Thank you to student Brenden and Mr. Joriman for reaching out and the invitation to visit Friday last week...I very much enjoyed the questions and discussion! And, thank you to Principal Merfeld for the opportunity to shadow several weeks back during Principal for the Day!

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

While Work From Home (WFH) has become commonplace offered by employers across many industries, for those holding public office however, attempts at WFH is dereliction of duty. Despite this truth, Democrats in the MN House continue their “playing house.” Democrats are pretending they are fulfilling their role as legislators by working from home vs. actually showing up for work at the Capitol for which they were elected.

As we enter the fourth week of the legislative session, Democrats in the House have not set foot in the Capitol. At the same time Democrats are refusing to do their jobs, Democrats gleefully collect their paychecks costing almost $200,000 thus far. Correct, $200,000 in payroll for doing nothing!

When the legislative session began on January 14, the Senate was split 33-Republicans to 33-Democrats and a power-sharing agreement was agreed upon. The power-sharing agreement included Republicans and Democrats Co-Chairing each of the committees passing the gavel back and forth. Under this arrangement, I had the gavel and chaired the Housing Committee last week.

Among the bills I heard included:

• SF 558 (Lucero) – I chief authored this bill to address dangerous squatters illegally trespassing and unlawfully occupying a person's property. My proposal is patterned after a recently passed Florida law creating a streamlined process allowing the sheriff to remove such unauthorized persons without the owner have to spend weeks and thousands of dollars going to court to reclaim their home from criminals.
• SF 559 (Lucero) – In the 1900s, it was common practice for homeowners to add racial restrictive covenants to their home’s title with the intention of preventing the sale of their home to black persons and other minorities. Decades later, such racial restrictive covenants were deemed illegal to enforce. While not enforceable, the restrictive covenants still exist on home titles until removed and it is estimated more than 30,000 racial restrictive covenants still on home titles in MN. I chief authored this bill to prevent Counties from charging a recording fee to homeowners who are filing the paperwork to remove racial restrictive covenants from their home’s title.
• SF 536 (Lucero) – As the cost of housing continues to rise and the supply of homes continues to be well short of demand, there is no single factor directly responsible. Instead, rising costs are the result of multiple contributing factors, including rising cost of insurance, rising cost of property taxes, rising/high interest rates, rising cost of land, inflation, government imposed mandates/regulations/restrictions, and more. I chief authored this bill to exempt sales tax on construction materials for residential housing construction. For the new construction of a median home, this would result in an approximate $15,000 savings. No only would that result in an immediate savings to home buyers, but also a savings of approximately 35,474.16 due to not paying interest over the life of a 30-year mortgage, for a total savings of approximately 50,474.16! If my bill became law, new home construction would be incentivized helping tackle the supply shortage problem while saving Minnesota families tens-of-thousands of dollars in the process.

SF 560 (Lucero) is another bill I chief authored that was also heard in the Labor Committee last week. SF 560 seeks to make the building permit system in Minnesota cheaper, and more common sense. Presently, the cost of building permits is a function of the value of the work being performed. Because there is little correlation between the value of the work being performed and the effort by municipalities for plan review and inspections, I’m seeking to change the basis of the cost of building permits to a per trip model or even a per square-foot model.

It simply defies common sense a permit should cost more because the value of the work is higher. Two decks identical in size, framing, and construction have identical plan review and inspection efforts by a city. Yet, cities will charge a lower permit fee for the deck made of green-treated pine vs. the deck made of higher-grade composite material. This needs to change and is another of my efforts to reduce costs of construction toward making homeownership more affordable.

This week, Senate Republicans announced their policy targets for this session with the theme of Minnesota First. Our goal is to put a priority on policies that will support all Minnesotans. Democrats have increased the size of government, raised taxes, and put the state on a path of unsustainable spending that Minnesotans simply can’t afford. It’s time we put Minnesotans first by reining in wasteful spending and fraud, holding government accountable for results, and helping Minnesotans with the high costs of living. For my office specifically, this will be prioritizing affordable housing, lowering energy costs, and making sure our schools are given the flexibility to spend money the way they want. Another priority Republicans are focused on is securing legislative oversight on government spending to rein in waste, fraud, and abuse. Since Gov. Walz has taken office, more than half a billion dollars of taxpayer money have been wasted on scams. This needs to stop. Increasing taxes just to waste it on scams and fraud is something all Minnesotans are sick of!

One very important issue I’m continuing to fight for is more equal funding for schools in our community. This is an issue that I have spent years trying to rectify but have been stonewalled by the democrats. Click the graphic above to view my remarks in committee pertaining to the broken funding system in our state that negatively affect students in our community. A big THANK YOU to Superintendent Dr. Foucault for coming to the Capitol last week to testify in front of the Senate Education Finance Committee explaining how STMA is negatively impacted by the current funding formula.

Senator Lucero and Dr. Foucault Wednesday at the Capitol.

Sen. Lucero chairing the Senate Housing Committee Tuesday last week.

Each and every day I’m continuously humbled at the opportunity to represent and fight for the values and priorities of our great community!

Please contact me to share any issues, concerns, or feedback you have to assist me best represent you. The best way to reach me is by email at [email protected] or by phone at 651-296-5655.

Sincerely,

Eric Lucero

State Senator

District 30

Rockford Township, Hanover, Saint Michael, Albertville, Otsego, Elk River, Nowthen, Western Oak Grove 

Capitol Address

95 University Avenue W.
Minnesota Senate Bldg. 2413
St. Paul, MN 55155

651-296-5655

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