Friends and neighbors,
The 2023 legislative session wrapped up on Monday, May 22. The theme of this session was pretty simple: Democrats want more of your money. There is no end to their thirst for more of your money in their desire to completely remake our state to appease their hyper-partisan activist base and donors. The outcome of this session was great if you fit in one of those groups. If you are a taxpayer just trying to mind your own business and take care of your family, I’ve got some bad news.
This session we had a $19 billion surplus. One of their first acts was to immediately put some of that surplus, and all future surpluses, on autopilot by spending $1.5 billion for inflation.
That was just the start. Their budget spent virtually the entire surplus. You might see Democrats bragging about passing the largest tax cut ever, but the truth is that they actually raised taxes by $8.7 billion. They raised sales taxes. They raised gas taxes and license tab taxes. They raised boating licenses. They added a new delivery tax for purchases from places like Amazon.
Why did they raise all these taxes? To fuel their reckless, absurd, and irresponsible spending proposals. Democrats increased state government spending at a more explosive rate than we have ever seen. The last state budget was about $52.2 billion. The next one will be $71.5 billion. That is an increase of almost 40%!
When was the last time your household budget went up that much? When was the last time you got a 40% raise?
Ten years ago our state budget was $32.8 billion. In other words, the size of our government has doubled in one decade. Are you getting services that are twice as good as they were ten years ago? Are the schools twice as good? Are your roads twice as smooth? Are your neighborhoods twice as safe?
What’s going to happen with the next budget if Democrats do not have a huge surplus to spend? We are facing a fiscal cliff with all this spending, and Democrats are ready to drive us right over the edge.
The bottom line is this spending has to come from somewhere. That ‘somewhere’ will be your pocket.
Democrats are coming for your guns
When they don’t hold power, Democrats always assure us they are reasonable when it comes to gun control; that they won’t come after law-abiding gun owners.
After only one session, we already know that is not true.
One of the most talked about bills this session was the Democrats’ public safety bill that Gov. Walz sign was signed recently. I received many phone calls, emails, and letters from constituents about this bill, most opposing the changes to firearms laws. Red Flag law gun confiscation and so-called “universal background checks” are in this new legislation. If you hear anyone say these provisions will reduce crime, do not believe them. Because they won’t.
In my speech on the floor, I cited over a hundred years of crime data and restrictive gun laws, and the data is clear. After restricting guns, in every case, crime got worse, not better. The reason is simple: criminals do not follow the law. Law-abiding gun owners do, and restrictive laws are just more onerous for them.
There were many other gun control provisions that the Democrats did not achieve this year, like reducing the size of magazines, requiring guns to be completely disabled while in your home, with gun safe inspections by law enforcement, physical and mental tests for gun owners, and removing shall issue from carry permit laws.
Democrats will come back for all of these proposals will be back next year. You can count on it.
CONTACT ME
I love hearing your feedback! If you ever have any comments, questions, or concerns about what we are working on here at the Capitol, please do not hesitate to contact me. You can reach me by phone at 651-296-5612 or email me at sen.steve.drazkowski@senate.mn.
I also email a regular legislative update. If you’d like to sign up, please email me and I will put you on our list!
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It is a privilege to serve you.
Draz