Tomorrow, Feb. 18, I will be joining a town hall meeting on your 2nd Amendment rights. Democrats are looking to implement gun control policies this session, and we will discuss what you can do about this.

On Monday, Feb. 13, the Legislative Commission on Pensions and Retirement heard a bill I authored to protect the pensions of hardworking Minnesotans who carry out the essential work of state and local units of government.

This legislation, Senate File 1377, would reduce the investment return assumption from 7.5% to 7% for major statewide public pension plans.  Our state pension system's professional advisors are telling us that our 7.5% assumed rate of return is too high.  

While reducing the rate of return by 0.5% might not seem like a big deal, this change will re-calculate Minnesota’s pension liabilities by about $5.9 billion. If we don't make this change, we risk underfunding pension plans and short-changing public employees on promises made to them. This legislation will also help protect taxpayers from unexcepted liabilities.

Senate File 1377 was the first major bill heard during the 2023 legislative session by the Legislative Commission on Pensions and Retirement, and it has broad bipartisan support, with all four pension boards and professional advisors recommending the lower assumed rate of return. This legislation will now be considered as part of a larger pensions package to be introduced later in session.

Recently, we have seen a huge push for bonding by Democrats, which started in the House and is now beginning to hit Senate committees. A bonding bill, sometimes referred to as a capital investment bill, is a package of state agency and local infrastructure projects that lawmakers approve to fund, at least partially, with state dollars. However, before the state can consider a huge borrowing bill, I strongly believe that we must first have a concrete tax relief plan in place.

Minnesotans continue to struggle with rising inflation that affects all parts of a family’s budget, and the historic surplus signals that our state asks far too much from taxpayers. Therefore, it is vital to provide real and enduring tax relief before we look to spend new dollars. And I strongly believe that an important component of this should be finally ending Minnesota’s burdensome tax on Social Security income.

Though the Democrats are looking to fast-track a bonding bill, there is still much work to be done on the actual bonding projects. Therefore, my fellow Senate Republicans and I will continue to collect our districts’ local projects to keep moving the bonding bill forward. However, at the same time, we want to see tangible tax relief proposals and ideas advance through the Minnesota Legislature. 

The photo below is from the Dairy Day at the Capitol with Minnesota Milk.  The Mursu family, from Otter Tail County, was named the Minnesota Dairy Producers of the Year.  Thank you for visiting me in St. Paul, and congratulations on this outstanding achievement!

As always, I encourage constituents to contact and visit my office.  It is always a pleasure to welcome constituents from the Senate District 9. 

With Gratitude,

Senator Jordan Rasmusson

District 9