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State Representative Tim O'Driscoll
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-7808
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Email update
Working for a budget solution
Dear Neighbor,
The latest movement in budget negotiations came earlier this week when the Legislature offered another compromise with Gov. Dayton. Our newest offer increases spending by $110 million in three crucial areas: K-12 education, public safety and judiciary.
The new K-12 proposal we put forth provides an additional $80 million in education funding, matching Gov. Dayton’s request. In the true spirit of compromise, our education budget provides all the spending the governor wants, along with key reforms the Legislature wants.
This compromise also provides $30 million more for public safety and judiciary budgets, and emergency bonding with a FEMA match.
These three areas account for roughly 50 percent of the state’s General Fund budget, so an agreement here could be key to finding a full budget solution. We still are working to hammer out a budget solution with the governor to avoid what could be the most wide-scale shutdown our state has ever experienced.
Minnesota suffered a partial shutdown back in 2005, but that only affected 40 percent of our state operations since then-Gov. Pawlenty already had signed six of the 10 budget bills into law. This time, 90 percent of the budget remains unresolved since Gov. Dayton only has approved one bill, the relatively small agriculture portion.
The makeup at the Capitol also is different this time, with Republican majorities in both the House and the Senate and a Democrat governor. In 2005, we had a split majority as Democrats controlled the Senate, while Republicans had leadership in the House and occupied the governor’s office.
Pawlenty worked with the Legislature to pass key portions of the budget to mitigate our discomfort in the 2005 shutdown, which lasted eight days. Most of us were not significantly impacted by that brief impasse, but a much wider swath could be cut this time if Dayton fails to call a special session and enact additional pieces of the budget before the fiscal year ends June 30.
Layoff notices are being prepared for 10s of thousands of Minnesotans and the availability of unemployment checks is unclear. State parks, rest stops, road construction, the DMV and a whole lot more could come to a grinding halt in July. Nobody wants to see a shutdown, but we should plan for the worst and have contingency plans in place to keep essential services – especially public safety – operating if we have a shutdown.
The ball is now in the governor’s court and I encourage him to accept our latest offer so we can begin putting the other budget pieces in place and put this shutdown talk behind us.
-Ti
News Items
- O'Driscoll Begins Second Term in MN House - (Posted: Jan 11 2013 4:00PM)
- MINNESOTA LEGISLATURE ANNOUNCES PASSAGE OF BILL TO MODIFY MANDATORY TIERED WATER PRICING FOR CITIES - (Posted: 2012-04-02 00:00:00)
- REPRESENTATIVE O’DRISCOLL’S LAND TRUST BILL PASSES THROUGH THE HOUSE - (Posted: 2012-03-19 00:00:00)
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