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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Bernie Perryman (R)

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Perryman: 2024 session underscores more balance needed in St. Paul

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

 

ST. PAUL – The Minnesota Legislature adjourned Monday, putting a bow on a two-year cycle Rep. Bernie Perryman, R-St. Augusta, said was marked by reckless spending, needless tax increases, extreme policies and broken promises with one-party control of the Capitol.

With the record $18 billion surplus last year, Perryman said Minnesotans deserved meaningful tax cuts at a time when in?ation and rising costs of living have family budgets stretched thin. Instead, she said House Democrats went on a spending spree, increasing the budget by 40% – the largest budget increase in Minnesota history – and raising taxes by $10 billion in the process.

“I have to believe a lot of Minnesotans are looking at what happened in St. Paul the last two years and they’re thinking, ‘I didn’t sign up for this,’” Perryman said. “One-party control has been bad news for Minnesota and we need more balance at the Capitol. This was on full display the last night of this session, when the majority passed a 1,431-page bill without its contents even available to House members to review before a vote took place. It makes you wonder how we got here and the answer is a very narrow majority has been treated like a sweeping mandate at the expense of most Minnesotans.”

When the 2024 session began, Perryman said the majority was right back at it, raising the cost of a new worker leave program by half a billion dollars before it even begins, and many other unpopular and unnecessary tax and fee increases that take money out of the pockets of Minnesota families.

Along the way, Perryman said Minnesota taxpayers were put on the hook for a $730 million State Office Building remodel despite Republicans proposing more reasonably priced alternatives.

Perryman said Republicans spent part of the 2024 session successfully resolving significant problems she said Democrats created in 2023. Most notably, she said this includes a fix to the tax bill, getting school resource officers back in all the buildings they had been serving, and correcting a net-operating loss issue. Legislation Republicans championed to provide an additional $30 million for Emergency Ambulance Service Aid also received legislative approval.

Perryman indicated several highly controversial, partisan policy measures were enacted with one party in control the last two years. She said this includes enacting a state-funded speech registry that could undermine First Amendment and passing three anti-Second Amendment bills. In addition, she said a provision ended electronic pull tabs as we knew them, dealing a major blow to local charitable organizations.

Religious freedom was another high-profile issue this session after religious protections against discrimination claims were eliminated last year after being in our state for decades. A variation of Republican legislation was enacted into law this session re-establishing protections for religious entities.

“I’m so proud of the way we stood up and fought for religious freedom this session,” Perryman said. “Not only did we restore protections that were eliminated last year, but we also had a hand in making sure another bill that would have trampled on our rights did not pass into law.”

Perryman said a number of things that did not happen this biennium were the result of Democrats failing to deliver on promises they made to Minnesotans. In particular, she said this includes voting against bills that would ensure our of?cers have the resources they need, reneging on delivering full Social Security tax relief, failing to provide $2,000 rebate checks.

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