PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release Monday, July 17, 2008

Contact: Noel LaBine 763-477-3086

Legislative Update event held at Huikko's Bowling Center

The Wright County Economic Development Partnership had a Legislative Update at their monthly noon luncheon event on July 10 th at Huikko's in Buffalo . Presentations by area legislatures started at noon. Legislatures that presented include State Senator Amy Koch , State Senator Steve Dille , and also Carl Kuhl from Senator Norm Coleman's staff, and Deb Steiskal from congress woman's Michelle Bachman's office.

Senator Steve Dille , a legislature of 22 years, started by talking about the poverty committee that he is on. The goal of the committee is to eliminate poverty in Minnesota by 2020. One of the steps they have taken is to propose a 12 hour course for pre-marriage education. Incentives would encourage young couples to take this course. This program has been shown to reduce the divorce rate by 50% for those who have taken the course versus those that have not. Money becomes the biggest conflict among married couples and teaching people personal financial management is both part of the pre-marriage course and also has become part of the public high school social studies curriculum. Steve Dille also talked about the Transportation Funding Bill. He was one of the Republicans who voted to override Pawlenty's veto. Even with that tax increase, the total amount of unfunded highway maintenance is still $1.2 Billion during the next ten year period. Senator Dille is also on the Agriculture Committee and he took some time to distribute and talk about a study that he did to prove that livestock is good both for the land and for the economy of Minnesota .

Senator Amy Koch spoke next. She is the lead ranking Republican member on the Senate Economic Development Committee. Senator Koch talked about the Minnesota annual State Budget of $35 Billion. An anticipated shortfall in the next biennium has Senator Koch and other concerned citizens and legislators anxious about how that shortfall is going to be managed. According to law, Minnesota legislatures have to balance the budget. At the same time, legislators like Senator Koch would like to encourage business development in Minnesota . She believes some companies leave the state, because the corporate tax rate of 9.7% encourages them to move to states that have a lower tax rate. Other states use this as a marketing tool. For instance, there recently was a letter campaign from the Governor of Wisconsin to Chisago County businesses encouraging them to move to Wisconsin because their taxes are 50% less than Minnesota 's.

Car Kuhl commented on the economy. He mentioned the unemployment rate of 5.5% and the lower consumer confidence index, and the steps the Congress has taken to stimulate the economy. He talked about the foreclosure prevention housing refinance bill that is in Congress. Also, he talked about increased CDBG funding that would help cities handle vacant property problems. On the energy side of the economy, Kuhl talked about the outer continental shelf oil drilling as a solution of increased supply. Encouraging exploration in the Dakotas and Wyoming was also mentioned as was a more aggressive approach to increasing supply. Also the use of Nuclear energy and improvements in the technology was mentioned.

Deb Steiskal of Representative Michelle Bachmann's office apologized for the Reprentative's absence and she handed out some literature from the office.

During this event a collection of $318 was taken to support the local Buffalo Food Shelf.