Issues

Our Economy and Taxes

As an economist, I know how important sound fiscal and tax policies are to growing our economy and creating jobs. I have voted for fiscal responsibility and restraint, exactly as I indicated I would when I ran for office:

• I voted for property tax relief and a cap on property tax increases. The final 2008 DFL tax bill provides property tax relief through increases in Local Government Aid and direct relief through a greatly enhanced property tax refund program for those with high property taxes relative to income.
• I testified in the Tax Committee opposing Senate proposals to increase commercial and industrial property taxes.
• I opposed proposals to fund the Mall of America Phase II Expansion by increasing commercial and industrial, or general property, taxes in our District.
• I voted to close loop-holes that allow foreign operating corporations to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. This measure had bipartisan support and was signed into law by the Governor despite attacks.
• I will continue efforts to go after tax cheaters to collect the hundreds of millions of dollars due the state each year but not collected.

Business Growth and Job Creation

• I chief authored the top legislative priority of the Minnesota Business Partnership – a reformulation of the corporate income tax formula to make Minnesota more competitive relative to other states, to encourage businesses to locate and grow jobs here.
• I authored legislation providing research and development tax credits to small and large businesses, and to establish bioscience enterprise and nanotechnology development funds.
• I voted for long overdue comprehensive transportation funding to keep our businesses and economy moving.
• I support lowering or phasing out the Corporate Income Tax.
• I support comprehensive tax reform to improve our business climate and insure stable and adequate state revenues.

Fiscal Policy

• I will continue to reject the use of gimmicks, irresponsible borrowing, the ignoring of inflation and shifts to balance the state budget.
• I chief authored legislation to create a mechanism for automatically increasing our budget reserves in times of surplus, so that the state might better weather multi-billion dollar deficits during times of recession.

Heath Care

Over 1.1 million Minnesotans will spend 10 percent or more of their family income on health-care costs, despite more than 9 in 10 having coverage. We are fortunate that the vast majority of Minnesotans have some healthcare coverage, but it is taking an increasing share of the family, business and government budgets. We must do better. If we don't solve the problem of sky rocketing health-care costs, there will not be enough funds for our other personal needs, or to fund schools, transportation systems, and the protection of clean water.

I chief authored the 2007, and co-authored the 2008, healthcare reform proposals that were passed and signed into law. These reforms build on the strengths of our existing Minnesota healthcare system to:

• Begin to lower costs for the 93% of Minnesotans who have coverage.
• The reforms are estimated to reduce cost increases by 12 percent over the next five years.
• Provide coverage for more than 37,000 Minnesota kids without health insurance.
• Place greater emphasis on preventive and primary care.
• Promote electronic prescribing to reduce errors.
• Improve consumer access to price and quality information.
• Emphasize better management of chronic conditions to improve health and lower hospital admissions.
• Make insurance more affordable to small businesses and their employees by allowing pre-tax dollars to be used to pay for insurance.
• Initiate public health initiatives to reverse the obesity trend.

I also supported legislation to:

• Make healthcare insurance more affordable on the private market by reviewing all current and proposed state healthcare mandates.
• Provide for our seniors by providing funds for our local nursing homes.
• Waive certain healthcare premiums for military families and reduce costs for family farmers.
• Significantly reform and increase funds for mental health services.

I will continue to work to:

• Ensure all Minnesotans have access to affordable health care.
• Reward prevention and healthy lifestyles.
• Protect the relationship between patients and care providers.

Education

Educational excellence is a Minnesota tradition and essential to our future economic prosperity. I will continue to work to:

• Fix our out-dated and complicated state process to provide funding to our public schools. We must provide our schools a stable source of funding.
• Invest in early childhood education so that all children enter kindergarten with the necessary skills to learn.
• Control tuition costs at our state college and university system.

During the 2007-2008 sessions new money was provided our schools without driving up property taxes:

• In 2007, the legislature provided an 8% increase over two years, or $800 million in new money for our schools – without a tax increase. $330 million of this was to fill the gap created when the state had failed to adjust special education dollars for inflation, creating a "cross subsidy" from our school districts regular education dollars to mandated special education programs.
• In 2008, an additional one-time $51 per student was provided, distributed equally across the state.

