Dear Friends and Neighbors, I hope you had a blessed Easter weekend spent with family and friends. It was nice to spend more time in Lakeville as the legislature was on its annual Easter break last week. We returned to St. Paul on Tuesday for the final 6-week push to the end of this year’s legislative session. Many issues remain unresolved, and I look forward to continuing my work on behalf of you, your family, and our community. All of us have been struggling with the impact of inflation that has driven the costs of everyday goods and services to levels we haven’t seen in years. We see it at the grocery store, the gas station, in our energy bills, and pretty much everywhere else. Life has gotten very, very expensive. Childcare is one specific area that has seen costs skyrocket in recent years. Whether it’s mandates, fewer and fewer providers, inflation, or all the above, it’s clear that costs are being driven upwards. This has made it increasingly difficult for families to afford childcare. For many, the costs of childcare are so high that they are close to the amount you’d have to pay for a second mortgage on your home. Young families are the future of our communities, we should be looking for more ways to attract them to our community. Reducing the costs of childcare is a real, tangible way we can do that. To address some of these concerns, I am proud to share that I have signed on as a co-author to two pieces of legislation to make childcare more affordable for families. The two bills aim to expand the childcare system with rates that attract new childcare providers, stabilize costs, bring more funding, and provide additional options for suburban families and providers. House File 4349 expands the dependent care credit and House File 4776 expands employer flexible spending accounts. These two bills are a good starting point to address these issues, but we plan on doing more by introducing additional legislation to reduce regulatory burdens and increase capacity, affordability, and options within the childcare sector. More to come on these in the days and weeks ahead. Dakota County Day at the CapitolThis week, officials from Dakota County visited St. Paul to meet with lawmakers. It was great to chat with many of our outstanding commissioners and other officials that make Dakota County such a great place to work, live, and raise a family! More specifically, my conversations were centered around the County Road 50 and Interstate 35 bridge improvement and the construction of a new recycling zone for the county. Thanks for visiting!   |