Capitol Comments, by Shannon Savick

As we continue our quick pace in the House, we’ve made progress on some significant bills. In the past week or so, we’ve passed our supplemental budget, a second tax cut bill and two bills aimed at boosting the economy.

The supplemental budget contained several key provisions for the communities in our district. First, it funded a 5 percent rate increase for community and home-based long-term care workers. These are the workers who take care of our loved ones when they need it most. Many of them have gone years without pay increases. They likely deserve even more than what we’ve provided, but this is a good first step.

The second tax bill provided millions in tax relief for families and small businesses, but we really wanted to focus on our family farmers.

The bill will provide $18 million in property tax relief for more than 90,000 homesteaded farms around the state. For the average farmer, that will mean $460 in property tax relief. It’s money well spent to support the producers in our area.

Last week, we also passed two key bills to support our workers in Minnesota. The first bill addresses the significant pay gap that exists between workers in our economy. To help address that gap, the Women’s Economic Security Act invests in workforce development that can expand the number of women in high wage and nontraditional occupations.

It removes the cap on early learning scholarships to make it easier for parents to work outside the home and support their families. It requires equal pay for equal work as well as equal treatment, regardless of family caregiver status. More and more families are relying on women to serve as their primary bread winner. By ensuring more equal pay for all workers, we can help support the Minnesota families who rely on those wages.

The second bill will increase Minnesota’s current minimum wage of $6.15 and provide a pay increase for over 350,000 workers. The state’s minimum wage would increase gradually over several years before reaching $9.50 by 2016. Then, starting in 2018, the minimum wage will increase slightly with inflation each year. To address concerns raised by small businesses, we created a separate small business wage of $7.75 that will also be phased in by 2016. That lower wage will apply to workers younger who are 16 or 17, as well as for the first 90 days of work for those who are 18 and 19. Additionally, the yearly increases can be stopped at any time by the commissioner of Labor and Industry in the case of an economic downturn.

Our quick progress and efficient pace mean we only have a handful of key issues left to address this session. The most significant of those issues is the bonding bill that will fund local infrastructure projects like the cleanup of Fountain Lake and the completion of the Blazing Star Trail. I hope to see that bill passed in the next few weeks.

 

Shannon Savick, DFL-Wells, is the state representative for House District 27A.