Thank Your Legislature
Be nice. Your legislator voted to help the arts! Please thank them.
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The Minnesota Senate Finance Committee has been meeting to consider a bill that would dedicate a small portion of sales tax receipts to the arts, culture, and outdoor heritage. Your legislator is an important member of this committee. One of the Senators on the committee attempted to add an amendment on Thursday that would have hurt the arts by reducing the funding dedicated to the arts and culture.
It would be very nice if you could send your legislator a brief thank you note for this good vote.
(If you don’t know which person is your legislator, just give us a call at 651-251-0868 and we’ll look it up for you).
The following Senators voted against the amendment A37, that would have shifted funds in the bill from the arts to other things. Their name is a direct link to their email at the capitol:
Senator RIchard Cohen (District 64-St. Paul)
Senator Linda Berglin (District 61-Minneapolis)
Senator Satveer Chaudhary (50-Fridley)
Senator Dennis Frederickson (21-New Ulm)
Senator Keith Langseth (9-Glyndon/Moorhead)
Senator Steve Murphy (28-Red Wing)
Senator Sandy Pappas (65-St. Paul)
Senator Jane Ranum (63-Minneapolis/Richfield/Bloomington)
Senator Dallas Sams (our bill’s author) (11-Staples)
Senator Wes Skoglund (62-Minneapolis)
Senator LeRoy Stumpf (1-Thief River Falls)
Senator Chuck Wiger (55-North St. Paul)
The bill has still not passed out of the committee because of a separate controversy (see yesterday’s arts alert), but we are optimistic that if that issue can be resolved, and your Senator stays with us, this bill will hopefully move forward some time next week.
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For more detailed information on the Arts and Culture Amendment, check out MCA’s Website. The Arts and Culture portion of the Heritage bill could restore the arts funding cut last year and lock it in for the next 25 years. It lets the voters next November decide on a constitutional amendment that dedicates a small portion of the sales tax to arts, culture, and the environment.
If the bill ever passes out of the Finance Committee it will most likely go to the Tax Committee, then the Rules Committee, and then the floor of the Senate. We’ll send out another arts alert whenever there is news. -Sheila Smith