Dear Neighbors,
I hope you’ve had a great week, and are ready for the weekend. Before you head out and about, I wanted to pass along a quick update from St. Paul.
Commission Appointment
Earlier today, I was appointed to the Legislative Permanent School Fund Commission. This is a 12-member group “to advise the Department of Natural Resources and the school trust lands director on the management of permanent school fund land, which is held in trust for the school districts of the state and to review legislation affecting permanent school fund land.” Most of these lands are in Northern Minnesota. I’m honored to receive this appointment, and look forward to working with my colleagues on the management of school trust fund lands.
Uniform Labor Standards
Yesterday, in the Job Growth and Energy Affordability Committee, we heard a bill, HF600, to make labor standards congruent across the state. Right now, some local governments are making their own laws about minimum wage or paid leave, creating a system that makes it difficult for businesses to adapt to each new regulation in every city. There are 854 cities in Minnesota, which means we could potentially have 854 differing labor laws for local businesses. This bill would simply make these laws uniform across the state. HF600 has authors from both parties, and I’m encouraged to see it pass out of our committee.
TPT Almanac
On Wednesday, I joined Mary Lahammer and Rep. Julie Sandstede for TPT’s Almanac at the Capitol. It was a great experience, and I enjoyed the dialogue with my colleague from the other side of the aisle, Rep. Sandstede. If you missed the show, you can watch the full episode here.
Constituent Visits
It was a good week for seeing folks from our area at the Capitol. I met with firefighters, bankers, local city and school officials, and members of the hospitality industry. Here are a few photos of the visits!
Former Grand Rapids fire chief, Steve Flaherty
Dave VanDien and Angela Dynkavitch of American Bank and Mark White of First National Bank of Coleraine
Grand Rapids city council member Rick Blake and city administrator Tom Pagel
If you can’t make it to St. Paul, I’d encourage you to call or email my office. I continue to see more correspondence, and I enjoy discussing any issue that’s important to you.
Have a great weekend!
Sandy