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State Representative Tara Mack
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-5506
For more information contact:
E-mail update
Jobs, budget shortfall remain focus
Hello from St. Paul!
The work continues at the Capitol to move legislation forward that will
help get people back to work and revitalize our economy. In addition,
progress was made this week in beginning to address the state's $6.2
billion budget shortfall.
There are significant challenges in closing a budget gap that large,
but the silver lining is it gives us an opportunity to re-think the way
our state operates and identify new measures of efficiency. The mission
is to re-design areas of state governement and create more fiscal
responsibility. Those components are included in Phase 1 of the plan to
balance the budget which was revealed Tuesday.
Phase 1 erases $1 billion of our $6.2 billion shortfall. It reduces
spending for state agencies by $200 million in the current budget while
making other one-time spending cuts permanent to reduce the long-term
deficit by another $840 million. Much of this is a continuation of the
“unallotments” which received bipartisan approval at the end of the
2010 session.
The bill also reduces funding for the Legislature and constitutional
offices, and permanently eliminates the program which used tax dollars
to subsidize political campaigns. Local Government Aid remains set at
current levels, while leaving the current formula in place.
Another valuable component gives the Minnesota Management and Budget
commissioner the directive to reduce state agency spending by $200
million. This will help bring an end to the practice of government
offices draining their budgets through unnecessary expenditures at the
end of a budget cycle to show a $0 balance and “validate” future
funding.
We have a $32 billion budget to work with for the upcoming two-year
cycle, a $2 billion increase over the current budget. That should be
enough funding to uphold our priorities. In addition, the Phase 1 bill
establishes that K-12 education, special education, and colleges and
universities cannot be reduced.
A number of significant challenges remain in our efforts to balance the
budget. We also will watch with great interest as Gov. Mark Dayton
unveils his own plan next month. As always, I welcome your input on this
issue and others. Feel free to e-mail me any time at
rep.tara.mack@house.mn.
Sincerely,
Tara
News Items
- April 6 Legislative Update - (Posted: 2012-04-06 00:00:00)
- March 30 Legislative Update - (Posted: 2012-03-30 00:00:00)
- March 23 Legislative Update - (Posted: 2012-03-23 00:00:00)
- Archived News Items
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