By Sen. Grant Hauschild (SD3, DFL-Hermantown)

When I decided to run for the State Senate, my primary goal was to deliver for the Northland. With the close of the 2023 Legislative Session, I can say without a doubt that we have delivered at historic levels for families, communities, and seniors across northeastern Minnesota.

Let’s start with tax relief. I had the opportunity to serve on the Senate Tax Committee and Tax Conference Committee, which gave me a unique opportunity to fight for targeted relief for our youngest, wisest, and families in-between. The Child Tax Credit I advocated for will provide families with up to $12,000 per year in tax credits to help afford the rising costs of raising a child. It is estimated by experts to reduce child poverty in Minnesota by 33 percent! We know that reducing childhood poverty has enormous societal benefits beyond the moral imperative of protecting our most vulnerable including reducing crime, improving our workforce long term, and more.

Many politicians have promised Social Security Tax Relief over the last decade or more, but this is the first time we are truly providing substantial relief to a vast majority of Minnesota retirees. Over 85 percent of Minnesota seniors will see Social Security tax relief this year, protecting seniors who need it. While I strongly support the full elimination of the tax on social security, and voted to do so, I am proud we are finally taking a huge step in the right direction getting relief for a vast majority of retirees.

Throughout my time traveling the Northland, I have heard time and again the concerns about rising property valuations and unsustainable property tax increases. That is why I fought to include much-needed direct property tax relief for Minnesotans in the Tax Bill. In addition, the Local Government Aid, County Program Aid, and payments for county-owned public land we secured will relieve our local governments from needing to raise their levies to cover their costs. Instead, unprecedented state funding will provide those needed resources and provide property tax relief to local Northland residents.

Keeping our communities strong and safe is a value we all hold and the best way we can do that is by supporting local schools, public safety, and critical infrastructure in our communities.

This session we provided historic funding for our K-12 schools with a $2.2 billion increase in the per-student funding formula, special education gap, and transportation sparsity aid for our rural schools across the Northland. I also secured critical funding for local school construction projects for Northland schools from the Lake Superior School District and Northland Learning Center to the Ely and St. Louis County Schools #2142 North Woods Campus. This funding will not only ensure we continue to provide the high-quality education we have always cherished in the Northland, but it will also guarantee critical school construction projects can move forward.

In addition to school funding, I prioritized the largest single investment in public safety, police, and first responders we’ve ever had in our State. In the Tax Bill, we approved $300 million in public safety money to every single community across the State of Minnesota, which equates to hundreds of thousands of dollars for individual communities and counties in northeast Minnesota. This funding can be used to purchase things like a new ambulance, police equipment, public safety training, and hiring much-needed personnel. The only way we keep our communities safe is by investing in public safety and we put our money where our mouths are this legislative session.

It has been three years since the State of Minnesota passed an infrastructure bill due to partisan gamesmanship at the capitol. Luckily, this session we finally secured a last-minute grand deal to invest in the largest infrastructure package in state history at $2.3 billion. Projects from wastewater in Rice Lake and Babbitt; community recreation facilities in Big Fork, International Falls, Hoyt Lakes, and Hermantown; trails along the Northshore and on the Iron Range; boat landings in Rainier and Crane Lake; and funding for campus renovations at Minnesota North College – Vermilion in Ely. In our District alone, I secured over $40 million in investments that will help improve the quality of life for our citizens without increasing their local property taxes. As part of this grand deal, we also secured over $300 million for our struggling nursing homes, which will go a long way in supporting our rural long-term care facilities here in the Northland.

I’m proud of the record investments we’ve secured for the Northland this session. When I announced my run, I pledged to stay out of the nonsense and just deliver for our communities. That is exactly what you can continue to expect from me as your State Senator. It is the honor of the lifetime serving the Northland. If you would like to contact my office, please reach out to me at Sen.Grant.Hauschild@Senate.mn.

Grant Hauschild is the DFL State Senator from Minnesota District 3 – Hermantown.