BY: SENATOR JOHN JASINSKI
Friends and neighbors,
The legislature is on break this week for Easter and Passover, so it is a good opportunity to provide an update on how things are going so far. When we reconvene, it will be a mad dash to the finish. We are required by the constitution to adjourn on May 18 this year, but we cannot pass bills on the final day.
It is always great to be away from the Capitol and back in our district, hearing what you need from us at the capitol. I represent you, so this feedback is the most important thing I can get.
What I consistently hear is that you want us focused on the issues that impact your day-to-day lives. You want us to get serious about the rampant fraud and protect your tax dollars. You want life to be more affordable, but instead state government has made it more expensive, more stressful, and more complicated.
Unfortunately, I don’t have much good news to report from the Senate on any of those issues. Democrats, who are in control of the Senate, seem to have a different set of priorities.
To begin with, we haven’t really done much in general. The Senate has only passed a few bills so far this year, and none were about stopping fraud or making life broadly more affordable for working people. One of the first bills we actually did pass was a Democrat proposal that would pay the overdue rent and utilities for people mostly in the metro. It was a $40 million bill that wouldn’t affect many of us here in Goodhue, Rice, Steele, and Waseca Counties. And as best we can tell, it isn’t moving in the House at all. So, was that really the best use of our time?
There are so many other issues we could have prioritized. One example: license tab fees. Yours were probably higher than you expected. Maybe even significantly higher. I’m hearing this everywhere, and there have been multiple news stories about sticker shock from sky high tab fees.
That’s because tab fees were part of the $10 billion in tax and fee increases Democrats passed when they had full control of government in 2023 and 2024.
I have a bill to undo those increases and go back to the old system. With so many people mad about unaffordable tab fees, you would think this would be a commonsense idea we could move quickly with bipartisan support.
Instead, I can’t even get a hearing for my bill.
Senate Republicans also have bills to provide property tax relief, tax relief for workers, for seniors, for people passing an inheritance to their kids and grandkids, and more. There are a lot of ideas to make life more affordable, but in the Senate, Democrats aren’t interested.
Fraud is the second big issue I hear about everywhere I go. After $9 billion or more has been stolen, we clearly need more accountability, verification, and consequences in place. However, we couldn’t even get Senate Democrats to commit to holding a hearing to confirm a new DHS Commissioner. The lack of willingness to even have the conversation is concerning, given where we’re at right now.
We’ve tried to offer amendments to strengthen guardrails and protections against fraud. As you can imagine, Democrats in the Senate have routinely rejected them.
I doubt you spend much time watching any legislative committees or press conferences. But if you did, the thing you’d hear most often from my friends on the other side of the aisle is blaming Washington for the challenges Minnesota is facing. When Democrats had full control of government, we warned their policies would make life much more expensive for Minnesotans. And here we are. Yet, there has been a stubborn refusal to acknowledge the clear impact their policies have had.
As always, it is an honor to serve you in the Senate. If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas, please feel free to share them any time. My email is sen.john.jasinski@mnsenate.gov.
Sincerely,