unconstitutional. The three branches of government are co-equal. If one branch takes action that infringes too greatly on another branch of government (such as eliminating Legislative Branch funding for four years), the courts may rule this action unconstitutional because it violates the constitutional separation of powers.
Gov. Dayton’s bully actions more closely resemble a king attempting to stifle the voice of the duly elected People’s House rather than that of a statesman governing in a representative republic. I’m confident Gov. Dayton’s actions will eventually be reversed and the voice of hardworking Minnesotans via the Legislative Branch restored.
STATE AUDITOR LOSES IN COURT, AGAIN
State Auditor Rebecca Otto filed an arbitrary and frivolous lawsuit in 2015 against Wright, Becker, and Ramsey Counties after we in the Legislature correctly decided to change the law to allow all 87 counties in Minnesota the choice of hiring private CPA firms to complete the audits counties are required to have performed on an annual basis. The 2015 change in law broke the stranglehold monopoly Auditor Otto previously enjoyed.
The change in law was precipitated in-part because of numerous complaints and negative feedback against the State Auditor in that her monopolistic audits were too costly, inefficient, and rampant with poor customer service. The private sector can and does deliver better.
This week Auditor Otto suffered her second loss in court. Unfortunately for hardworking MN taxpayers, two court losses are not enough for Auditor Otto because she has announced she plans to appeal this week’s ruling to the MN Supreme Court therein continuing her squandering of taxpayer dollars.
Glacier map of the last ice age showing much of North America covered in ice. Glaciers melted long before the existence of internal combustion engines, coal fired power plants, and other human activity thus demonstrating the globe has thousands-of-years history of constant and massive climate change not due to human activity.
U.S. WITHDRAWAL FROM PARIS CLIMATE ACCORD
What is currently known as Global Climate Change hysteria was previously known as Global Warming hysteria in the 1990s and known as Global Cooling hysteria in the 1970s. In collusion with their friends in Main Stream Media and Higher Academia, Democrats have been attempting to leverage global climate change hysteria for decades as an excuse to grow government, destroy free-market capitalism, redistribute wealth, and continue imposing even more crushing mandates, regulations, controls, intrusions, taxes, fees, delays, studies, and multi-agency reviews, into the lives of hardworking American citizens and businesses.
President Trump declared with week the United States will exit the Paris Climate Accord that was established under former President Obama. I fully support President Trump’s move. At the same time, as a strong steward of the environment myself, it's important we properly care for the Earth the Lord has given us. We must ensure to protect clean air and clean water against pollutants and environmental damage, but this is accomplished and is a mutually exclusive effort from the fake belief system of human activity induced global warming.
Below are several key highlights of President Trump’s remarks during his announcement:
- To fulfill my solemn duty to protect America and its citizens, the United States will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord.
- The Paris Climate Accord is simply the latest example of Washington entering into an agreement that disadvantages the United States to the exclusive benefit of other countries, leaving American workers and taxpayers to absorb the cost in terms of lost jobs, lower wages, shuttered factories, and vastly diminished economic production.
- The onerous energy restrictions it has placed on the United States could cost America as much as 2.7 million lost jobs by 2025 according to the National Economic Research Associates.
- As someone who cares deeply about the environment, I cannot in good conscience support a deal that punishes the United States — the world’s leader in environmental protection, while imposing no meaningful obligations on the world’s leading polluters.
- This agreement is less about the climate and more about other countries gaining a financial advantage over the United States.
- The obvious reason for economic competitors and their wish to see us remain in the agreement is so that we continue to suffer this self-inflicted major economic wound.
- The agreement is a massive redistribution of United States wealth to other countries.
- We’ll be the cleanest. We’re going to have the cleanest air. We’re going to have the cleanest water. We will be environmentally friendly, but we’re not going to put our businesses out of work and we’re not going to lose our jobs.
STAYING IN TOUCH
Since the legislative session is now over, my email updates will be less frequent throughout the summer months. However, 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 summer!
Sincerely,
Eric Lucero
State Representative
District 30B
Albertville, Hanover, Otsego, Saint Michael, and the Wright County portion of Dayton