2025 LEGISLATIVE PREVIEW
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Rep. Steve Jacob
DISTRICT 20B
What do you foresee as the most pressing issue impacting the Rochester area business community that can be addressed in the 2025 legislative session? Our business community needs tax relief. After baking the 18 billion dollar "surplus" into the recipe in 2023 and adding another ten billion dollars to the equation, our business community is at the end of its rope with what it can afford to pay our government. I have a proven track record of fighting to reign in government and defend our taxpayers. You can count on my votes to benefit the business community in 2025. Other top issues that need to be addressed are hiring difficulties and our regulatory environment. I will continue my mission to fight for regulatory relief. It breaks my heart to see our long standing businesses be forced into the hard choice of needing to consider moving their business outside of
Minnesota because of our very unfriendly regulations.
What are your expectations for the 2025 legislative session? Are there any proposed bills or potential legislation that the business community should be aware of? As a former ten year County Commissioner, I am always concerned about legislation that balances the state budget by passing unfunded mandates onto county or city governments. All to often, the state of Minnesota boasts about balancing its own budget while simultaneously passing along mandate after mandate to our schools, counties and cities. There are only ten states in the country that use counties to implement Health and Human services, and of course, Minnesota is one of them. When service demands are pushed over to local governments it ends up being paid for through property taxes. This most certainly affects businesses. I will keep a close eye on any methods that the state uses to shift tax responsibilities onto your property taxes and sound the alarm to prevent it from playing out. What are your top priorities for the 2025 legislative session? My overarching priorities are consistently to shrink government and reduce tax burdens. A legislator touches countless areas of government through the many votes they take, and through the thousands of bills that come through each year. As a fourth generation family farmer and small business owner, I am largely focused on both the Agriculture community and the regulatory arm of government. I have worked diligently across party lines to address the environmental concerns of the community while balancing the regulatory arm government to not be overbearing on Ag or businesses. I anticipate reintroducing my Ag Water Quality certification bill that ties a five dollar per acre tax credit to any acres that farmers in the high nitrate area of the state have enrolled in the Ag Water Quality Certification program. People can expect that I will continue to defend farmers and businesses from regulatory overreach and burdensome taxation.
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DECEMBER 2024 — ROCHESTER AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ADVANTAGE MAGAZINE | 15
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