2005-2006 Accomplishments

TRANSPORTATION

• Approved a transportation plan that allows voters to decide if all of the revenues from the existing tax on the sale of new and used motor vehicles are dedicated to highways and transit
• Provided $121 million in local roads and bridges funding

BONDING

• The legislature this year passed a nearly $1 billion bonding package, which included funding for the following local projects:
• $3.3 million for the I-35W bus way
• $5 million for the Cedar Avenue bus way
• $6 million for the Empire Wetlands Wildlife Area and Regional Park
• Plus, $121 million for local roads & bridges funding

EDUCATION K-12

• Minnesota’s K-12 schools received a substantial boost in funding for the 2006-07 biennium. Overall, lawmakers approved more than $800 million in new spending in a $12.8 billion K-12 education bill. The bulk of the new money goes to the basic per pupil formula, increasing school funding by 8 percent over the two-year period. The increase represents the second largest percentage increase on the basic formula in more than two decades
• Authored bill prohibiting political or referendum campaigning on school grounds during the school year

PRIVACY

• Mary Liz worked hard during the 2006 legislative session to limit access to social security numbers, enact penalties for disclosure of cell phone records, and limit driver’s license data disclosure. Additionally, Mary Liz worked to provide informed consent for new parents when providing blood samples to the state for testing and research purposes.

EMINENT DOMAIN

• In response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision affirming the right of government to take private property and give it to other private entities for commercial use, eminent domain legislation was signed by the governor that allows Minnesota property owners to protect their land and homes from government takings and affording citizens more protections in law than they had before.

TAXPAYERS

• Defeated all attempts to raise income, corporate and commercial industrial property taxes
• Provided $50 million in relief to married couples by aligning state married- filing-jointly status with federal law

FAMILIES

• Worked to restore funding for Early Childhood and Family Education (ECFE), resulting in an increase of $2.7 million in new funding, about $112 per child

PUBLIC SAFETY

• Established life without release for the worst of the worst sex offenders
• Strengthened penalties for the production, sale and use of meth
• Required products with pseudoephedrine be sold from behind the counter

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