Dear Neighbors,
We’re back in the legislative session and I couldn’t be happier to get back to St. Paul to advocate for our area. It’s an honor to serve as your voice at the Capitol, and I look forward to our many conversations and visits regarding the issues in front of us. If you’re planning to be in St. Paul, please call or email my office to set up a visit; I’d love to chat about any issue.
MNLARS
Since its initial rollout, our new licensing system (MNLARS) has been nothing short of a disaster. Almost $100 million in taxpayer dollars wasted, and the state continues to ask for more. The issues plaguing MNLARS are too numerous to list. Recently, I spoke with Fox 9 about MNLARS; this story is a great dive into some of the problems the state could have avoided.
Those in charge of MNLARS and the administration knew this wasn’t ready for primetime yet continued with the rollout anyway. That’s irresponsible, and it shouldn’t be up to taxpayers to give more of their hard-earned paycheck to fix this mess. This session, we’re continuing to hold hearings to try and find answers in the hope that the state can help MNLARS function properly for Minnesotans.
Tax Conformity
Republicans in Congress led the charge and delivered significant tax relief for families across the country. This is great news, but also means the legislature has to change our tax code. The process of federal tax conformity is complicated, but a needed step in order to ensure filing taxes in 2019 is as easy as possible. The tax committees are working hard on this issue early in session.
IT Bills
I’m currently working on legislation that requires state agencies to use some of their IT budget on cyber security enhancements. The bill, HF2868, would give the state greater cyber security capabilities within agencies’ current budget. This is an important issue, and one that only continues to gain significance.
I’m also working on a bipartisan bill from last session that requires our state’s IT agency, MN.IT, to issue reports about their performance. This legislation forces more information to flow back to the legislature and gives us insight into projects, procedures, and helps legislators make informed funding decisions.
Please Contact Me
We’re back in session, and we’ll be discussing countless ways to improve our state. I hope you’ll call, email, or visit to share your thoughts, ideas, or questions. As you know, I’m here to serve you, and want to help in any way I can.
Have a great weekend,
Jim