Dear Friends,

The 2024 legislative session kicked off today and I am excited to be back in St. Paul standing up for our community! Please join me Tomorrow Night for a Townhall at the American Legion in Forest Lake. A social hour begins at 5:30pm prior to the forum starting at 6pm. You can register and learn more here. I look forward to seeing you there and listening to your policy ideas.

There is a lot of work that needs to be done in the months ahead. Remember, last session Democrats spent a historic $17.5 billion surplus and raised taxes by $10 billion to expand government by 40%. Family budgets are being stretched thin by higher prices for gas, groceries, and energy bills, but they received no permanent, meaningful tax relief to help them cope. Now, because of Democrat?s out-of-control spending spree, Minnesota is facing a looming budget deficit. We need to rein in spending and support family budgets this session so all Minnesotans can thrive.

We must work quickly at the beginning of session to address two major issues. As a member of the Tax committee, we had our first hearing today on the 2023 Tax Bill Technical Corrections Bill. Over the summer, an error in last year?s tax bill was discovered. If we do not fix this problem, 76% of Minnesota taxpayers will face a higher tax bill than necessary. Thankfully, this bill is moving quickly through the committee process.

The other problem we must address is returning all student resource officers (SROs) to schools. Over the summer, many schools across Minnesota lost their SROs because of changes Democrats made to the student disciplinary policy last session. The SRO issue is not resolved until 100% of them are back in schools. We need to fix this issue now so students and teachers can have the sense of security they deserve at school.

I will be sending regular updates during session to keep you informed of what?s happening at the Capitol. This should be a shorter session but there are many issues being pushed by the majority party which have serious ramifications on all Minnesotans.?