Greetings –
As we enter budget negotiations with the Senate and deliberate over final bills to be sent to the Governor, I wanted to take a moment to share the results of my 2015 Legislative Survey and update you on our week at the Capitol. More regular updates will be coming next week as we begin to wrap up our legislative work.
2015 Survey Results
Thank you to all who took the time to fill out my 2015 Legislative Survey. Hearing your thoughts on the issues that matter to our community and our state is important to me, and helps me to better serve as your voice at the Capitol.
Transportation
Transportation continues to be a large concern for our district. When survey respondents were asked if they would prefer Governor Dayton and the Senate DFL’s transportation proposal to add a gas tax to fuel transportation projects or the Republican proposal to reallocate current funding to address transportation concerns, 79.31% chose the Republican proposal. Likewise, when asked what the legislature should do with the $1.9 billion surplus announced this February, 55.17% responded that some of the surplus should be used on road and bridge improvements.
Education
On education, 82.76% of survey respondents indicated their support for legislation passed earlier this session to give school districts the flexibility to consider teacher performance in layoff decisions. I supported this legislation because it provides our district the ability to establish criterion for teacher layoff decisions that take into consideration performance metrics versus teacher seniority, ensuring that every classroom has a great teacher.
Growing Jobs
Our district has many differing perspectives on how to grow jobs in Minnesota. While a large majority of you (75.86%) are proponents of tax relief and incentives for business and job growth, a large portion of survey respondents (44.83% and 41.38%, respectively) also favored limiting state spending to the amount of revenue taken in and using surplus funds to offer income tax relief. 31.03% of survey respondents proposed increasing education funding and focusing on workforce development. Many respondents also offered their own proposals for job growth, including:
“Add education opportunities to augment the employee shortage in various industries,”
“Figure our current ways to keep businesses in business now vs. private sector businesses having to consider stepping away from business,”
“Encourage our small businesses by decreasing tax burdens,”
“Spend money on infrastructure projects, like roads and bridges.”
MNsure
Very few survey respondents believe that MNsure is working as is (10.34%). Among the respondents who believed MNsure isn’t working, support of solutions was split between opting to use the federally-run exchange (24.14%), enacting significant reforms (24.14%), and giving Minnesotans more options outside of MNsure (41.38%).
Again, thank you for taking my Legislative Survey. It was interesting to read your thoughts and comments and to have the opportunity to take those thoughts into consideration as we debated these issues on the House floor.
Turkey Burger Feed
On Tuesday, members of the House Republican Rural Caucus grilled and served 500 turkey burgers to our colleagues, staff, and Capitol construction workers on the Capitol lawn. While our poultry industry has been hit hard with the avian flu epidemic, we are receptive to the needs of poultry farmers and have passed legislation as a part of our Agriculture budget to offset the costs associated with the crisis and help our poultry farmers recover.
As we approach the final week of the legislative session, I continue to keep your thoughts in mind. Please continue to reach out to me to share your comments and concerns. You can reach me via phone at (651) 296-3780, or via email at rep.tim.odriscoll@house.mn.
Have a great weekend,
Tim
This Day in Minnesota History: On May 8th, 1910, Governor Adolf O. Eberhart declared Minnesota’s first Mother’s Day holiday. Thank you to our Minnesota mothers for the care and compassion they show in raising the next generation of strong Minnesota men and women. Happy Mother’s Day!