Dear Neighbor,
The State Office Building, which hosts House members’ offices at the Capitol Complex in St. Paul, recently was re-opened to the public after being closed for two years during the height of the pandemic.
It has been nice to get back to meeting with constituents in person. One of the highlights of this week was meeting with a group of local superintendents to discuss a variety of education-related issues. (On a related note, I recently co-authored a bill that would increase transportation funding for the Bemidji district to help with its busing shortfall.)
While it is good to see legislative offices have re-opened, I also want to mention that visits from constituents will require appointments to be scheduled in advance on select days. Please call my legislative office at (651) 296-5516 if you would like to schedule a meeting.
In other news, there still has been no resolution of the completely unnecessary tax increase Minnesota employers are now seeing on their unemployment insurance rates. This marks the end of the first fiscal quarter for the year and the higher new rates are just now becoming reality for many job providers.
This issue came to a head when House Democrats recently stopped preventative legislation from reaching enactment. All the House needed to do was to approve the same bipartisan bill the Senate already passed by a veto-proof margin. Instead, House Democrats stopped the bill from coming to the floor for a vote.
Now, unfortunately, many employers are realizing the consequences of not passing this bill. To make matters worse, they could face state and federal penalties by failing to comply with the state’s new unemployment insurance tax code. Given the serious consequences at stake, it was bad advice for some Democrats to suggest to job providers that they “wait and see” on UI tax relief instead of following their prescribed rate schedule. The last thing we need is for tax penalties to take a bad situation and make it worse.
Most of the House’s time and energy continues to be related to bringing bills through the committee process at this point in the session.
One of the more eyebrow-raising bills to receive a committee hearing this week is a bill that would increase already soaring gas prices and worsen supply-chain issues by forcing California fuel standards on Minnesotans. Research indicates the CFS proposal would cause the cost of gasoline and diesel fuel to increase by 20 cents per gallon in the near term and up to 54 cents per gallon by 2035. The California mandate would force the average Minnesota household to spend an additional $210 to $570 per year, every single year at the pump.
And not one red cent of the additional costs imposed on Minnesota families would pay for upgrading our roads and bridges.
The bottom line is people already are being hammered by soaring prices at the pump. Our goal should be to find ways of lessening the burden of higher costs people are facing. A bill bringing California’s questionable energy policies to our state and causing prices to go even higher is about the last thing we should be discussing this session.
Look for more from the House soon. Until then, please stay in touch.
Sincerely,
Matt