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© 2008 McFarlane Volunteer Committee |
July 23, 2008 Carol's 2008 Legislative Report is now available. Click here to download the PDF May 12, 2008
Greetings, This week there will be many policy and budget decisions to be made on the house floor. Today we have been taking votes on conference committee reports on a variety of omnibus bills and others. I am working hard to be informed to make the best decisions for our communities and the state. I anticipate a late night. Since my last update, the following happened: For the second year, I was appointed to the Higher Education Conference Committee. It has been a wonderful opportunity to learn the entire legislative process and participate in making a difference. Yesterday was a historic day. The State and Minnesota and White Bear Township celebrated their 150th Anniversaries. For both, it was the kick off for more celebrations through out the years. The Township had a great celebration at Polar Lakes Park. Go to the Township website @ www.ci.white-bear-township.mn.us/ to review the calendar of their sesquicentennial events. CONGRATULATIONS TO WHITE BEAR TOWNSHIP!!! On Saturday night I had the pleasure of being part of a delegation from Explore White Bear at the Governors Fishing Opener at Breezy Point. At the banquet, the announcement was made that the 2009 Governors Fishing Opener will be on White Bear Lake. This is the first time that a metropolitan lake will be host to this event. It is a great opportunity for the communities surrounding the lake to come together to showcase our area. Go to the following website to see the official announcement:
Watch for more information in the coming weeks of how to be involved. Upcoming events: On Thursday, May 15th, the Stan and Doris Hill Legacy Award will be awarded to Dr. Ted Blaesing. A public reception will take place at Century College at 7 p.m. in Room 1006, West Campus. Community members are invited to celebrate along with Ted, his family and friends. It will be hosted by the Century College Foundation, the Mahtomedi Area Educational Foundation and the White Bear Lake Area Educational Foundation. The award acknowledges a resident, living within the three educational communities, who has demonstrated an outstanding sense of service to his or her community. For more information, go to: http://www.century.edu/files/events/stan_hill_award.pdf The House K-12 Education Finance Committee will be having a hearing in White Bear Lake on June 10th, 7 p.m. at the Community Auditorium at Central Middle School. The agenda includes an update on K-12 Finance and presentation of HF4178 (Greiling) - Modifying the school finance system and creating a new education funding framework. This bill was the work of the Education Finance Reform Task Force. The public is encouraged to attend. I will try to keep you posted about legislative issues as the week goes on. Sincerely, Carol
Download and fill out a copy of Carol's 2008 Legislative Survey here
Download Carol's 2008 Bill Log here
April 28, 2008 Greetings, The pace has been fast and furious around the capitol this entire session. I continue to educate myself on issues that are pertinent to the citizens & businesses of 53B and the state. I have posted my legislative survey for those who did not receive the mailing to over 2,600 random households the end of March (see above, or click here). I hope you will print and return it to my office or fax to 651-296-3407. I have had a good return so far and will be sending the results out in the next couple of weeks. I do value the input from as many citizens as possible regarding issues facing the legislature. Meantime, here are just a few updates: While sometimes it appears to the public that the legislature is not getting anything done, I wanted you to see a log of the bills that the governor has signed this session (see above, or click here).
I was one of a dozen legislators invited to participate in a roundtable discussion with U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and others following a March 18th press conference in St. Paul with U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman and Gov. Tim Pawlenty regarding No Child Left Behind initiatives with U.S. Secretary of Education. I was honored to be included in the roundtable. In the $717 million dollar bonding bill signed into law, I had two bills (HF2756 & HF3182) that funded projects in 53B. Century College received $7.9 million to renovate space on the east and west campuses vacated by the move to the new Science Instruction and Learning Resource Center Building. Ramsey County received $745,000 for the Tamarack Nature Center (White Bear Township) to create an active, vital center that uses the arts, humanities and sciences to connect people and kids to nature. Last year I was appointed to the Task Force for School Finance Reform. On April 7th, I participated in press conference to present HF4178. The bill was introduced but will not go for a vote this session. The intent is to reform existing education funding system that has been around since the 1970s. This is just a start, the language and formula is far from the finished product and needs input from all stakeholders.
There will be hearings during the interim and into next session. This is going to involve an on-going effort that will most likely take two or three bienniums to implement. Whatever formula that does pass in the future, it must be sustainable, equitable, accountable and have true reform. I will continue to work on the task force to provide a quality education to our future workforce and invest in a fiscally responsible manner. The state budget deficit forecast is nearly $1 billion. Rising energy, gas & food prices, more home foreclosures, job loss and the generally slow economy have contributed and the state must balance their budget. There is still much work to be done and the solutions change daily. Sincerely, Carol
February 22, 2008
Friends- Hello again and welcome to the 2008 legislative session. It has started off at a fast pace. During the first week of session a bill passed allowing voters to determine whether we amend the state Constitution to support the outdoors, the arts and the environment. The House and Senate both passed the bill by wide bipartisan margins. The ballot in November will ask voters whether we should raise the sales tax by three-eighths of 1 percent and dedicate the money to the aforementioned causes for the next 25 years. Meantime, recent projection estimates well have a $373 million shortfall in the state budget and next week we will have the February forecast to give us an updated projection. Even though this is supposed to be a bonding year, it may have to be a year of budget adjustments. The legislature will need to make difficult financial decisions to address this. Core needs such as job creation, transportation and education are among our top priorities. The transportation bill that passed the House and Senate on Thursday was larger than what Governor Tim Pawlenty vetoed last spring. Now it goes to the governor. I cannot predict what will happen if he vetoes this bill. I remain optimistic we can get a workable transportation plan in place by the end of this session if the bill is vetoed. Its going to require both sides of the aisle and the Governor finding common ground. Above all, we need to be forward-thinking while remaining efficient and economically conscientious. Since were just getting back into the swing of session, I want to recap some things from the recent interim. Since ours is a part-time Legislature, I was able to attend some very valuable conferences during the non-session season. I went to six colleges in the metro area to talk with staff and students about their goals and needs. I also attended national conferences where I was able to see how Minnesota compares with other states in the areas of Education Finance. I also was appointed to the Education Finance Reform Task Force last fall. The task force was put into place as part of last sessions education bill. As a freshman legislator, I was the lone voting House Republican appointed by House Speaker Margaret Anderson-Kelliher to the nine-member group. In addition, I received a fellowship and was among 37 select lawmakers to complete a leadership training program as part of the Bowhay Institute for Legislative Leadership Development. It was a five-day seminar regarding leadership and a variety of public policy issues. I will continue to update you as things progress in St. Paul. Until then, please take care. Sincerely, Carol Please feel free to contact me any time!
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