Dear Neighbor,
The House of Representatives convened on Monday to begin the 2022 session and it is nice to be back at the Capitol with tax relief as a major focus this year.
Opening day of the legislative session always is an exciting time because it’s when we can begin acting on all the important issues we have talked about during the interim. In this year’s case, decisions related to the state’s $7.7 billion surplus and measures to improve public safety are front and center.
Our goal should be to return those surplus dollars to the taxpayers in the form of permanent tax relief as opposed to viewing this as a license to spend more on ongoing state programs. This includes passing legislation to finally eliminate the state tax on Social Security, and to alleviate an unjust unemployment insurance tax increase recently placed on our businesses.
Much of this first week of session was dedicated to informational committee meetings. I currently serve on committees related to education, early childhood and health. Each of those committees received updates from corresponding state agencies this week to bring everyone up to speed on developments since the last legislative session and provide a bit of an outlook for issues on the horizon.
We will get into the issues themselves in upcoming meetings. Please watch for more legislative updates from me throughout the session as I do my best to provide some of my personal takes on the top issues we are facing in St. Paul and back here in District 13A. There also are numerous links on the House of Representatives website that are helpful to the public in tracking the latest developments. I encourage you to give these a look:
On a quick side note before we close, I want to stress that I continue making constituent outreach a major priority of mine even as the House remains under covid-related restrictions and is conducting much of its work remotely. Please call or email me if you would like to talk about whatever issue is important to you, or if you would like to arrange a meeting. Your input helps me do my best to represent the people of our district and is very much appreciated.
Until next time, have a good weekend and please stay in touch.
Sincerely,
Lisa