State Representative
Kathy Tingelstad

HOUSE AND SENATE PASS BIPARTISAN BUDGET AGREEMENT

To the Editor:

After just four weeks of the 2002 Legislative Session, the House of Representatives and Senate have passed a joint bipartisan budget agreement that eliminates the state budget deficit without raising taxes, cutting our classroom funding, or harming our elderly citizens.

The House and Senate 2002 Omnibus Budget Reduction Bill, shaped with input from all four legislative caucuses, includes $360 million in spending cuts for the 2002-2003 biennium, $720 million for the 2004-2005 biennium, puts in place a freeze on state hiring and contracts, and prudently taps the state's reserve funds. Altogether, the plan would cut state spending over the next three-and-a-half years by more than $2.3 billion.

The plan, House File 351, also takes state government off of "auto pilot" by eliminating the automatic inflation adjustments that increase the size of the state budget significantly each year. This bipartisan accord eliminates those automatic inflation increases and adopts a more fiscally responsible way to run state government. It has the potential to save $1.1 billion in 2004-2005 alone.

Many people are concerned about the effect of the deficit on education. This bill only reduces the education budget by about one-tenth of one percent for this year, and two-tenths in 2003, with the majority of reductions from state bureaucracy in the Department of Children, Families and Learning. It does not reduce funding to K-12 classrooms, and in fact, the Anoka-Hennepin school district could actually see a revenue gain of $600,000, due to extension of the Career and Technical Program levy.

The House and Senate have worked quickly and cooperatively to develop a plan that serves the needs of Minnesota. The foundation of this bipartisan budget accord is responsibly controlling the growth and size of state government while protecting working Minnesotans and their values. This plan does just that: it reduces spending, taps state budget reserves, and cuts the state workforce to balance the budget without compromising local schools, nursing homes, the disabled, the working poor, or shifting the burden onto local property taxpayers.

We encourage our constituents to contact us with questions or concerns about the bipartisan budget agreement, and will keep you informed as the legislative session progresses.

Sincerely,

State Representative Jim Abeler State Representative Kathy Tingelstad

District 49-A District 50-B

581 State Office Building 507 State Office Building

St. Paul, MN 55155 St. Paul, MN 55155

(651) 296-1729 (651) 296-5369

rep.jim.abeler@house.leg.state.mn.us rep.kathy.tingelstad@house.leg.state.mn.us