Dear Friends,
Next week the legislature will be on break for Easter, meaning there will be no committee meetings or floor sessions. I'm greatly looking forward to having a chance to visit family and enjoy some time back home in our community. It's been a busy few weeks, and once we return there will be just six weeks left of session!
I want to thank everyone who attended my listening session on buffer strips on Saturday in Blooming Prairie. We had more than 80 people in attendance, and there was a lot of great discussion and input about the proposal. Special thanks to Board of Water and Soil Resources Executive Director John Jaschke for driving to Blooming Prairie to discuss the Governor's plan and answer questions from the community.
Some highlights from this past week:
GOP Transportation Plan
Republicans released our long-term transportation plan on Monday, a $7 billion, 10 year plan that makes crucial investments in our state's roads and bridges. Our plan would repair or replace an estimated 15,500 lane miles of road, and 330 bridges across the state. Having heard from a number of cities and counties in our community, they have expressed an urgent need for road and bridge repair, so I'm excited that our plan includes direct funding to city, county, and municipal transportation needs, as well as state roads. It's a plan that addresses the immediate short-term needs, as well as the long-term funding needed to maintain quality infrastructure.
The plan is funded using existing money, primarily from sales taxes on auto parts, vehicle leases, and rental cars. Our plan also uses bonding as well as a small portion of our state's $1.869 billion surplus, something many of you stated your support for in my legislative survey.
Now that we have two long-term plans on the table, we can discuss the best path forward about how to fund our long-term transportation needs. I hope you'll make your voice heard and contact me as well as your other elected officials about what you think is the best way to address our transportation needs.
Budget Targets
This week we also released our budget targets for the 2016-2017 budget. The budget targets set proposed spending at about $39.9 billion for 2016-2017, significantly less than the $43 billion being proposed by Governor Dayton. Overall, our budget would increase spending by about 1.7% compared to what we're spending in 2014-2015.
These targets are one of the first steps in the budget process, and are likely to change significantly as session continues as we work to find a budget that can pass the GOP House, the DFL Senate and be signed by the Governor.
Teacher Loan Forgiveness Bill
This week my bill to create a loan forgiveness program for teachers who work in "teacher shortage areas" was passed by the Higher Education Policy & Finance Committee. Schools, especially in Greater Minnesota, have a teacher shortage right now that leaves fewer opportunities for students across the state. My bill is one small way we can bring more teachers to the parts of the state that need it most.
My bill was passed to the Education Finance Committee, its next stop in the committee process. The Rochester Post Bulletin wrote a story this week on this bill which you can read by clicking here.
As always, please contact me any time at rep.peggy.bennett@house.mn or by phone at 651-296-8216. You can also follow my updates on Facebook at www.facebook.com/reppeggybennett or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/peggyabennett.
Have a great weekend, and a blessed Easter/Passover,
Peggy Bennett
State Representative, District 27A