Legislative Update: June 28, 2024

Neighbors,

First, my thoughts are with those in our state and surrounding areas who have been experiencing flooding. As you travel the state this upcoming holiday week, make sure to be aware of any rising rivers, streams, or lakes. Before traveling, visitors should check out the DNR’s closures webpage for information on public lands, roads, trails, and waters. You can access individual state park and state forest pages via that webpage for visitor alerts on flooding impacts in specific locations.  Even if roads and trails are listed as open, visitors should proceed with caution as not all areas have been assessed, conditions can change rapidly and conditions might vary within a given area. Visitors are encouraged to report unsafe conditions to DNR staff to ensure dangerous areas are identified and closed as quickly as possible. You can read the full release from the DNR here. 

July 4th is almost here, and SLP’s excellent fireworks show will be on the 4th from 7-10:30 p.m. at Aquila Park. You can learn more here.

Another fantastic event was the Songkran festival, hosted on the Capitol lawn in late May and organized by Wat Promwachirayan (Wat Prom). They are located in St. Louis Park and are such a wonderful part of our community. Thanks to help from the Minnesota Asian and Pacific Caucus, I recently delivered a House Resolution honoring Songkran and the work of a key monk from Thailand who works with Wat Prom. 

Over 15,000 Minnesotans Registered to Vote Using Automatic Voter Registration

Last week, Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon announced in the first seven weeks of operation, more than fifteen-thousand Minnesotans successfully registered to vote through the new Automatic Voter Registration system. Also, 13,283 16-and 17-year-old Minnesotans had been pre-registered to vote through the new system (remember, 16-and 17-year old pre-registration was my bill in 2023!) 

Then-SLP high school senior Isaac, testifying in support of voter pre-registration in 2023

With Automatic Voter Registration, eligible Minnesotans who are applying for or renewing a state-issued ID will be registered to vote without needing to affirmatively “opt-in.” The system includes an intensive review process by state and local government officials to verify registrants' identity and residence and confirm their eligibility to vote.

I am proud of the work we accomplished to make our voting more accessible to more Minnesotans, knowing we are better when we all participate in our democracy.

In the Community Photos

From top left going clockwise:

• At our town hall with Sen Latz and Rep Youakim
• At St. Louis Park’s Juneteenth event 
• With the Twin Cities FM Amateur Radio Club who were participating in the nationwide American Radio Relay League Field Day event. 
• Read a book at SLP’s Pride Read-in event at the SLP Library

Budget Update

The Minnesota Management and Budget Office recently released the May Revenue Review, which shows net general fund revenues totaled $2.1 billion in May 2024, $304 million (16.7%) above forecast. Net receipts from all major tax types exceeded forecast. FY24 year-to-date receipts are now $26.8 billion, $561 million (2.1%) over forecast.

My Work Has Gotten Some Press & Recognition!

The new law I authored on Grid Enhancing Technologies is cited towards the end of this article about the benefits they can provide. These technologies can make a significant difference in lowering the cost of grid congestion and getting more renewables quickly onto the grid. And they are more widely used outside of the U.S.

And here’s an article that goes over my common sense legislation that can make it easier and less disruptive to build power transmission lines, by building them along highways.

I also was recognized as a 2024 Housing Leader by Housing First MN.

On the Road in Oregon!

Last week I was a keynote speaker at The Street Trust's Oregon Active Transportation Summit in Portland. I spoke about the great investments we made in 2023 in our MN transportation system and the unique climate-smart transportation I authored.

This experience taught me a lot, in addition to sharing our successes in Minnesota! I had an e-bike to get around, and saw some great stuff on several bike tours, including the Blumenauer bike bridge, Tilikum Crossing - a bridge only for bikes, peds, and transit, Bline Delivers zero emission delivery service, and the city of Portland's zero-emission delivery zone pilot project.

E-Bike Rebate Update 

The Minnesota Department of Revenue is continuing to work with their external technology providers to reopen applications for the e-Bike Rebate. As you might have heard, there was so much interest in the program that the electronic application crashed. Clearly there’s a lot of interest (which is a good thing), but it is really unfortunate that despite having stress tested the application, it still couldn’t support the load. We certainly have to think about the structure of future programs and whether they should be lottery-based vs first-come-first-served. Anyway, the Electric-Assisted Bicycle Rebate (e-Bike Rebate) is designed to reduce the cost for Minnesota residents to buy a new e-bike at eligible retailers, providing a discount of up to $1,500 on a qualifying e-bike. I encourage you to read the Department of Revenue’s update here, as the application process will re-open July 2 at 11:00 am.

Stay in Touch

If you have questions, ideas, or feedback that you’d like to share, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can email me at rep.larry.kraft@house.mn.gov or call (651) 296-7026. For more regular updates, you can subscribe to these legislative updates if you haven’t already, here, and you can also “like” and follow my official State Representative Facebook page.

Sincerely,

Larry Kraft

State Representative