Dear Minnesotans,
The debate on committee bills has been long (8-10 hours) as we spend time discussing the merits and significant flaws in these bills. This year, many of the supplemental budget bills have been blended with other committee bills. Unfortunately, most of these mega bills make little attempt to garner broad support and are instead partisan in their spending and policy. I will do everything I can to fight for the values and priorities of our south metro communities and the State of Minnesota.
State of the State? OVERTAXED!
On April 24th, Governor Walz gave his annual state of the state speech. If someone were to ask me what the state of our state is, I would tell them that we are overtaxed as demonstrated by the state’s $9.3 billion budget surplus.
State government has never been more flush with cash. This is particularly unacceptable at a time when Minnesotans are seeing increased bills for their groceries, home heating bills, autos, and other rising costs due to historic levels of inflation. I continue to fight for meaningful, permanent tax cuts because this surplus belongs to you!
It’s troubling that for every $1 in tax reform, Democrats are proposing $21 in spending!
Social Media- Protecting our Children
I am proud to be a co-author on an important piece of legislation to better protect our children from social media platforms that use algorithms to target account holders under the age of 18. For example, TikTok and other apps use a strong engagement-based algorithm that tracks which types of videos users linger over or re-watch and then targets their feed with related content, creating dependence.
Recent Wall Street Journal articles reported on the experience of teenage TikTok users who have been targeted with harmful or adult content. Since the start of the pandemic, the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD) has reported a 50% increase in calls to their helpline. Psychiatrists and treatment centers report similar increases and say many of their patients claim TikTok played a role in their illness or relapse.
The operator of a social media platform would be liable to individuals who receive user-created content if the operator had reason to know the individual was under 18.
This is an important step in protecting our children from the harmful impacts of social media.
Democrats rule Voter ID out of order
During the State Government, Transportation, and Veterans affairs bill (I told you they merged unrelated bills into Omnibus bills) we offered an amendment that would require a photo ID to vote. Ironically, at the upcoming Minnesota Democrat Convention, Democrats will require an ID to vote and get into the convention center.
Watch the video below, as I argue against their efforts to rule the voter ID amendment out of order and call on Democrat members to not be hypocritical and break with their leadership’s dictates. Click here or the photo below to watch.
End of Session Approaching
This week, we will finish up the remaining committee bills and start the House and Senate conference committee process to see what policy is similar and can be agreed to.
As I have seen how partisan and dissimilar the bills are in each body and when considering that we passed a full state budget last year, I am not optimistic that many bills or provisions will become law this year. The good news is that what we don’t spend of the surplus or pass as tax reform will be carried over to next year.
Jon Koznick
State Representative