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State Representative Dean Urdahl
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4344
For more information contact: House GOP Communications 651-296-5520
NEWS COLUMN
DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME
By State Rep. Dean Urdahl
This is the part when things get really interesting at the Capitol.
The Legislature has spent the last three months drafting, hearing and debating bills. Now most of the work in committee rooms is complete and the focus will turn to the House and Senate chambers where bills will be presented in their final form. The constitutional deadline for adjournment is midnight, May 18.
Significant work remains between now and then, including erasing a $6.4 billion deficit. Here is the Catch-22: Deadline pressure often induces the passage of important bills, but hasty work can lead to ill-advised legislation and unintended consequences. That happened last year when an 11th-hour provision resulted in damaging changes to the Green Acres agricultural land program.
We must make job creation a top priority as we work to resolve our deficit, helping local businesses to grow and add to the workforce; that is the best way to not only get our economy on track, but to keep it chugging into the future.
One bill that I’m looking forward to hearing on the floor is the capital investment bill. The House “bonding” bill would provide nearly $30 million for road and transit repairs and improvement and $55 million for building upkeep at the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. The bill also contains $13 million for flood mitigation in the Red River valley. We may need to provide more money for flood mitigation through a recovery bill, but this is a start.
I may support a bill of that $200 million size because it funds a relatively narrow list of priority projects. The fine line we walk is between investing in our infrastructure without making it substantially more difficult to balance our budget.
The Senate’s bonding bill is $129 million larger, however, and includes funding museums and zoos. That where it starts to get dicey; it is one thing to take advantage of cheap credit to borrow for roads/bridges or education, but we have to stick with our priorities. Zoos, etc., usually are funded in larger bonding bills the Legislature authorizes in even-numbered years, or when we aren’t facing a historic deficit.
It is possible for Minnesota to live within its means to help us avoid the severe cuts some fear. We need to set good priorities and take advantage of the many good ideas for doing things better. One bill I drafted would provide local businesses with more employee flexibility in order to avoid layoffs.
I have gained valuable input from local citizens in the recently completed town hall meetings and regular day-to-day discussion throughout District 18B. I also continue to receive scores of e-mails, letters and phone calls from constituents each week. Please continue to stay in contact as we head down the home stretch of this legislative session.
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Dean Urdahl represents District 18B in the Minnesota House of Representatives. The district includes most of Meeker County and a portion of Wright County. This is Urdahl’s fourth term in the Legislature after being elected in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008.
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