A look at the upcoming session

By: Senator John Jasinski

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I know Covid-19 disrupted the plans that many of you had in place, but however you celebrated, I hope you all have had a safe and healthy holiday season!

The new legislative session begins on January 5. It actually seems more like a continuation of the last session than anything else, since Gov. Walz has kept bringing us back to St. Paul every month to extend his emergency powers.

The two big items on the agenda will be balancing the state budget and our state’s response to Covid-19.

I have been perhaps the strongest advocate for Minnesota’s local businesses throughout the course of the pandemic. The governor’s decisions have repeatedly put many of them in serious jeopardy or out of business entirely. There are smarter, more tactical approaches that we can take without doing a wholesale shutdown of big sections of our economy. 

This is one reason why I have implored the governor to give up his emergency powers and work with the legislature in good faith on navigating this pandemic. We have to take the virus seriously, but we have to take the financial livelihood of Minnesota families seriously too. 

This is impacting our state’s budget too. We are projected to have a $1.27 billion deficit for the next budget cycle that begins in July. I will not support raising taxes to close this gap. Minnesotans are already struggling to get by; I won’t ask them to pay more. Government must tighten its belt to balance the budget.

California emissions standards will force clean cars on Minnesotans

Shortly before Christmas, we received news from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency that it intends to move forward with implementing California emissions standards for new vehicles in early 2021. Following a small number of public hearings, the rules could be adopted by the end of January, though they would not take effect for a couple of years.

This decision is just more craziness from Gov. Walz. As we’ve seen time and time again with his executive orders and emergency powers, he is trying to bypass the legislature and implement something incredibly controversial entirely on his own. These new emissions standards will be a disaster for Minnesotans, who will be the ones paying the price — especially blue-collar workers who depend on pickups for their livelihoods. These folks are already struggling economically. They just can’t afford what the governor is doing to them.

I strongly encourage everyone to call the governor’s office, call the Pollution Control Agency, call anyone you can think of in the governor’s office, and implore them to not go through with this.

As always, if you have any questions about any of the issues the legislature is working on, please feel free to contact me anytime at Sen.John.Jasinski@senate.mn. It is a privilege to serve as your state senator!