my great Minneapolis State Rep sends out informative Email Newsletter.
I love these updates sent out by my Rep. It makes it easy to share with my co-workers who live in the suburbs of how bad their Reps are.
Jim Davnie (62A) - Email Newsletter
Dear Neighbors and Friends,
Around this time each year, legislators head home for a week in observance of the Easter and Passover holidays. Unfortunately, unlike other sessions, we are choosing to break despite having accomplished little this session.
Going into this session, democrats and republicans and the public appeared to be on the same page: the focus needed to be on getting Minnesotans back to work and securing economic stability for our state.
In an effort to hit the ground running, the DFL offered a comprehensive jobs package. Included in the package are initiatives that are targeted in their purpose and have been proven to work in our state and across the nation. These strategies incentivize the hiring of those hit hardest by the recession, allow Main Street businesses in Minnesota to compete with the new economy and ensure that the worker pushing the broom has the opportunity to become the one operating the machine.
Additionally, in recognition of skyrocketing property taxes caused by the elimination of the Market Value Homestead Credit, we introduced multiple bills to provide tax relief to middle class Minnesotans and seniors who were hit hard by these tax increases.
I’ve been disappointed that this session none of these bills have moved forward nor have alternatives been offered. Instead the majority have continued to stick up for special interests. A good example was the GOP tax bill. Not only did they choose against providing relief for homeowners who saw property tax increases, they asked renters to pay for a tax break for business by slashing the Renters’ Credit. In Minnesota, over 300,000 Minnesotans earning less than $55,000 per year will see a tax increase—nearly 87,000 of which are seniors or disabled renters.
This week saw the passage of the most significant bill this session, a constitutional amendment requiring voters provide a photo ID before voting, part of a national effort coordinated by the ALEC group. Yet again, Republicans said they would focus on jobs but instead focused on divisive constitutional amendments that will not create one job for any Minnesotans.
If passed in the fall Minnesota would be one of only two states who have put voter ID requirements into their constitution. The language of this amendment is the most extreme of any Voter ID language in the country and could threaten same-day registration, absentee balloting by mail, and overseas voting by military personnel — some of the very reasons why our state leads the nation in voter turnout. This amendment could keep hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Minnesotans from participating in their constitutional right to vote.
I supported an alternative that would provide the use of electronic poll books in polling places to verify a voter’s identity. The electronic poll book proposal is a byproduct of Governor Dayton’s bipartisan Election Integrity Task Force. Electronic poll books would link polling places to the state’s driver’s license database. If the voter’s photo is not in the database, for example, a college student without a driver’s license, a device would scan their student ID to enter them into the system. That same device could take photos of people who might not be in the system.
When we get back from break, we will have less than a month remaining in session. The clock is ticking to pass legislation that has a proven record of putting people back to work, to provide tax relief for homeowners, seniors, and small businesses, to move forward with legislation that will strengthen the backbone of our economy—the middle class.
This doesn’t have to be a do-nothing session. I can only hope that after the break Republicans will stop pushing their extreme partisan agenda that champions special interests and big business, and join us in working on behalf of all Minnesotans.
What issues would you like the Legislature to make a priority in the remaining weeks of session? I would love to hear from you.
It continues to be an honor representing you and our community.
Jim Davnie
State Representative, 62A
