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State Representative Andrew Falk
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4228
For more information contact: Sandy Connolly 651-296-8877
NEWS COLUMN
QUESTIONS REMAIN ABOUT 2009 LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Since session ended in May, I have frequently traveled across our district to visit with constituents, local units of government, and attend various events. Many of you still have questions about the past session, specifically why a budget agreement was not reached, and how the Governor’s unallotments will impact our district. I would like to clear up a few things regarding this past legislative session.
Members of the State Legislature knew well before the session began that balancing this budget would present the biggest challenge in years. Our state faced record high unemployment and a $6.4 billion deficit. To make matters worse, Minnesota has faced a deficit every year but one since Governor Pawlenty took office; funding for schools, hospitals, and local governments have already been cut drastically. Members on both sides agreed that it would not be possible to balance the budget with cuts alone.
Members of the House tackled this deficit committee by committee, considering every possible option to cut spending. We asked ourselves three questions: what isn’t working, what isn’t fair, and what can’t we afford? We worked long hours, and despite rhetoric to the contrary, the legislature passed all major budget bills well before the end of session (sooner than any session in the last twenty years). The governor had ample time to work with the legislature to find a common-sense compromise; instead, he was missing in action.
Many senior legislators commented that this was one of the best collections of budget bills ever assembled – they were fair, responsible, and looked to the future. Based on the input of thousands of Minnesotans, we fought to protect jobs, schools, hospitals, and nursing homes – exhausting every available tool and opportunity to prevent irreparable damage to the state’s future while putting Minnesota back on the track to prosperity and job growth. The legislature’s final plan cut more than the Governor, and paid for the things Minnesotans value with a pay-as-you-go option that did not push the debt onto future generations.
Meanwhile, where was the Governor? Throughout the entire 2009 legislative session, the Governor met with the leaders of the House and Senate just three times. During that same period of time, Governor Pawlenty made twenty-four appearances on national media outlets; a stunning eight national media appearances for every meeting with legislators who were focused on addressing the needs of Minnesota. To me, it was very evident that the Governor was more focused on raising his national profile than bring the legislative session to a successful conclusion.
On numerous occasions, I’ve heard, “Why did you (the legislature) pass bills that you knew the Governor would not sign?" First and foremost, I always voted my conscience and did what I felt was right for our rural community. Second, the Governor brought proposals that were not legitimate. For example, the Governor wanted to borrow $1 billion to fill a two-year budget hole, and pay it back over 20 years with as much as $800 million in added interest. Not a single state economist who was asked agreed this was a fiscally sound idea, and when put to a vote on the House floor, this “borrow and spend” idea only gained the support of two Republicans. Additionally, when we brought the Governor’s health care proposal up for a vote, it received zero votes on the House floor. Not surprising when the Governor’s proposal would have closed hospitals, nursing homes, and kicked hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans (many elderly, disabled, and Veterans) off of state health care programs.
Not only would his proposals continue the state deficit into the future, his plan also protected the highest earners in our state from even a modest tax increase (if you made exactly $250,000 net per year, your taxes would have gone up by $109 per year), while cutting services for the poorest, crippling our health care economy, and increasing taxes on homeowners and renters – many who are disabled and elderly.
The Governor has cut K-12 education by $1.78 billion, leaving many schools with no choice but to take out a loan to cover their expenses. While it is true that the House and Senate also considered a funding shift, we built in a pay-back mechanism to make sure the schools would be quickly reimbursed. It is widely believed that with another deficit looming, this shift may never be repaid. He also slashed the funding for local governments and counties.
The Governor signed all of the spending bills; he simply refused to sign the bills to pay for the budget. The legislature, on three separate occasions, passed a balanced budget including $1.6 billion in budget cuts. The Governor ended any semblance of working with the legislature by basically telling us, you can do it my way, or I’ll do it my way. He unilaterally decided to use executive unallotment authority, which has only been used five times in the state’s history (three times by Governor Pawlenty). The most ever previously unalloted was $271 million by Governor Pawlenty in December 2008, this year’s unallotment dwarfs that by a factor of ten. Unallotment authority was granted to the executive branch to use for small and “unanticipated” deficits. This is clearly not the case because the budget deficit was well known in advance. I have introduced a bill to repeal the unallotment statute and have already garnered thirty-four co-authors.
While we worked hard to protect jobs, we recently learned from State Economist Dr. Tom Stinson that as a result of the Governor’s cuts, somewhere between 3,300 and 4,700 public and private jobs will be eliminated. This includes at least 600 jobs in schools, 1,970 from local government, over 1,600 state jobs and another 500 private jobs. This is nearly five times more jobs lost than under the House plan.
With another deficit predicted for the next budget cycle, it is clear to see we have significant challenges before us. Please continue to contact me with your questions and ideas for how to move Minnesota forward. I can be reached at 651-296-4228 or by email at rep.andrew.falk@house.mn. I look forward to hearing from you.
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