Dear Neighbor,
House District 20A residents are invited to attend any of several town hall meetings I will be co-hosting with Sen. Rich Draheim on Saturday, March 18.
The meetings are open to the public and attendees will have an opportunity to discuss a wide variety of issues regarding the current legislative session, from the state budget to health care, taxes and more.
Here is the schedule:
March 18 town hall meetings:
- 8 a.m., Elko New Market Library (110 J. Roberts Way)
- 10 a.m., New Prague City Hall (118 Central Ave. N.)
- Noon, Le Center City Hall (10 W. Tyrone St.)
- 2 p.m., Le Sueur City Hall (203 St. 2nd St.)
- 4 p.m., Belle Plaine Community Library (125 W. Main St.)
As for work in St. Paul, it has been a week with a heavy focus on committee meetings as we come up on today’s deadline for bills to make preliminary progress and remain viable for passage this session.
The bill I have authored to provide more transparency in franchise fees cities charge citizens on their utility bills received unanimous approval in its committee hearing last week and now is on to a tax committee. My hope is to have it go on to the full House from there.
The crux of the issue is this: Reports show 357 cities raised a combined $136.9 million in franchise fees during 2014. That is up from 23 cities collecting $13.7 million when this practice began in 1975. Minneapolis and St. Paul together collected $59.6 million in franchise fees in 2014.
My bill (H.F. 1146) says taxpayers must be notified of proposed or renewing franchise fees to be collected, there must be a public hearing and, if 5 percent of voters object, it spurs a referendum for the following November election. It does not preclude a community from putting a franchise fee in place, rather it helps ensure that if one is to be enacted the ratepayers will be fully informed of what is happening
Another bill (H.F. 1323) I have authored is heading to its last committee stop, Ways and Means. The proposal would put a cap on state payments on borrowing at a fixed percentage of the state's General Fund revenue is now
The issue I am working to resolve with this is to rein in state debt service payments which have risen significantly in recent years, and potentially handcuffing our budget in the future. Our state bond payments from the general fund now exceed the projected capital investment bonding bill over the next biennium $200 million. This means that, if we had no bond payments to make on previous borrowing, we could pay cash for all the projects in the bonding bill, and have close to $200 million left over for more construction projects.
The path we are on, from my perspective, is unsustainable, so my proposal would put us on a more responsible course by restoring a guideline for borrowing that was in place before the trajectory of debt service rose so sharply.
I will keep you posted as these and other issues unfold at the Capitol. A health “reinsurance” bill that would increase health insurance accessibility for citizens and reduce costs by 17 to 18 percent (according to nonpartisan House staff) is ready to come to the House floor. Also, the House soon will unveil its budget proposal for the next biennium as work on that project gains momentum.
Sincerely,
Bob