Issues

Education
Health Care
Transportation
Environment
Public Safety
Meeting Local Needs
Property Tax Relief
Veterans

Education

Early Childhood

A member of the Early Childhood Education Caucus, Ron Latz will continue promoting immunizations, early diagnosis of disabilities, quality child care that stimulates early learning and classes teaching good parenting skills…all necessary to prevent costly problems while improving the quality of life for our children as they grow up.

K-12

Ron Latz believes well funded schools will ensure that our teachers have enough time to focus on reading, writing and arithmetic as well as: smaller class sizes, all-day kindergarten, languages, art and music.

Ron maintains we can demand accountability and results only if we provide the resources to make it possible. As a member of the Education Policy Committee, he is working on shaping our education system to produce the kind of world-class education our children deserve.

A member of the House Education Committee, Latz helped pass a landmark 8% increase in funding to St. Louis Park, Hopkins and Robbinsdale schools—a turnaround after three years of flat state funding and cuts to education. He will continue to work hard for our young citizens.

Rep. Latz also voted for the new teacher merit pay initiative. Hopkins and St. Louis Park will receive over $3 million in additional funding to promote accountability and excellence in teaching.

Higher Ed

As a member of the Higher Education Finance Committee, Ron Latz worked to make sure our higher education system generates a well-educated workforce to compete in today’s global economy.

Ron supported funding the new U of M medical research building and expansion of the Carlson School of Management. He also helped protect students’ financial aid availability this session by mitigating changes in loan co-signor eligibility.

As your Senator, Ron will work to keep the University of Minnesota and MNSCU vibrant and affordable for the citizens of this state.

Health Care

Ron Latz supports universal health care insurance coverage as well as using state purchasing power to lower the price of prescription drugs for seniors and others while expanding insurance coverage, extending health insurance to all children and fighting one of the top causes of preventable death—secondhand tobacco smoke.

	Latz was the lead House Democratic author of the “Freedom to Breathe Act” to extend the indoor smoking ban to all workplaces, including restaurants and bars. The bill would reduce health care costs and improve the health of workers and customers in indoor public areas. Ron will continue fighting in the Senate so that our children can grow up in a tobacco and smoke-free environment.
Photo credit- Harland Snodgrass

Ron also helped defeat initiatives in 2005 that would have reduced or eliminated health insurance coverage for 53,000 working Minnesotans.

Transportation

In 2005, Ron Latz supported a comprehensive transportation bill with a mix of transit and highway funding from a variety of sources. He was as disappointed as everyone else, that the Governor vetoed this bi-partisan bill that would have fixed our road and transit system.

Ron Latz is a consistent supporter of light rail transit, the North Star Commuter rail system and dedicated busways to broaden transportation choices into an integrated multi-modal system. As Senator he will continue advocating for a transportation plan that will accommodate metropolitan regional growth patterns, reduce gridlock and pollution and transport people efficiently.

To advance this goal, Latz supported Northstar Commuter Rail, the Central Corridor transit way and I-35W Bus Rapid Transit, which passed this year.

As a Representative, Ron Latz worked with Rep. Steve Simon to pressure the Department of Transportation to move up the start date of the Highway 100 reconstruction. A short-term solution on Hwy. 100 began construction this summer.

Environment

As Senator, Ron Latz will advocate that while we continue to cleanup contamination from industrial sites, we must move forward with reducing current causes of environmental pollution. That’s why he strongly supports cleaner alternative auto fuels, reducing phosphorous runoff into our lakes and streams, minimizing wetland destruction, promoting energy conservation and wind and solar power generation and protecting our non-game wildlife—all so that future generations can enjoy our natural resources.

Ron Latz also passed a bill in 2005, while in the house, to add up to $500,000 in private, voluntary funding for the state’s nongame wildlife fund. Tax preparers are now required to alert Minnesotans of the voluntary nongame wildlife check-off (look for the loon on your state tax form).

In our close-knit communities, noise pollution can also be a problem. Ron Latz sponsored a bill in this year’s bonding session that includes $700,000 to fund the construction of a railroad yard in Glencoe. The funding will move TC&W Railroad’s loud 24-hour switching and blocking operations in the South Oak Hill neighborhood out of St. Louis Park.

Public Safety

Starting August 1st, Minnesotans now have the right to freeze their credit reports, something residents of few other states can do. That means no one can get credit in your name unless you authorize the freeze to be lifted. Latz co-authored this bill. Latz also voted to prohibit businesses from using a customer’s social security number as the primary account identifier.
	Photo credit- Harland Snodgrass

Ron Latz introduced a bill to protect consumers from unfair gift card practices. Latz’s bill would eliminate gift card expiration dates and the hidden service fees that eat away at the value of a gift card or gift certificate.

Meeting Local Needs

In the final days of last session, Ron Latz got $25,000 in emergency funding for the Meadowbrook Collaborative to provide youth and family support services in Saint Louis Park. These services enhance the neighborhoods safety and well-being.

Property Tax Relief

As a Senator, Ron Latz will continue to fight for permanent property tax relief. Property taxes are skyrocketing, and state cuts to schools and local governments in 2003 that shifted costs onto property owners are partially to blame. Unfortunately, property tax relief plans failed this session.

Ron will continue to fight in the Senate for property tax relief. Ron believes the state budget shouldn’t be balanced on the backs of property owners when the tax burden is shifted from the many to the few with a “No New Tax” pledge.

Veterans

Ron has and will continue to work to build bi-partisan support for Minnesota’s top priorities. By working across the aisle, he helped change current law to provide survivor benefits to the widow of Dave Day, the St. Louis Park police officer and Minnesota National Guardsman killed in Iraq.