Friends and neighbors,

This week, I presented a bill, SF 764, in the Senate Tax Committee to provide tax relief to the city of Buffalo’s new construction of a fire station. This bill provides retroactive, refundable sales tax exemption on materials and supplies used and the equipment incorporated into construction of a new fire station. This will allow the city of Buffalo to apply for a refund on the materials purchased between March 31, 2020 and November 1, 2021. The fire station is a necessity in our community, and I believe this is a reasonable amount of relief for some of our finest public servants.

Another bill, SF 1031, authored by me, was heard in the Transportation Committee this week, which was also focused on our firefighters. Chief Daryl “Taddy” Drusch, a 30-year veteran of Howard Lake Fire and Rescue, passed away suddenly last year; a loss that the entire community felt. In his honor, the committee passed SF 1031 to designate a segment of US Highway 12 in Howard Lake to be Chief Daryl “Taddy” Drusch Memorial Highway. As a man whose legacy will not be forgotten, this will take it a step further and he will be remembered every time we drive down that highway.

On Thursday, the Senate passed SF 2, a bill allowing individual school boards to decide which path to reopening is best for them. We know it is time for children to be back in school to catch up, socialize, and have a little sense of normalcy, but one person in St. Paul should not be the one making decisions for the whole state. We know our kids best, and we should be involved in the decision making.

As always, it is an honor to be your Senator and I encourage you to reach out to my office with any comments, questions, or concerns you may have. You can call my office at 651-296-5981 or email me at Sen.Bruce.Anderson@senate.mn.

Have a great week!

Sincerely,
Bruce