Legislative Update
Dear friends and neighbors,
It has been a busy week here at the Capitol. Committees officially started on Monday and many of the House Republicans top bills have had hearings this week.
This week legislators focused on government accountability, tax relief, transportation, healthcare, education, and public safety.
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Committees advanced bills targeting waste and fraud, including House Files 2, 3, and 23, which strengthen reporting requirements and whistleblower protections.
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Tax relief remained a priority, with proposals to ease financial burdens on families, repeal delivery tax, and halt automatic gas tax increases.
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House File 10 sought to block illegal immigrants from accessing state-funded financial aid.
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Energy and higher education bills included repealing the state’s nuclear moratorium and restricting taxpayer-funded benefits for undocumented immigrants.
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Public safety and education were key topics, with House File 7 introducing 13 crime-reduction measures and House File 6 focusing on reducing mandates and raising education standards.
House Files 24 and 25 had hearings in the Health Finance and Policy committee. Rep. Zeleznikar’s HF 25 appropriates $4 million in funding to women’s pregnancy centers and maternity homes and will be amended to take that funding out of the existing budget for the Minnesota Department of Health.
Rep. Knudsen’s HF 24 is titled the “Born Alive Rollback,” which extends legal protections to infants who are born alive after an abortion procedure. This bill would require that doctors protect the lives of infants under these adverse circumstances in the same way that they protect infants born under normal conditions.
Click here to watch the video below to learn more about what has been happening at the Capitol this week!
Visitors
Thank you to everyone who visited this week. It was great to meet and hear what's important to you!
Wayne, Sean, and Dan visited the Capitol yesterday to discuss transportation funding in Ottertail County.
I visited with Farm Bureau members and we addressed agricultural issues that impact our area.
Visited with local Telecomm constituents, we discussed the peel back of regulations and permit reform to find ways to keep internet, cable, and other telecom services prices down.
I met with Scott Brantner (on the left) and Kent Quamme (on the right). They are staff members of Fergus Falls Minnesota State Community and Technical College.
I met with Rebecca Petersen from Fergus Falls who is with PBS and we visited about Minnesota public television and their various programming.
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