Dear Friends,
I wanted to send you a quick update on today's special session that took place in Saint Paul.
Morrison County is among the 18 counties that will receive portions of the $4.5 million dollars appropriated today by the legislature as disaster relief for the storms that hit the state in June 2013 causing the largest power outage in state history, along with millions of dollars in damages across the state.
The legislature has a long tradition of coming together to provide relief to our cities and counties when they are hit by severe weather. It was great to see such strong bipartisan cooperation and support for this critical disaster relief. The bill passed 127-1, with all Republicans voting in support of the bill.
Unfortunately, there was no agreement made to repeal any of the taxes passed in May. There's support on both sides of the aisle for the repeal of many of these damaging increases that are causing harm to Greater Minnesota, but those will have to be topics for the legislature to consider when we return in February 2014.
USS Minnesota
Over the weekend I had the great honor of joining 19 of my House colleagues in Virginia for the commissioning of the USS Minnesota. There were dozens of Minnesotans in attendance for this special ceremony to celebrate the third ship to be named for our great state. The USS Minnesota is a submarine that weighs over 7,800 tons and is more than three football fields long.
The House GOP members kept a blog during out trip, submitting photos and blog posts. You can read about the trip, and see a number of amazing photos by clicking here.
Here I am in front of the USS Minnesota with my son, Alex.
Simply to clarify, legislators paid their own way for this trip, which came at no expense to the taxpayers of Minnesota.
Have a great rest of your week,
Ron