WILLMAR -- Rep. Marty Seifert said he's optimistic about the tone and outcome of the 2007 Legislative session.
"I think it'll be productive," said Seifert during a brief stop in Willmar on Wednesday.
He predicts legislators will work together to end the session "on time and within the budget."
As the new House minority leader, Seifert, R-Marshall, will carry a considerable share of the responsibility for making sure goals are reached during the session, which begins Jan. 3.
As one of the few rural legislators in a leadership position, he will also carry considerable responsibility for representing the interests of western Minnesota.
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Seifert said he is nervous that districts that include towns like Willmar and Marshall will be left in the cold, especially when it comes to school equity and transportation funding.
Seifert said he does not support an increase in the gas tax. Considering the state's budget surplus, he said it doesn't make sense to increase taxes now.
He said property tax relief, education and health care reform are some "biggies" for the 2007 session. Those are the mainstream issues, he said, that are important to "the butcher, the baker the candlestick maker" that Republicans need to concentrate on representing.
He promotes using "zero-based budgeting" to set budgets for programs. The procedure includes examining each program from the bottom up, he said, and funding the "needs" and putting the "wants" on the table.
Seifert, who is a former high school social studies teacher and currently works as an admissions counselor at Southwest State University in Marshall, said K-12 education will likely get between $400 million and $800 million in new money.
If that happens, however, he said he'd like school to provide better quality education and more minutes of education each day. He was critical of school districts that dismiss students as early as 2:15 p.m.
He said he believes the days of bashing local governments is over and that legislators will restore some of the local government aid as part of the property tax reform. But if that happens, he said, he hopes local entities don't also increase taxes.
He praised Gov. Tim Pawlenty's recent plan to have 25 percent of Minnesota's electricity be derived from renewable resources by 2025.
