h the state of Minnesota, most recently as Legislative Auditor, James Nobles has announced his retirement, effective October 5. Senator Ann Rest (DFL-New Hope) released the following statement.
The women of the Senate DFL gathered today virtually to rally for Minnesota to finally pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The federal Equal Rights Amendment was originally written in 1923 and finally passed by Congress in 1972. Minnesota ratified the ERA one year later in 1973. After nearly 100 years, the ERA bill was passed in the Minnesota House in 2019, but did not make it past the Republican-controlled Senate.
Senator Ann Rest, DFL lead on the Taxes Committee and co-author of Senate File 263 (Bakk, I, Cook), successfully added a proposal to the bill in the Senate Tax Committee hearing that offers workers receiving unemployment compensation, tax relief at a total one time cost of $30-50 million for 2020. SF 263 conforms to the federal treatment of 2020 COVID-19-related loans to businesses that will not be taxable income to recipients and allows for deductions for various expenses with the nontaxable loans – just like the federal treatment.
On the Senate floor today, Senate Republicans passed a bill that will cut public safety budgets by penalizing communities that have Local Government Aid (LGA). The state distributes LGA to cities across Minnesota for general purposes, and it is used by cities to provide basic community services, such as public safety, fire and public works. It has also been used as a mechanism to offer cities property tax relief.
The State Government Finance and Policy and Elections Committee held a hearing Tuesday under the pretense of reviewing the security of Minnesota’s November Election. In response to the Republican effort to spread disinformation about the election, the DFL members of the committee released the following statement.
Senator Ann Rest (DFL-New Hope), the Senate DFL lead on the Taxes Committee, has been elected President of the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board. She will take office on January 21, 2021. “I have been a member of the executive… Read More »Senator Rest elected President of the Streamline Sales Tax Governing Board