Greetings Northlanders,
The Iron Range Delegation and I had the opportunity to visit with some Blue Cross employees that traveled from the Virginia/ Aurora offices. The employees are participating in their “CitizenBlue” program, a civic engagement initiative. We had a good chat about what happens down here at the Capitol.
It’s required some long hours on the House Floor, but the Minnesota House has finished work assembling our budget proposals. Now, work shifts to joint House/Senate conference committees where we will work to reach a budget agreement Governor Walz can approve. I’ll be serving as one of five members from the House on the State Government, Veterans, and Elections conference committee to iron out differences between the two chambers. In previous updates I’ve talked about issues like E-12 Education, Jobs, and Veterans, and here are more updates on the important issues we’re working through as we put together our budget.
Higher Education
Too many Minnesotans and their families are being buried by mountains of debt when they work to get a degree or enter a career training program. Student loan debt in this country is now a half-trillion more than credit card debt. This is unsustainable and unacceptable.
To address this, we passed a Higher Education budget to freeze tuition at all of Minnesota's two-and four-year public universities. All Minnesotans deserve the opportunity to get a quality higher education, and the training needed to get a good-paying job. Investing in higher education means investing in Minnesotans and the future of our state.
Health and Human Services
Minnesotans deserve quality health care coverage for a price they can afford. Our House Health and Human Services budget protects the health care for over 1.2 million Minnesotans, protects funding for rural hospitals, and improves oversight of HMOs. To address high premiums in the individual health insurance market, instead of giving money to insurance companies as the current budget does, we instead deliver direct discounts to Minnesotans toward their premiums. The HHS budget also addresses the cost of prescription drugs, protects elders from abuse and neglect, and strengthens oversight and integrity for Minnesota’s child care assistance program, while protecting the funding families depend on.
Transportation
Throughout the state there are some significant needs regarding our roads and bridges. In fact, the American Society of Civil Engineers recently rated Minnesota’s roads as “D+” on their most recent infrastructure report card with bridges receiving a “C.” Minnesotans deserve better than this, and earlier this week the House approved our transportation budget. It makes responsible investments to fix our state's roads and bridges and makes them honestly through the constitutionally-dedicated funding stream: the gas tax. The constitution also requires this funding to go exclusively toward roads and bridges. As an added bonus, when we invest in our infrastructure we can create some good-paying jobs in the construction trades and other related professions.
Please continue to contact me with your feedback, input, and if I can ever be of assistance. It’s an honor to be your voice in Saint Paul.
Sincerely,
Rob Ecklund
State Representative
Rep. Rob Ecklund
409 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55155
www.house.mn/03A
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Chair, House Veterans and Military Affairs Policy and Finance Division
Phone: 651-296-2190
E-mail: rep.rob.ecklund@house.mn
Legislative Assistant: Josh Kilgard, 651-296-3918