DFL48 | Restoring Common Sense Minnesota Values

Feb/15

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Rep. Selcer Legislative Update 2-19-15

Posted by SD48 DFL Communications Team in Elected Officials & Candidates, Issues, News, Rep. Yvonne Selcer

Yvonne_SelcerDear Friends,
Minnesota’s economy continues to improve, and the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that for the sixth month in a row (December), the 16 county Twin Cities metro area has the lowest unemployment rate in the country for large metropolitan areas of at least 1 million people. We also received the best score in Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index for 2014. This is great news for our economy and Minnesota families and businesses.
As we know, a multi-modal system of transportation is a necessary component to keep our bustling economy moving forward.  Roads and bridges need to be repaired and expanded, our buses and their routes maximized, and light rail added to efficiently move workers and keep us competitive for millennials in this tight job market.
The TwinWest Chamber of Commerce is one of the many great partners I am working with to move forward my bill, H.F. 267, which provides bonding for the state’s remaining share of the funding to build the South West Light Rail.  The business community has been out front and center in promoting this important project which will enable employees to be efficiently transported to the thousands of new jobs projected to be created in our area.

I serve on both House E-12 education committees.  This week I was happy to have my bi-partisan bill, H.F.217, heard in the Education Innovation Policy Committee.  In keeping with the focus on providing high school students with post-secondary opportunities, this bill will open up College in the Schools World Language courses to those 9th and 10th graders that local school districts feel are ready for this challenge.  This will be very helpful to our immersion school students who are aging up into high school, as well as to our students from dual language homes who already have proficiency in a language other than English.
Rising college tuition continues to be a huge issue for students, and last week students from the u of M came to visit me and ask that we hold the line on college tuition for another two years.  I am co-authoring legislation to lower tuition costs for high achieving students, and welcome your ideas on other ways to reduce college costs.
Senator Bonoff and I continue to partner to ensure our students who study abroad are safe, and we are introducing legislation that will make even more information available to families and students as they plan their study abroad opportunities.  We are also working on legislation to provide easily accessible information on experience abroad programs for our K-12 students, as more school districts arrange for opportunities for our students to have these valuable global experiences in our increasingly inter-connected world
As some of you may have noticed in the news recently, there has been some fighting amongst our lawmakers at the Capitol. For my part, I will continue to work for a collegial atmosphere so we can continue to get things done for Minnesotans.
As always, thank you for the honor of being your voice in St. Paul. Please feel free to contact me at any time with your thoughts, views and questions.
Best,
Yvonne Selcer
State Representative

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