I attended the Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce's annual legislative kick-off breakfast this morning. All three legislators who represent Eden Prairie in the State Legislature – Rep. Erik Paulsen, Rep. Maria Ruud, and Sen. David Hann – were in present at the breakfast. They each gave a brief description of what they expected to see in the 2006 session and then stood for questions. Councilmember Brad Aho, Community Development Director Janet Jeremiah, and Economic Development Manager David Lindahl also attended the meeting on behalf of the city.
The audience was lighter than normal years because the event was competing with the annual Eden Prairie Prayer Breakfast. But the advantage of a smaller than usual audience is that we were able to go around the room and allow everyone in the audience to introduce themselves and say a few issues they were concerned about. The most common issue mentioned was healthcare.
The legislators all recognized that healthcare is going to be a major driving issue in the legislature, but a solution to the spiraling costs of healthcare is no where on the horizon. We can talk about adding more market pressure to healthcare providers or statutory reductions in the scope of government employee healthcare insurance plans, but neither of these ideas are the "silver bullet" needed to avert a healthcare finance crisis in the future.
Other topics we discussed included the upcoming referendum this fall to dedicate 100% of the sales tax revenues generated from the sale of vehicles to the Stat's transportation improvement fund; education finance; anticipated restrictions on the use of eminent domain by cities; and the larger role played by geography on party politics in Minnesota. The legislative session has started. I watch the direct coverage of the legislative almost everyday. It's interesting and impactful on city government operations.