During the 2009-2010 sessions, there were no direct cuts to the K12 funding formula, but the state borrowed from the school districts via a shift as part of the solution to fill a very large budget gap. In state statute, these funds must be repaid when the state experiences a budget surplus.

Transportation

One of the three main issues I ran on in 2006 included the need to adequately fund transportation. It is not only frustrating to be stuck in traffic jams, but it also costs us money and time with our families, and it hurts our businesses. Prior to 2008, key transportation revenues had not been re-adjusted for inflation since the transportation bill of 1988, twenty years ago. As a result, ten years ago, we started falling noticeably behind in construction and maintenance due to revenue constraints, and it reached near crisis proportions in the last five years, exemplified by funding and scheduling fiascos with the Wakota Bridge and the Crosstown interchange redesign.

After the 2007 attempt at a $1B/year Transportation Bill failed, the continuing neglect of transportation was brought glaringly into focus by the 35W bridge catastrophe. I voted for the 2008 Road and Bridge Safety Improvement Act to keep our business movng, and our families safe and home for dinner on time. This Bill, and the veto over-ride, had the support of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, county and city elected officials from the district, and both major metro daily newspapers.

The 2008 Road and Bridge Safety Improvement Act provides about 2/3rds of the $1billion per year shortfall the Governor, MnDOT leadership, and outside experts all claimed was necessary in fall of 2006. More recent estimates placed that shortfall as high as $1.7-2.2 billion per year, so the $660 million per year ($6.6B over 10 years) achieved by the 2008 bill was far from the profligate measure claimed by the bill's critics. The Governor's alternative transportation funding proposal offered $277 million per year, and it was all borrowed.

The 2008 Comprehensive Transportation Bill

• Erases deficits at MnDOT and accelerates construction.
• Reduces pressure on our property taxes by allocating more transportation money to Washington County and our cities. Woodbury alone has spent nearly $20 million in the past few years to build freeway interchanges funded by property taxes rather than waiting for MnDOT to fund them.
• Resurfaces and builds an extra lane on I-494 between Lake Road and 10th Street (north of I-94).
• Prioritizes fracture critical bridges and expedites the construction timeline of the new Stillwater bridge by 11 years.

Other local issues:

• I fully support the building of a new Stillwater bridge; I always have. I have met repeatedly with local officials and legislative colleagues to explore options for advancing the effort both at federal and state levels. I voted for, and the 2008 legislature passed, funding for the bridge. As a result the project is now scheduled to start in 2013, eleven years prior to the projected start time if we had not passed a comprehensive transportation funding package. MNDOT has stated publically and in briefing other legislators and me that the state can now build the bridge without federal dollars (although they still wish to seek federal dollars for non-bridge remediation projects related to the overall project).
• I will continue to do what I can from the state level to work on safety improvements along Hwy 5 both in the Old Village of Lake Elmo and near the high school.
• I will continue to work with local mayors, the county commissioners, legislative colleagues and the area business community to insure that the east metro is appropriately integrated into a regional multi-modal transit system. We all have the shared goal to make sure that our east metro communities receive their fair share of state and federal transportation and transit dollars.

Environment, Resources and Energy Policy

We live here, in Minnesota and in Washington County, for a reason – beautiful lakes, farm vistas, and abundant outdoor recreation. We must fight to keep these things we love. I have worked to:

Safeguard our drinking water

I chief or co-authored legislation:

• To speed up the process to determine whether our water was safe for drinking.
• To establish a state biomonitoring and health tracking programs so that we could more clearly understand the human impact of the pollution.
• To identify the effectiveness of point-of-use water filters.
• To clean-up the pollution which threatens drinking water in the east metro.

I Chief authored a statewide moratorium on siting new solid waste landfills until new siting rules, more protective of ground water, are established, and which explicitly prohibit the siting of landfills in areas sensitive to groundwater pollution.

I Chair the East Metro PFC Pollution Oversight Working Group that monitors MDH, the MPCA and the 3M Consent Agreement with MPCA to insure that legislative directives are followed and to track any emerging new developments related to these issues.

Adopting energy policies that stimulate economic development, create jobs and decrease pollution.

