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State Representative Tina Liebling
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-0573
For more information contact: Michael Howard 651-296-8873
NEWS COLUMN
End of Year Letter
Dear Neighbors,
The controversial 2011 regular and special sessions ended in July. Minnesota’s budget was balanced, the government shutdown ended, and life returned to normal for most Minnesotans.
The political maneuvering reflected the deep divide that voters set up in November 2010 when they elected a DFL Governor and Republican majorities in the Minnesota House and Senate. Governor Mark Dayton pledged to balance Minnesota’s budget with a combination of cuts and tax increases. The tax increases he proposed would make Minnesota’s tax system fairer by asking high income earners to pay roughly the same percentage in taxes as other Minnesotans. On the other side, Republicans in the legislature insisted on spending “not a penny more" than what the state was expected to receive under current law. This resulted in a budget stalemate that was broken only after a painful 20-day state government shutdown and a budget compromise that both sides agreed to--even if they did not agree with it.
The Republican majorities agreed to the governor’s proposed $35.7 billion budget—$1.4 billion more than they wanted to spend—but only if the extra money would not come from raising taxes. Instead it will be borrowed: $780 million from holding back aid owed to schools and $640 million raised from the sale of state bonds. Instead of paying back the debt to school districts that accumulated during the Pawlenty “no new tax” years we are borrowing even more. Worse, for the first time in Minnesota’s history we are borrowing to support our operating budget. We have recently learned the true cost of this irresponsible budget: $640 million from bond sales will cost an additional $576 million by the time the debt is paid. I was surprised that Republicans proposed this because throughout the session they worried aloud about deficit spending in Washington, D.C. But in the end they preferred deficit spending in Minnesota over raising the taxes of the wealthiest Minnesota taxpayers.
As more Minnesotans need assistance with things like aging, job losses, disabilities, and rising education costs we can’t solve our long term budget problems with cuts alone. After the much-touted “reforms” of this session, financial experts still expect another shortfall for the 2014-2015 biennium of $1.3 billion--even if we don’t pay back the $2.2 billion borrowed from our school districts. Even if we raise taxes for the wealthiest taxpayers it will be a long time before we are back on solid footing.
While I could not support this fiscally irresponsible budget it is understandable that the Governor reluctantly accepted it to end the shutdown and get Minnesota running again. By standing strong against the Republican “all cuts” approach to the budget Governor Dayton prevented deeper cuts to special education and the state’s colleges and universities, maintained health insurance for 140,000 low-income Minnesotans, and retained services for the disabled and elderly.
Another bright spot was passage of a $500 million bonding bill that makes crucial investments in our public infrastructure. Although I was again disappointed that the Mayo Civic Center renovation was not included in the bill, the $500 million investment will help our sluggish economy by creating 14,000 jobs.
The state’s fiscal experts are now predicting an $876 million surplus by the end of this two-year budget cycle. Minnesota’s economy is improving faster than the rest of the nation and the budget numbers show it. The 2011 fiscal year ended with $563 on the bottom line. That budget was set in 2009, well before the last election, but a lot of the savings come from Governor Dayton's choice to expand Medicaid early, which Minnesota was permitted to do under the new health care law. The money saved carries forward and makes up about 2/3 of the projected surplus. If things stay on track we might be able to reverse some of the most painful budget cuts from the 2011 sessions and end this two-year cycle with money in the bank.
In good times or bad, there will always be things Minnesota cannot afford. We can’t afford to leave families in poverty without hope. We can’t afford to shortchange our students when they need a world-class education to complete in a rapidly changing economy. We can’t afford to let Minnesotans lose productivity and go bankrupt because they can’t pay for necessary health care. And we can’t afford to abandon disabled and aged Minnesotans when they need us the most. Most of all, we can’t afford to become a state and nation where a few are fabulously wealthy and the rest struggle just to get by.
I will continue working for a prosperous Minnesota where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. We must face our challenges head on, promote economic fairness, maintain a world class education system, and keep investing for the future.
In past years I mailed a list of outcomes from the session to constituents. This year I am saving paper and postage by posting a summary of the 2011 legislative sessions on my web site at: www.house.mn/30A. The list is long but it only covers some of the things that happened, so please contact me if you have questions about these or other issues. If you don’t have access to a computer I will be happy to mail you a paper copy.
Thank you for this opportunity to share my thoughts on the past legislative year. It is an honor and a privilege to serve you in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Warm regards and Happy Holidays,
News Items
- Rep. Tina Liebling Named Chair of House Health and Human Services Policy Committee - (Posted: 2012-11-16 00:00:00)
- Statement on DEED Bonding Project Announcement - (Posted: 2012-09-13 00:00:00)
- Local Legislators to Hold Town Hall Meeting - (Posted: 2012-07-19 00:00:00)
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