What’s New?
Another busy week at the MN State Legislature this week!
This last week the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor released the program evaluation report, Sustainable Building Guidelines. Please CLICK here to see the FULL Report.
It is very concerning to me and I can only imagine to you and ALL taxpayers in the State of Minnesota to hear the Auditor publicly admit that Minnesota “LACKS ADEQUATE OVERSIGHT and ACCOUNTABILITY” of its programs and spending. We discussed this report in a committee this week and was amazed to hear them say “pervasive non-compliance” of grants and state funding exists.
LISTEN to Rep. Natalie Zeleznikar from Fredenberg Township by clicking here. Natalie is a newly elected legislator, like myself, and again, I want to bring the public great encouragement to see even in these trying times, how you have a new generation of elected Republicans who are here fighting for the great people of this State.
Rep. Zeleznikar is a business owner, entrepreneur, and she unseated a long-time Democrat in the Duluth area. You will see in this video, she is just like you and me, bringing common sense and talking for the people of Minnesota.
Also, this is the link of when I spoke at this committee hearing about the fraud that is going on in Minnesota and the Democrats inability to deal with it. Their lack of resolve to address it should be concerning to everyone. Click here.
SCHOOLS
I was asked to attend a legislative listening session for southeastern Minnesota superintendents.
As Governor Walz and the Democrat trifecta are on a spending spree, the schools are all in line to get additional funding. We all want quality education for our children. We all should be very concerned and disappointed about the drastic decline that we have seen in the drop in academic achievements. Some of that was due to COVID, however the decline was already starting years prior to 2019.
My number one priority is the people of this District. I will bring my business background to look at issues and problem solve. Education is an area where I believe we need to be brave and look at how we can creatively support schools and fund them, but also boldly look at issues so that we can improve the outcomes for our children.
When asked the question why did I run and what are my thoughts on the Governor’s education proposal, click here to see how I responded.
Click here to hear my response when I was asked what issues do the schools and state legislature need to work on together moving forward and my concerns for the State.
After this meeting, I had many people approach me and said that they liked my honest answers and approach. I think that is something we need more of: people truly problem solving and not just going along and never really addressing the tough issues. What do you think?
LOCAL VISITORS
As different groups come to the State Capitol, I have really looked forward to these opportunities to meet more people in my District. This week I met with the Minnesota Broadcasters Association and met representatives from radio broadcasting from the Red Wing area. Minnesota Milk also had a day at the Capitol this week and it was so fun to see Emily Mollenhauer and Dave and Ann Buck, all good friends from our area. I heard their priorities as milk producers for this legislative session. Kevin and I both grew up on farms and I am so proud to be representing our strong agriculture community here in St. Paul.
Here are a few other highlights from the week:
Universal school lunches floor speech: MN Citizens say TOO MANY MANDATES at our SCHOOLS. House floor, Feb 9, 2023
Elections Committee – Complex Bill – Democrats NOT allowing bills due process Floor Speech - A COMPLEX BILL—Republicans SHUT DOWN & SILENCED during Committee meeting. HF 3, Feb 9, 2023
Rep Kresha, Education Committee – Cannabis NOT for our Kids – Schools should say NO to this Bill:
CANNABIS Bill. LISTEN to the PASSION & FIRE Rep. Kresha has on the Education Committee with HF 100
EXTREME LEGISLATIVE AGENDA MOVING FORWARD AT BREAKNECK PACE
I wanted to share with you some serious concerns that I have about the accelerated agenda that the Democrat majority has this year for Minnesota.
As a new state representative, I am innocently naïve to what a “normal year” would look like, but for my colleagues that have been serving for longer than I have, this has been a difficult situation to witness.
You would be thrilled, if you are an extreme far-left Democrat who wants to usher in a “new kind of Minnesota,” one that is fully embracing ideas of Socialism this year. We are witnessing bill after bill with ideas that rely heavily on government controlling your lives. These new laws are in the forms of mandates and regulations where the government has control and dictates to people what they can and cannot do.
My political philosophy is “less government and more freedom,” therefore, these types of political ideas that we are being proposed could not differ more from my own personal beliefs of trusting people and encouraging them to be productive in society through healthy competition.
THIS IS NOT HOW WE LEGISLATE
Allow me to give you some examples of my concerns. In the normal legislative process, a bill is introduced and works its way through committees. Amendments can be made to allow other opinions and ideas to be explored. Generally, the idea is to work together to find good ideas and remove bad ones before that bill gets to a final vote on the House floor.
That’s not occurring.
This year we are seeing speed, but also sloppiness. For example, if a bill has a financial impact on the State of Minnesota, the proposal has a fiscal note which tells lawmakers what that financial obligation is. In too many cases, that isn’t happening. As this is a budget year, it is unconscionable that we are voting on spending legislation without knowing the financial ramifications.
Most people I talk to really don’t want us to be extreme left or right, they just want safe communities, good jobs, and a quality education for our children. After listening to a whole campaign cycle that the Democrats proclaimed that the Republicans were “radical,” it’s hard for me to watch the forcefulness that they are pushing through their agenda without taking any common sense amendments that we have offered.
For example, the Democrats declined amendments on the energy bill that would have banned purchasing solar panels from countries who use child or slave labor. They also declined an amendment on the “drivers license for all” bill that required licenses of undocumented citizens to be marked differently. This would have eliminated confusion between a drivers’ license of someone who is a legal citizen and that of someone who is not.
Time and again, Democrats refuse to take any common sense ideas. Instead they cut corners and ram through their extreme agenda as fast as they can.
In the last two years, $80 billion in COVID funds were poured into our state. So, it should really be no surprise that Minnesota has a nearly $18 billion surplus. People should recognize that while we have a mammoth surplus today, we are running the risk of a serious deficit in the future if Democrats continue increasing the size of government and creating more mandates and regulations. Just something for you to contemplate as we race through this session and continue to legislate that government knows better than the people of Minnesota.
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