Dear Neighbors,
Last week, Minnesota Management and Budget released the February budget forecast, showing a projected $9.25 billion surplus, plus a fully-funded budget reserve, also known as the “rainy day fund”. News that the state’s already record-setting surplus had grown an additional $1.5 billion further reinforces the need for lawmakers to return this money back to you, the hardworking taxpayers of Minnesota.
What so many in St. Paul don’t realize, especially my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, is that this surplus belongs to Minnesotans. Instead, many would like to use your surplus and spend it on frivolous programs that only serve to grow the size of government and infringe on your freedom, liberty, and stifle free market opportunities.
I am committed to making sure the surplus goes back into the pockets of you, your family, and Minnesotans across our great state, including ending the double taxation of social security income.
In addition to providing permanent, structural tax relief for you, we are working to provide a fix to the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund to make sure that businesses in our community do not suffer from unnecessary tax increases.
Southwest Light Rail Boondoggle
Last Thursday, the House overwhelmingly voted in support of legislation that would provide an audit of the Southwest Light Rail transit project (SWLRT) to document what has gone wrong and to prevent cost overruns from happening again.
For the last decade, the price of this project has nearly tripled from just over $1 billion to more than $2.75 billion. Not only has the price constantly risen, there have also been countless setbacks and timeline delays—all the while the unaccountable and unelected bureaucrats at the Met Council keep voting to spend more of your tax dollars.
No other project in recent memory better exemplifies government inefficiency, out-of-control spending, and a lack of accountability.
I have long been a vocal critic of Metro Transit projects and services like light rail and the NorthStar Commuter Line—leading the way on legislation that would have mothballed the NorthStar line once-and-for-all.
Click the photo below or here to watch a brief video I recorded detailing this project and the problems it continues to present to taxpayers. We should pause the project and others like it until the audit is complete and we can provide more accountability on this project. Unfortunately, Democrats rejected our attempt to end or pause SWLRT.
Fighting for Liberty
I am proud to be signed onto legislation that would prohibit discrimination in Minnesota based on someone’s vaccination status or possession of an “immunity passport”.
Health care information is personal, sensitive, and private that if improperly used or released can result in the violation of someone’s constitutional rights as an American. We must continue to push back against useless and onerous mandates that do nothing to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Our God-given freedoms and liberties should always be the most important consideration when developing public policy and I will always make sure that the Constitution is my guiding light when voting on bills.
Additionally, an ongoing priority is reforming the state’s peacetime emergency laws. While other issues arise, I have not lost sight of the critical need to protect individual freedoms. The last two years, we saw an overzealous Governor abuse these powers—effectively shutting down the entire state and silencing the voice of Minnesotans by usurping the legislative process. I voted over twenty times to end or take away the Waltz emergency powers! We need to aggressively reform this chapter of state law to make sure that never again can a future governor rule Minnesota as if they were a king.
I appreciate your trust and support to represent our conservative, common sense values. I remain committed to advocating for you to make our state stronger and better by protecting our families, our freedoms, and our futures. Together we will realize our full potential and our best days ahead.
Jon Koznick
State Representative