Representative-elect eager to get busy
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I would like to thank the people of Montana House District 11 for giving me the opportunity to be your representative during the next two years. I am looking forward to working with other members of the Montana House and Senate on improving our great state. My committee assignments for the 2013 legislative session will be agriculture, education and state administration. Agriculture and education are self-explanatory. However, many of you are probably asking what state administration is. The State Administration Committee deals with elections, public employee retirement and state government matters. One of the most important issues that we will be dealing with during the 2013 session will be fixing the approximately $3 billion deficit in our public employee pension plans. Just like our Social Security system, our public employee pension plans have many workers at or near retirement age, and the current funding of the system is not sustainable. We must address these issues if we are going to make sure that we can continue to meet our promises and commitments to current and future retirees.
Agriculture is the backbone of Montana’s economy. We need to make sure that we help our agricultural industries continue to grow and prosper. We also need to work on getting more of our locally produced agricultural products into the hands of local consumers. The water compact agreement with the CSKT will also be a major topic during the next session. This agreement will be with us for many generations to come so we need to properly review this agreement in its entirety to make sure all users of our water are properly protected.
Education of our youth and the retraining of our work force is always one of the most important issues facing our state. I am honored to be serving on the education committee.
We need to make sure that we are adequately funding our schools, along with making sure that we are providing our students with the necessary resources and instruction to make sure of their success in the future. Local control of our schools needs to be strengthened as making decisions at the local level results in the best choices.
Again, thank you for your vote and support. If you have any concerns or would like to contact me, you can always call or text me at (406) 253-9505. You can also email me at greghertz11@gmail.com.
