Dear Neighbors,
Session Concludes
As we closed out the 2018 legislative session, we passed our major bills like tax conformity, school funding, and a budget bill containing great provisions to improve elder care, fight the opioid epidemic, and more. Despite our attempts at compromise, Governor Dayton vetoed our bills on Wednesday.
I felt that the legislature made a good-faith effort to find middle ground with the governor. We included many of the governor’s provisions and requests in these bills, meeting more than halfway by addressing nearly 70% of his written objections. No one ever gets everything they want and everyone gets some things they don’t want. That’s what compromise is all about.
With that in mind, I was absolutely dumbfounded at the governor’s veto of these two bills. During his press conference, he couldn’t even articulate the provisions that caused the veto of our supplemental budget bill. It is all very perplexing to me and saddens me greatly.
These vetoes will be felt by residents throughout our entire state, with the loss of important measures like elder abuse prevention, averting the 7% cut for workers who care for the disabled, school safety and mental health funding, the suicide hotline, opioid addiction prevention, tax conformity and tax relief, fixing our broken vehicle licensing system, broadband funding for rural areas, and more.
I wish the governor would have taken the full 14 days before making a decision about these bills; taking time to examine these bills, as well as to let the high emotions and political tussling of the last weeks of session settle down a bit before issuing a decision that could impact millions in our state. Minnesotans deserved that.
Foster Sibling Bill of Rights Becomes Law
My legislation, the Foster Sibling Bill of Rights was signed into law a few days ago! This creates guidelines to help keep foster youth connected with their siblings who are in the care of different foster parents. It does so by promoting close connections for foster siblings (when it is in the best interest of each sibling), including visits, phone calls and taking part in important celebrations like birthdays. I see this as an important way to make the difficult process of foster care just a little easier for some of our most vulnerable Minnesotans. I’m thankful for the unanimous support of the legislature to help spur this toward becoming law.
Most of all, I want to thank the brave young people who’ve dealt with this difficult situation, for bringing this to my attention, and for making the case as to why we should pass this bill. It was heartbreaking to hear their stories, but I’m so proud of those who stood up to make a difference in our state. Foster siblings will now have one more way to make this tumultuous time a little bit simpler.
Bonding Provisions Pass
One of the big bills we passed late in session was our bonding bill. I was thrilled to see that this legislation contained two of our local projects: funding for Riverland Community College and funding to complete the Stables area water and sewer project. I’ve been working on both of these issues, and am relieved to see them passed. Now we just need the governor’s signature to help get these projects moving!
Thank You
I’ve enjoyed hearing from so many of you throughout the legislative session. It’s an honor to be your voice in St. Paul, and I’m daily humbled by this position and the responsibility I have to local residents. As we finish the legislative session at the Capitol, I won’t stop advocating for our area.
Have a great weekend, and please take a minute to say a prayer on Memorial Day for all those brave men and women who we’ve lost in the service of our country.
Peggy