I want to thank everyone who came out to participate in the March for Life rally this week at the Capitol. It was great seeing so many people show up once again at this annual event to support the unborn.
Dear Neighbor,
Greetings as we work our way out of our recent cold spell and look forward to more reasonable weekend temperatures.
As for official business, we continue working in St. Paul to get committees up to speed. Things are going well in Ag., but I wish all the House members were at the Capitol so we could all focus on the important issues at hand. We’re now wrapping up our second week of the 2025 session with one party still boycotting the Capitol.
Meanwhile, House Republicans are taking initial steps with this session’s top-priority bills. The first three bills introduced in the House this session relate to curbing fraud and/or waste in our state. Fraud/waste has grown into a major concern among Minnesotans and we’re working to help get it under control. Minnesota already is a high-tax state by a number of metrics, and we owe it to the people of our state to be careful stewards of their tax dollars. These bills are geared toward helping our state do a better job of that after years of lacking some of the oversight that’s needed.
Those first three anti-fraud bills include:
- House File 1: Establishes a centralized Office of the Inspector General to lead the fight against fraud across state programs.
- House File 2: Strengthens fraud prevention by mandating stricter reporting requirements for state agencies and equipping them with additional tools to identify and prevent fraudulent activities.
- House File 3: Establishes “fraud notes,” a groundbreaking tool to assess the susceptibility of proposed legislation to fraud.
We also are working this session to make Minnesota more affordable in light of the price increases and tax hikes people in our state have been suffering. Bills have been introduced that would ease the financial burden for people by repealing the automatic gas tax increase, delivery taxes, social security taxes, and policies that are driving up the cost of energy. Look for more on this issue soon.
Have a good weekend and, as always, please stay in touch.
Sincerely,
Paul