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Minnesota House of Representatives

State Representative Tara Mack

345 State Office BuildingState Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-5506

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Posted: 2011-12-09 00:00:00
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Email update

Good news on two fronts

Dear Neighbor,

We received good news at the Capitol on a couple of fronts in the last week. First we found out that the state has a projected budget surplus and then a judge’s ruling shined some light on a daycare unionization vote that was supposed to take place this week.

The new state budget forecast from Minnesota Management & Budget calls for an $876 million surplus in the upcoming biennium. This is fantastic news after a stretch of four consecutive years of shortfalls. It shows the tough choices we made this year are not only working, they are exceeding expectations. The MMB report also shows our state is outpacing the national economy.

There are statutes in place which stipulate how surplus funds must be spent if certain conditions exist. In this case, surplus funds must be used to restore the state’s cash-flow account ($255 million) and the budget reserve ($621 million). These “rainy day” accounts ran dry during recent shortfalls. I hope the new reform measures we passed this year and additional improvements we are planning for 2012 will generate even more savings so we can look at things like making advanced payments toward delayed K-12 funding.

This surplus makes me eager to get back to the Capitol in January so we can continue putting our state on a more stable fiscal course for the long term.

We also recently learned a Ramsey County judge placed a restraining order on a daycare unionization vote which was scheduled to start this week. Gov. Mark Dayton issued an executive order calling for the vote and the judge found enough flaws in the process to pause the initiative.

Chief among the judges concerns are the fact Gov. Dayton called for this vote unilaterally instead of allowing the issue to receive public consideration and scrutiny in the Legislature. The judge also disagreed with the Governor’s order, which allows approximately 40 percent of our state’s 11,000 or so in-home daycare providers to vote on whether to unionize.

More than 80 percent of the respondents in a KSTP poll oppose unionizing the daycare industry. Parents would face higher daycare costs, providers would be faced with more layers of red tape and unions could be allowed to make decisions that should belong to parents and the providers they entrust. Furthermore, there is no evidence the daycare industry’s working conditions are inadequate or that subsidies providers receive are subpar.

We achieved a budget surplus, in part, by containing costs. Unionizing daycare providers potentially would take us in the wrong direction, creating more bureaucracy when our goal is to get government off the backs of our small-business owners.

Please continue to provide me with input on this issue and I encourage parents to let their daycare providers know where they stand. Feel free to contact Gov. Dayton as well by calling (651) 201-3400 or click on this link for an email form.

Have a good weekend!
Tara

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