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State Representative Dean Urdahl
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4344
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Email update
Budget solution draws near
Dear Neighbor,
By now, you probably have heard there is a conditional budget agreement in place to end our state shutdown, erase our $5 billion shortfall and set spending for the next two years.
I am pleased it looks like we are heading in the right direction in ending this unnecessary shutdown, but many details of the budget are still unresolved and I am withholding any firm judgment until all the pieces are in place.
The keys to breaking the stalemate in negotiations came down to the governor relenting on his proposal to raise income taxes, while the Legislature conceded some initiatives regarding policy and reform. The General Fund spending agreement is for $34 billion, far less than the unaffordable $39 billion the state was set to spend if we did not act. It marks a 6-percent increase in General Fund spending from the previous biennium.
Work will continue throughout the weekend to put the final plan in place. I expect there will be components of the plan I do not agree with and citizens throughout the state probably will say the same. That is what happens when one party controls the Legislature and the other controls the governor's office. It was important for us to end this state shutdown and the only way we could reach an agreement was for both sides to make concessions.
The bottom line is we significantly lowered the trajectory of state spending growth and denied the governor's push to raise taxes that would have impacted us all. Some of the initiatives we sought will have to wait for another day but, again, I will get into those specifics once negotiations conclude and we have a final budget proposal in place.
Sincerely,
Dean
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