Tag: Laurie Pryor

Rep. Laurie Pryor (48A) – Legislative Update

Dear Neighbors,

I hope you all had a relaxing Memorial Day weekend. We can be grateful for the opportunity to reflect on and recognize the sacrifices made by brave Americans in our military and enjoy the time with family and friends.

The 2017 Minnesota Legislative Session ended last week. Because a full 70% of the state budget had not been passed before the constitutional deadline of midnight Monday, Governor Dayton called for a special session to finish the remaining work. Now that the dust has largely settled, I’d like to point out some of the highlights as well as lowlights. Continue reading “Rep. Laurie Pryor Update: June 1, 2017”

Rep. Laurie Pryor (48A) – Legislative Update

Dear Neighbors,

We are currently in day four of what was to be a one day special session to finish work on the state budget. After a few “extra innings,” so to speak, it looks like we may conclude the session today.

Late Monday night a framework for an agreement was reached between Gov. Dayton and Republican legislative leaders, and a commitment was made to finish the work by 7:00 a.m. Wednesday morning. This was clearly overly optimistic as the health and human services bill was finally released just this afternoon. Monday night, the Tax and E-12 education bills were passed, yesterday we passed a transportation bill, and left on the to-do list are HHS, state government finance, and bonding bills. Continue reading “Rep. Laurie Pryor Update: May 25, 2017”

Rep. Laurie Pryor (48A) – Legislative Update

Dear Neighbors,

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit with some bright, engaging junior high students from Hopkins. It’s always encouraging to spend time with young people from our community and hear their ideas for good legislation while also sharing some of my experiences from the State Capitol.

If you plan to come by with a group taking a field trip or other visit to the Capitol, please let me know; I’d love to say hello. Continue reading “Rep. Laurie Pryor Update: May 19, 2017”

Rep. Laurie Pryor (48A) – Legislative Update

Dear Neighbors,

There are just 11 days remaining in the 2017 legislative session. At this time last year, I was not a member of the Legislature. I was simply someone watching the process from the outside. Frankly, I was alarmed at the gridlock and unwillingness to compromise. The stage was set for a frantic end to the session and the risk of not passing bonding, transportation, and other important bills. You may remember that this is exactly what happened when legislation, riddled with errors, was considered in the final minutes of the session without meaningful input from the public or even time to know what was in a bill before voting.

Based on events this week, I’m fearful that House Republicans are leading us down a similar path. Gov. Mark Dayton released his budget proposals earlier this year, and within the last months the Republicans in the House and Senate Majorities laid out theirs in a series of omnibus budget bills. Gov. Dayton and his commissioners have been reaching out to legislators to let them know his priorities as well as items to which he objects. Continue reading “Rep. Laurie Pryor Update: May 12, 2017”

Rep. Laurie Pryor (48A) – Legislative Update

Dear Neighbors,

With just over three weeks to go in the legislative session, the House/Senate conference committees are negotiating final budget bills and the clock is ticking. We all know some compromise is necessary to bridge the differences between competing interests. We also know that the final budget should reflect the values and priorities of this great state. I remain committed to passing a budget that takes care of critical needs such as a quality education for all our students, protection of our natural resources, effective tools to improve economic opportunity, and tax policies that are fair to everyone. The current omnibus bills passed by the Republican majority fall short of these goals. We have our work cut out for us between now and midnight May 22.

In addition to the important budget bills, I’d like to highlight the need to pass two other critical bills for this session: Continue reading “Rep. Laurie Pryor Update: April 27, 2017”