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State Representative Bob Dettmer
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4124
For more information contact: House GOP Communications 651-296-5520
GUEST COLUMN
The 2010 Legislative Session: Halfway Home
By Bob Dettmer
State Representative
District 52A
The Minnesota State Legislature reconvened on April 6 after a weeklong Easter/Passover recess. The break roughly marks the midpoint of the 2010 session. As we head into this session’s home stretch, it is a good time to take a look back at what we have been working on so far.
By far the biggest issue of the session has been balancing the $1 billion budget deficit. House leadership put forward part one of a three part plan to balance the budget. The bill passed and reduced the deficit by $312 million but budget proposals for HHS and K-12 education (the areas that account for 70 percent of spending) are still to come.
I had to vote against the bill because I disagree with the piecemeal approach to balancing the budget. I believe, by taking this approach, we could be forced to choose between a dramatic tax increase or funding cuts to our schools. This does not need to be the case. Also, leadership’s proposal fails to address the additional $2.7 billion that will be added to the deficit if their lawsuit to overturn the unallotments Gov. Pawlenty used to balance the budget last year is successful. If the majority is willing to use taxpayer dollars to fund a suit that could add another nearly $3 billion to the deficit, they should account for it in a budget proposal. I firmly believe balancing the budget is the highest priority of the session, but we need a complete solution.
The House passed a $1 billion bonding bill earlier in the session. I voted against it because it was far too large when we have a billion-dollar deficit and focuses on wants rather than state-wide needs. Fortunately, Gov. Pawlenty line-item vetoed the bill down to $680 million. I wish he would have gone further but much of the community-specific pork has been removed.
The majority argues a bonding bill will create jobs for Minnesotans, but borrowing huge sums of money to create short-term government jobs is not the right approach. We need to enact long-term reform to promote private-sector job growth. On April 1, Gov. Pawlenty signed a bill that will do just that. The Omnibus jobs bill creates a 25 percent Angel Investor tax credit to encourage investment in area start-up small businesses. It also increases the research and development tax credit and expands it to include small businesses to encourage them to develop new products and ideas. These are the types of pro-growth moves that will put Minnesotans back to work for the long-term and turn the economy around.
General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) has also been a hot topic of the session. After an initial GAMC bill was vetoed by the Governor because it lacked long-term reform, my Republican colleagues and I were able to bring the majority back to the table and develop a bill everyone could agree on. The program was growing at unsustainable rates and projected to cost $928 million next biennium. The new nation-leading reform saves taxpayers more than $700 million while still providing health coverage to the poorest Minnesotans relying on GAMC. We just needed to work together and focus on the people in need rather than preserving a program.
As we near the end of the session, balancing the budget remains the biggest issue. We will have to wait for the Supreme Court decision to know if that means another $700 million or $3.4 billion.
News Items
- LIMITED SPENDING AND COMPETITVE TAXES GROW OUR ECONOMY - (Posted: Jan 11 2013 3:29PM)
- BOB DETTMER SWORN IN TO FOURTH TERM AS STATE REPRESENTATIVE - (Posted: Jan 11 2013 3:28PM)
- April 5 Legislative Update - (Posted: 2012-04-05 00:00:00)
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