State Representatives serve in the Minnesota House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the state legislature. They write and vote on legislation to create, repeal, or change state laws affecting many issues, like health care, the environment, and the economy. They also vote on state taxes and the state spending. A candidate forum for this race is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ECU2DBdvsc&list=PL8uLxKF-4-jKDjR2AUzLym9Cdc5c8ja9v&index=7&pp=iAQB. Another candidate forum for this race is available at https://youtu.be/cPv0oj8IgZ8More MN forums are available at https://www.lwvmn.org/2024-candidate-forums.
Contact Phone
5076012741
website
vote4hutch.com
My first priority is getting our rural communities the support and infrastructural funding they need. Public education and public services (firefighters, police & EMTs) are essential resources and should be funded as such. It takes over 30 minutes for ambulances to get to some homes in my district, far too long to wait in an emergency. Secondly I plan to build and support stronger communities with realistic paths to affordable housing and accessible home ownership. Homes in our communities should be owned by families, not hoarded as investment properties. Finally, every Minnesotan deserves clean water and nutritious food at reasonable prices. Affordable and accessible food security is a human right and part of how we make strong communities
Vibrant economies come from locally-owned farms and businesses, not big corporations. I will ensure our tax incentives and economic growth programs focus on helping family-run companies modernize and compete, while encouraging new small businesses to form. Our current inflation problem is greed-driven, not economic: most corporations are showing record profits even as consumer prices surge. We need to stop industry collusion on pricing and ensure our markets are open to new businesses and ideas.
I support programs and legislation to address economic disparities across all our communities, including historically-underrepresented racial and ethnic populations. I think it's more important to listen to the needs expressed by different communities instead of making assumptions based on what's been tried in the past. Our legislative programs should be based on economic factors, as equitable support means addressing the challenges of all groups to give everyone an equal opportunity to thrive.
Regulations are good for the environment and the economy. They create union jobs for current Minnesotans and secure a better and safer future for generations to come. Protecting the environment and building our middle class are mutually beneficial, not mutually exclusive. The industries polluting our communities complain about cost, but they continue to make billions of dollars in profits yearly. The true cost of climate change is our children’s health and future, and we can’t afford that price.
1) Continue my ongoing mission to downsize government and reduce taxes. Our government needs to learn to live within it's means. New and redundant government programs that employ countless employees are breaking the backs of hard working Minnesotans.
2) End the income tax on Social Security. Minnesota is one of the few states that still have this tax. It should have been fully eliminated in the last bienium, but it was another example of democrats breaking their promise to Minnesotans that they would end the tax if they were put in control.
3) Help our struggling agricultural economy by getting government out of their way so farmers have the freedom to farm.
In the 2023-2024 bienium, democrats had full control of our state government, (House of Representatives, Senate, and Governor's office). This full Democrat control resulted in Minnesotans being thrust into one of the poorest economies and highest rates of inflation that our state has ever faced. I will work to reverse those failed Democrat policies and regulations that have been crippling our economy and driving inflation sky high.
Focusing on "racial and ethnic disparities" as you are doing here, gives power to the issue. We need to be fair and equitable at every corner and to all people, and not focus on certain groups. Discrimination is not fixed by discriminating against a new and different group of people. I will support legislation that treats people equally and doesn't single out one particular group, to treat them differently than the population as a whole.
I believe in doing the right thing for our environment regardless of whether our climate is changing due to man made circumstances or not. In 2024 I introduced legislation that tied a $5 per acre tax credit to any acres a farmer had enrolled in the Ag Water Quality Certification program. This program protects groundwater from nitrates or any other pollution, and the program supports clean water in general. I worked across party lines on this bill, and I will do so again. This bill may not solve
