Hello from the State Capitol,
My number one priority to tackle early on this session is to get school resources officers (SROs) back into schools.
Last year, the majority party approved a law that limits how school resource officers are allowed to de-escalate aggressive or violent situations, which caused dozens of law enforcement agencies to pull SROs from schools across Minnesota – including from Blaine High Schools. This has led to an increase in 9-1-1 calls from schools and response times to a violent school act are now in the minutes as opposed to immediate when an SRO was on site.
Thanks to some extreme legislators, keeping kids and teachers safe has now become a political issue. This shouldn’t be the case. We have a bipartisan solution to this problem, but to date the House majority doesn’t want to consider it.
I’m optimistic that we will have a bipartisan fix very soon; we just need to convince the extremist elements in the majority party who don’t want that solution to stand down. Addressing this problem is my top priority this session, and we need it resolved quickly before something truly terrible happens.
GOOD NEWS FOR MANY INCOME TAX FILERS
Many Minnesotans who are preparing to file their income taxes will likely see their returns improve due to bipartisan legislation that is expected to be signed into law.
Last session, the legislative majority approved comprehensive taxes legislation that reduced standard income tax deductions, leading to tax increases for roughly 76% of Minnesotans. On Monday, we approved what is best described as a cleanup bill that eliminates the errors and will prevent many from paying higher tax bills.
Specifically, the bill correctly inflates the statutory amounts for the standard deduction, additional standard deduction for seniors and blind taxpayers, and standard deduction amounts for dependents. Without this correction, the Department of Revenue (DOR) estimates that an additional $352 million in general fund tax revenue would be raised starting in tax year 2024.
I’m very pleased we were able to approve this legislation on a strong bipartisan vote. Doing so early in session means fewer will have to file amended income tax returns.
FRONT PAGE NEWS!
In case you missed it, my daughter made the front page of the StarTribune on Opening Day last week!
Have a good weekend,
Nolan