Column: Rich Murray, My Point of View

When a state faces a multi-billion dollar projected budget deficit year after year, it’s clear that changes need to be made in the way its government operates. Following a projected $5.1 billion budget deficit this year, Republican leadership in the Legislature and Gov. Mark Dayton made the agreement to begin making Minnesota’s government more efficient by enacting a series of reforms in our compromise budget agreement.

Some are calling this government redesign package Reform 1.0, and, according to some estimates, $2.5 billion in spending has already been trimmed from our next budget thanks to these policies.

Reforming government was one of my top legislative priorities. As I’ve said often, the government of tomorrow must look different than the government of today, and last year’s work was a good first step toward shaping the government of tomorrow. But our work is not complete.

Reform 2.0 seeks to build off last session’s government redesign success. The goal of this effort is to hear from Minnesotans as to how they want to improve state government and deliver results for every dollar spent.

Minnesota will continue to face long-term structural imbalance if the state budget keeps growing faster than the economy. Our reform process seeks to change the discussion from “tax and spend” to “reform and improve.” The fiscal challenges facing our state and nation validate the need for proactive, outcome-based state solutions.

The reform agenda will seek ideas that promote opportunity and preserve individual responsibility through limiting government over-reach, improving the state’s business climate to help job growth, reducing meaningless mandates or mandates that overlap between state, local and federal governments, lowering taxes and reforming that state tax code and promoting government services that are effective and efficient.

That’s where you come in. Legislative leadership is traveling the state in order to listen to community leaders, government officials and everyday citizens and find out how they believe state government is acting inefficiently or in a fiscally irresponsible manner. The hope is to advance a reform-focused agenda at the start of next session and to continue making government more accountable and cost-effective. Several meetings have already been held across the state, and there are preliminary plans to hold a gathering in Albert Lea sometime in November.

Reform 2.0 is not just a Republican legislative agenda. It is Minnesota’s agenda. This reform proposal will engage all Minnesotans in a statewide discussion on how we can innovate and redesign state government, and I’m excited to be a part of this project.

But remember, you don’t need to attend a meeting to make your reform ideas known — I’m happy to hear them from you at any time! If you have thoughts on how to make government more efficient, please email your ideas to me at rep.rich.murray@house.mn, or call my office at 1-877-377-9441.

As always, thank you for giving me the privilege of representing your interests in the Minnesota House.

Have a question or concern? Constituents in District 27A including communities in Freeborn and Mower counties can write to me at 439 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55155. Or call me at 651-296-8216 or email me at rep.rich.murray@house.mn.

 

Rich Murray, R-Albert Lea, is the state representative for House District 27A.