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Dear Granite City Neighbors,?

I know I say this a lot, but it?s been a busy week in the Minnesota House, maybe our busiest! We?re debating and voting on our supplemental budget bills, as well as some important stand-alone legislation.

The bulk of our committee work is now complete, meaning that most of the time is spent on the House floor - with debate going late into the night every day this week, and Friday wasn?t any different.?

Here?s an update on this week at the Capitol:

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*Our Capital Investment Bill*

As a member of the House Capital Investment Committee, I know that the legislation we work on there is uniquely different from other committees. The main difference is we?re not voting on multiple bills a year like other committees. Though we certainly hear multiple bills, our committee is only producing two pieces of legislation this year - a package that?ll invest millions of dollars in infrastructure projects throughout the state!

The process of funding these projects starts with what are essentially field trips all across Minnesota, where our committee gets to see the unique needs of communities up close. You might remember that I got to host committee members last fall to show off St. Cloud on a bus tour highlighting our local needs.






Bonding Tour

Last year, our committee delivered $7 million for renovations to the Great River Children?s Museum, $3.9 million to the City of St. Cloud for updates to the regional airport, $5 million for the CentraCare Health System Campus, and $7.5 million to Stearns County for town line road improvements.

This week, we unveiled our legislation for this year, which you can read more about here [ [link removed] ]. We?ve still got a lot more work to do on this in a short amount of time, but I?ll be fighting to the very end of session to bring home even more investments for St. Cloud!

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*Breaking Down Barriers to Higher Education*

On Friday, part of our time on the House Floor focused on debating our Higher Education Supplemental Budget Bill - a debate we'll finish next week. Last year, the Higher Education Committee, where I serve as Vice Chair, passed a record funding increase for Minnesota?s colleges and universities that froze tuition at Minnesota State for two years and provided free college to students with household income under $80,000, among other investments.?

This year, we?re building on that work and making college more accessible - for ALL students.






higher ed





Every student who wants a higher education should be able to access one, and that?s what our bill helps deliver this year. St. Cloud is home to and near so many varied, quality options for higher learning - it?s what first brought me to our community - and it?s only right that students from varied backgrounds should be able to attend them.?

Serving as Vice Chair, I?ve made it a priority to break down barriers to education, and I?m proud of the work we put forward this biennium for Minnesota?s students.

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*Improving K-12 Education & Teacher Pensions*

Keeping with the theme of education, we also passed our K-12 Supplemental Budget this week.?

As the father of two daughters in the St. Cloud school system, I?m incredibly proud of the proposals we passed in the House. Once again, we?re building on our historic investments from last year by adding $37 million in new Read Act funding. We?re also expanding Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten programs by 5,200 seats and establishing working groups to ensure that special education (legislation I authored!) and English learner funds are being used to their fullest potential.






K-12




You can read more about this bill here [ [link removed] ].?

In advance of our bill hearings this week, I participated in a town hall with local teachers in the Saint Cloud Education Association and Education Minnesota.

The stories I heard make clear that our state needs to do more to support our teachers and empower them with the tools and resources they need to educate our children. Every teacher in Minnesota deserves a safe work environment, a competitive wage, and a fair pension!






Teachers




The Legislative Commission on Pensions and Retirement, on which I serve, also passed our supplemental budget bill this week. This bill demonstrates our commitment to improving our educator pensions year after year, investing millions of new funding into teacher pensions.?

We can?t fix decades of underfunding overnight, but we can continue to improve the health of our pension system and improve the benefits offered to ensure that all public employees know we value their work.

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*?From the Capitol? Radio Interview*

I sat down with Kelly Cordes at WJON to discuss the 2024 Bonding Bill, the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Day at the Capitol and my work to support police officers, the K-12 Education bill, and the various resources for seniors passed by the legislature.?

You can catch our conversation here [ [link removed] ].?






From the Capitol





Tune in every week to hear us on WJON, Wednesdays at 10:40am.

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*Stay Connected*

Thank you for reading this week?s update! With so much work being done, this is just a small summary of everything that?s been done these last few days. If you?re interested, you can read these non-partisan summaries on our Legacy [ [link removed] ], Environment [ [link removed] ], Children & Families [ [link removed] ], and Transportation [ [link removed] ] bills!?

Always feel free to reach out with any questions, comments, or ideas you may have, especially with the brisk pace we?re currently setting. You can email me at [email protected] or give my office a call at 651-296-6612.

As always, you can also stay up to date by following my official Facebook page [ [link removed] ], subscribing to these regular email updates [ [link removed] ] if you haven?t already, and checking my legislative webpage [ [link removed] ] for the latest information from my office.

Have a stellar weekend!

Sincerely,?

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Rep. Dan Wolgamott

Speaker Pro Tempore

District 14B








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