Dear Neighbors,
It was a busy week here at the Legislature as budget targets and our comprehensive transportation proposal were released.
Budget and Transportation Plan Released
On Tuesday, House Republican leadership unveiled our budget proposal. Unlike Governor Dayton’s plan that proposes to raise the state’s budget by $3.7 billion to $43 billion a year, we believe that the state’s budget should not grow faster than the budgets of Minnesota families. Here are the numbers on the proposal:
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GOP Proposal: $39.95 billion
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Tax relief for Minnesotans: $2 billion
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Money to budget reserves: $100 million
We set our budget to prioritize education, roads and bridges, and protect our aging Minnesotans’ quality of life. While the state has a budget surplus, most Minnesotans are not seeing a surplus in their own budget, which is why we’re putting $2 billion back in the hands of hardworking taxpayers.
Additionally, this week House and Senate Republicans released our comprehensive, future-oriented proposal for transportation improvements in Minnesota.
Our proposal invests $7 billion over the next decade in our state’s roads and bridges without raising taxes.
This plan creates a special Transportation Stability Fund that collects existing proceeds from dedicated tax revenues and deposits them into this new fund. This fund would dedicate $3.078 billion towards road and bridge repair over the next ten years. The revenues for this fund come from existing sales taxes on auto parts, rental vehicles, rental vehicle tax, and the Motor Vehicle Lease tax.
In addition to these dedicated funds, our plan uses $1.3 billion in Trunk Highway bonds, $1.2 billion from realigning MNDOT resources, $1.05 billion in General Obligation bonds, and $228 million in General Funds.
In total, over the next ten years, our plan would repair and replace 15,500 lane miles and 330 bridges across Minnesota without increasing the tax burden on Minnesotans.
Minnesotans now have a clear choice between a plan that fully funds the state’s transportation needs without raising taxes, or choosing the Governor and Democrats’ plan that would raise the state’s gas tax by a minimum of 16 cents a gallon.
2015 Legislative Survey
I encourage you to complete my 2015 legislative survey. You can take the survey by going to my House webpage and clicking the “2015 Legislative Survey” link on the right-hand side of the screen.
It is my hope that as many constituents as possible complete my survey and weigh in on some of the important issues that are being debated at the Capitol. I am anxiously awaiting your feedback.
If you would prefer to fill out the survey by hand, please contact my office and we will mail a paper copy to your address.
Staying in Touch
Please encourage your family, friends, or co-workers to sign up for my weekly email updates. They can sign up by visiting my official House page.
As always, do not hesitate to contact me to discuss any questions, comments, or concerns you may have regarding the legislature. I can be reached by phone at 651-296-8237 or via email at rep.brian.daniels@house.mn. You can also stay connected with me by visiting my Facebook page and my Twitter account.
Sincerely,
Brian