• I supported passage of a nation-leading renewable energy effort in Minnesota that promotes the use of alternative fuels and will reduce reliance on foreign oil.
• I voted to establish a loan program to support innovation in small-scale renewable energy projects.
• I support further exploration of cleaner nuclear power. I participated in 2008 Joint House Senate hearings on promising advances in nuclear energy technology, I voted to keep the issue of nuclear energy on the table for discussion while the issue of long-term waste storage is decided by supporting further study of the cost and environmental impacts relative to other available technologies.

Protecting wildlife habitat and sports recreation resources.

• I helped pass legislation that provides additional funds for clean water and habitat protection.
• After years of deadlock on this issue, and decades of still insufficient funds allocated for clean water protection, I voted to allow the citizens of Minnesota to decide whether to constitutionally dedicate a portion of the state sales tax to clean water protection, natural resources, parks and trails, and cultural legacy projects.

Public Safety

I believe that homeland security starts at home. I will continue to work to:

• Provide strong support for our "first responders", our local police and firefighters.
• Safeguard and enhance consumer protection laws, especially those having to do with insurance claims and water/mold intrusion.

During the 2007 legislative session, I voted to support successful legislation to:

• Fund more police and overtime.
• Establish new drug courts.
• Restore funding to battered women's shelters and sexual assault programs.
• Toughen penalties for internet sex solicitation, domestic violence and burglary.

I chief authored successful legislation to remove an undue burden on our local fire and police by exempting our emergency responders from having to acquire or pay for permits for emergency communications equipment.

Supporting Workers and their Families

Thousands of Minnesota families are struggling to make it on their own and get out of poverty. I will continue to work to:

• Support job training and education for dislocated workers.
• Support the right of workers to organize and to bargain collectively.

I supported successful legislation to:

• Enforce prevailing wage laws.
• Tighten independent contractor rules.
• Tighten building codes.

Veterans and Active Military

I will continue to join with my colleagues on a bi-partisan basis to give those who serve in the military the gratitude and support they deserve. Honoring Veterans and supporting their service in the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan are major accomplishments of the 2008 Legislative session. The sacrifices of today's veterans also prompted the legislature to remember the sacrifices of veterans in the past wars.

I voted to support successful final passage of several provisions to support the military:

• A new military service combat income tax credit.
• Income tax exemptions for National Guard training pay.
• Property tax relieve for disabled veterans.
• Expanded unpaid leave policies for military families.
• Expanded GI bill access to college.
• A new treatment program for traumatic brain injury.
• An advisory council for veterans health care issues and more.

I co-authored successful legislation to provide $500,000 to make improvements at the Washington County Disabled Veterans Rest Camp in at Big Marine Park. I heartily support our community-based, Washington County and local Beyond the Yellow Ribbon initiatives.

Social Issues

I believe that we have adequate laws in place regarding many of the social issues of the day. But you should know where I stand:

• I am pro-choice. I do not believe we should re-criminalize women and doctors. I would like to see all sides of this issue work together to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions in our state through education and improved economic and social support for women.
• I support parental notification for minors, with appropriate judicial bypass.
• I support the "Positive Alternatives" program to provide emotional and financial support to women choosing to give birth, and who might not have that support in the support they need in their own families or communities. This program was under threat from budget cuts; I and others fought to insure that the funding was restored, and it was. Our St. Croix Valley Life Center, in Stillwater, receives significant funding through this program, as do many other community organizations doing good work throughout our state.
• I will not support any change in the State Constitution to define marriage.
• I do not support the death penalty.

Immigration

• The federal government has failed to secure our borders and enforce current laws. It's time for Washington to pass reforms that include tough enforcement, tightened border security and a practical approach to earned citizenship.
• I support cracking down on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.
• I support requiring illegal immigrants to become legal and pay their fair share of taxes.
• I support voter ID.
• I voted to stop state funding of sanctuary cities.

Leadership

• Being a leader means being a good listener. I will hold regular community meetings and forums throughout my time in office, and be available to constituents by phone and e-mail.
• Being a legislator means more than being an "officeholder." It means being a community leader. It means engaging in a community dialogue and building consensus.
• A legislator must have the courage to do what he or she thinks is right – even in the face of opposition and pressure.
• A leader must also have the courage to consider the needs both of his or her constituents and the greater good.