Responsible, Authentic, Common Sense Leadership

Fobbe concentrates on area needs in her first session

In 2009, newly-elected freshman senator Lisa Fobbe was the chief author of

23 bills, most of which had a direct connection with the people and communities

of Senate District 16. “Before the office phone was even hooked up, I began

hearing about issues and problems back home that needed to be attended to,”

said Fobbe.

Among the first problems to come across her desk was a serious property tax

problem agricultural land owners were having with changes in the “Green Acres”

program. Property owners were being hit with notices of sky-rocketing property

tax increases. Fobbe introduced legislation to correct the problem. “That became

my very first bill,” said Fobbe. “I tried to get it repealed outright, but there weren’t

enough votes to get that passed. But we were able to provide relief to most

people with a bipartisan bill that Governor Pawlenty was willing to sign.”

Other bills chief authored or co-authored by Fobbe this session include:

• Reducing home school mandatesPASSED
  

This legislation, which was incorporated into the Omnibus Education Bill, reduces

state reporting requirements on home school students related to school

attendance and other education records including testing, immunization records,

driver’s permits, and employment certificates.

• Rural Residential Speed LimitsPASSED
  

Minnesota’s statute books contained a confusing definition of a “rural residential

district within a city,” Speed limits are set at 55 mph in these areas by statute,

clearly too fast for areas where children, bicycles and pedestrians are sharing

the road in sizable numbers.

In other places, “rural residential districts” are defined as only occurring within townships, and speed limits were set at 30 mph. 

A public task force recommended that speed limits be set at 35 mph for rural residential districts.

• Replacing local bridgesPENDING
  

This bill calls for bonding authority to help communities replace deficient bridges. It is up for consideration for the 2010 bonding bill.

• Mortgage foreclosure scamsPASSED
  

There are non-profit groups with trained mortgage foreclosure prevention counselors who assist financially-strapped homeowners with strategies to make their payments and keep their homes. They don’t charge for their services.

But some scam artists masquerading as “foreclosure consultants” contact them and promise to solve their problems. They charge fees up front, and end up pocketing the money after doing little or nothing. 

Fobbe’s bill closed the legal loophole that allowed scammers to charge up-front fees. It was the only mortgage relief bill to be signed by Gov. Pawlenty.

• Banning predatory offenders from social networking sitesPASSED
  

Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and internet chat groups are growing in popularity with kids and adults. 

They are also havens for predatory sexual offender who misrepresent themselves and have lead to kidnappings and murders of unsuspecting users of these sites. 

A new law co-authored by Senator Fobbe prohibits sex offenders who are required to register in Minnesota from using these sites. It also allows the Department of Corrections to make unannounced searches of computers used by offenders placed on intensive supervised release.

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Lisa Fobbe, State Senate

Prepared and paid for by (Lisa) Fobbe for Senate 16, 29003 138th St NW, Zimmerman, MN 55398