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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Bob Vogel (R)

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Update from the House

Friday, January 20, 2017

Dear Neighbor,

The big headline from this week at the Capitol is the House passed emergency relief funding for people who have been severely impacted by soaring health insurance premiums.

There are differences between House and Senate versions of the relief package that need to be reconciled before it can receive final passage and be sent to the governor for his action. But initial passage was an important step in the process of getting this aid to people who are in dire straits.

As for other legislation, I am working on a bill that would help provide a better answer to the ultimate question on many bills: How much will this cost taxpayers?

The standard procedure has been for The Office of Minnesota Management and Budget, which is part of the executive branch, to generate what are commonly known as “fiscal notes” to provide an estimate of what any given bill will cost the state if it were to be enacted.

The problem is that inherently in that process things can become politicized because the projections are not done completely independent from either the Legislature or the governor who oversees the MMB as one of their agencies. A bill I am working on would shift the responsibility of crafting fiscal notes from MMB to an independent body neither controlled by the governor or the Legislature. The aim of course is to improve accuracy by putting projections an arm’s length away from both the executive and legislative branches. Doing so would provide an independent body which would increase objectivity and eliminate the potential for conflicting interests which now exists with the fiscal-note process.

I am now working to build bipartisan support for this bill because we all need to be seeking objectivity in projecting what a proposed bill is going to cost. We as taxpayers deserve as much accuracy as possible as well as an identifiable audit trail of cost developments, so my hope is to get it introduced soon and start to process to enact the legislation.

The session is starting off very busy with some major bills like the one above, so look for more as these and other issues develop at the Capitol and, as always, your input is appreciated.

Sincerely,

Bob