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Hello from St. Paul!
There has been a lot of committee work happening at the Capitol this week, hearing many bills on all kids of subjects. I will highlight a couple of these bills below. One of the most important bills, in my mind, was on Social Security tax relief.
SOCIAL SECURITY TAX RELIEF
In 2017, the legislature approved the beginnings of Social Security tax relief and we started phasing out the income tax on Minnesotans’ Social Security checks. This is an issue I have strongly supported and advocated for since coming into office in 2015. Starting last year, I’m happy to say that nearly 284,000 senior citizen tax filers received tax reductions, and 72,000 of those no longer pay state income tax on their Social Security benefits. This year I’m supporting a bill that would continue our progress on this subject and completely eliminate taxation on Social Security benefits for ALL senior citizens.
The bill was debated in the Minnesota House Taxes Committee Thursday and held over for possible inclusion in a comprehensive tax bill that will be unveiled in the coming weeks. Most of our seniors have spent a lifetime paying in taxes and they deserve this break on this limited income. Minnesota is one of a handful of states that still tax these benefits. We took a step towards addressing this issue last biennium and now we need to finish what we started.
LOWERING HEALTH CARE COSTS
The House Commerce Committee has approved a bill that would extend, for another three years, the reinsurance program we implemented two years ago. The law stabilizes premiums by mitigating the impact of high-risk individuals, or those who are the most sick, on the individual health insurance market.
You might recall that the 2017 GOP-led legislature approved the plan in order to help lower the cost of health insurance for those purchasing plans on the individual market. It’s worked, as all five carriers on the individual market lowered premiums for 2019, with average rates dropping between 7.4 percent and 27.7 percent.
I am happy that there is bipartisan support to continue this program. I look at this as a “life preserver” to help keep afloat those who are sinking under incredible health insurance costs while we are working to fix the problem. There are a number of proposals being looked at in the Minnesota legislature this year, including prescription cost transparency, hospital price transparency, shared savings incentive accounts, and more initiatives to come. This is a critical and very complicated issue, and it’s going to take time to fix it and fix it right.
CAPITOL VISITS
I really had a fun meeting with a group of local homeschoolers who stopped by my office in St. Paul. Kara Jacobusse and Lois Louters, from Clarks Grove and Hollandale respectively, brought their children to the Capitol for Homeschool Day on the Hill, as well as to learn about our beautiful Capitol building and our government.
These young people asked some really good questions of me about government and my job as a legislator. I salute Kara and Lisa for their hard work as homeschool parents and for taking the time to bring their kids to the Capitol to learn about their government.
I also had productive visits with area county commissioners and staff this week, learning about their perspectives on state government and how they feel we can help them succeed at the county level. Thank you all for coming!
Have a great weekend!
Peggy
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