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State Representative Patti Fritz
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-8237
For more information contact: Sandy Connolly 651-296-8877
NEWS COLUMN
Budget bill includes key public safety components
Last week, the House passed its Deficiency and Supplemental Budget Bill with broad bipartisan support. Even though this is not a budget year, there is a modest budget surplus that can be spent on a variety of issues. I have some concerns about the spending choices that were made for this surplus; no funding was included for K-12 education, health care or transportation. The bill does include $5 million for higher education, but unfortunately, all of that money is going for the expansion of the University of Minnesota in Rochester.
Over the past three years, base funding to schools in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system has been cut. In addition, the formula that links funding to enrollment increases was repealed, offering no new money to schools when more students enroll. These changes have led to double-digit tuition increases and record high debt, as well as having the very real effect of putting higher education out of the reach of many students all together.
The MnSCU school in our district, South Central Technical College, saw a tuition increase in 2002 of 7.14%, followed by an 11 % increase in '03, 13.2% in '04 and 13% in '05. SCTC could certainly have benefited from some additional funding this year.
Despite this, I voted for the budget bill because it does have some good components. In response to the growing concern in our state about tracking and treating sexual predators so they are not able to re-offend, almost $40 million is appropriated to expand the capacity of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program. This new funding will enable the program to serve an additional 138 individuals who are expected to be committed to the program over the next four years.
The bill also includes $31 million to expand the capacity of the Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter. This expansion will serve mentally ill and dangerous individuals over the next four years. Both of these funding proposals address a critical public safety issue and I'm very pleased they were included.
Another good piece of the bill was the additional $6 million given to state Veterans' Homes for their operating expenses. A recent report indicated that these homes are struggling to meet expenses and without additional funding, two of the homes may have to be closed; this additional $6 million should prevent that.
There is also $1 million per year over the next three years to help the state prepare for a bird flu pandemic. Most experts do not believe this funding is adequate to truly prepare our state if a pandemic were to hit. On the other hand, it is good that the issue is not being ignored and some funding is being allocated.
This bill will now go to Conference Committee to be reconciled with the Senate bill.
If you have questions or feedback about any of these issues, please feel free to contact me. You can call me at 1-800-292-0012, write to me at 239 State Office Building, St. Paul, MN 55155 or email me at rep.patti.fritz@house.mn.
News Items
- STATE REP. PATTI FRITZ PARTICIPATES IN START OF LEGISLATIVE SESSION - (Posted: Jan 9 2013 3:32PM)
- Rep. Fritz: Homeowners, Farmers Need Property Tax Relief - (Posted: 2012-05-01 00:00:00)
- Rep. Fritz: Let’s Vote on a Bonding Bill that Benefits All - (Posted: 2012-04-19 00:00:00)
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