Legislative Update: Lohmer on Health Exchange, Dayton's Revised Budget and Lower St. Croix Valley Fire Department

Editor’s Note: The following is a news release from Rep. Kathy Lohmer (R-Stillwater). Lohmer represents the Stillwater area in Minnesota House District 39B.

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Last week, the House took up final passage of the government healthcare exchange.

It came back to the House after the Senate had passed its own version and the proposal went to conference committee. If you can believe it, the bill that came back to the House was actually worse than what had passed the House initially.

The most glaring difference was that the bill no longer contained the provision that prohibited abortion coverage in the government exchange even though the House had passed that amendment with a strong bipartisan vote.

As I outlined in my previous update, I have deep concerns about the government exchange as it relates to healthcare choice, cost, and privacy. Healthcare is also a personal issue for me and I articulated what I fear about this legislation on the House floor last night. You can watch my speech here. You can also read my recent column on the government healthcare exchange here.

Dayton's Revised Budget Plan

We also learned about Governor Dayton’s revised budget plan.

His proposal includes raising taxes by $1.1 billion on the top 2 percent of earners, $30 million on snowbirds, and $317 million on cigarettes. On top of that, he is pushing a metro transit sales tax plan (which may increase from .25% to .5%).

While the governor dropped the business-to-business tax and the expanded sales tax proposal, I believe he should never have included it in his original budget plan. What kind of message does that send to our business community – especially the businesses in our area that are so close to the economic allure of Wisconsin?

I continue to oppose Governor Dayton’s all-tax approach to budgeting. His desire to tax what he considers to be “the wealthy” will hit Minnesota small businesses the hardest. We can’t afford more taxes and we certainly can’t afford to have any of our businesses leave the state.

Business Roundtable  

This week I had the pleasure of hosting a business roundtable with Senator Housley and Representative Dettmer.

Approximately 15 business owners from the district shared their thoughts, comments and concerns with issues before the legislature. I appreciated receiving their feedback and hope to continue to hear from business owners in our community as to how the legislature can do a better job finding ways to enact pro-growth policies.

Lower St. Croix Valley Fire Department

I’m pleased to report that after several years and much work on the part of many, we will have legislation drafted next week to get financial assistance for the Lower St. Croix Valley Fire Department.

The taxpayers of these communities have been forced to pay the costs associated with fire and rescue calls on the Interstate 94 corridor. This bill would permit the use of state highway funds to offset that cost to the community.