Dear Neighbors,
Happy Memorial Day weekend to you all! I hope you will be able to spend time with friends and family, reflecting on and remembering all those who gave their lives defending our freedom. If you are in Anoka on Monday, the Anoka American Legion Post 102 is hosting its annual Memorial Day Observance to honor our fallen heroes. For details see:
http://abcnewspapers.com/2015/05/19/newman-to-speak-at-anoka-memorial-day-observance/.
The House Adjourned On-Time & Governor Vetoes 3 Bi-Partisan Budget Bills
The 2015 legislative session officially adjourned on time late Monday evening as the House and Senate passed their final budget bills and sent them to Governor Dayton.
The bi-partisan $41.5 billion budget makes a number of significant reforms and invests in things that matter to Minnesotans – for example, the Public Safety Omnibus bill includes $250,000 to help “develop strategies and make efforts to combat the recruitment of Minnesota residents by terrorist organization such as ISIS and al-Shabaab.”
While the legislature was able to work across party lines to pass all of our budget bills on time, the governor vetoed our bipartisan education budget largely because it does not include funding for his universal pre-kindergarten proposal (see http://www.leg.state.mn.us/archive/vetoes/2015veto_ch72.pdf).
Today he also vetoed the Agriculture/Environment and Jobs/Energy omnibus bills, both of which included provisions that provide relief to farmers suffering from the avian flu outbreak, among other things.
Born Alive Infant Protection Act Becomes Law
Yesterday, Governor Dayton signed into law the Health and Human Services omnibus bill, which includes a bill I carried: the Born Alive Infant Protection Act.
This Act provides civil remedies for physicians who fail to provide care to an infant who is born alive as a result of a failed abortion, including automatic revocation of their license, for at least a year, if the infant is injured or dies as a result of “simple negligence, gross negligence, wantonness, willfulness, intentional conduct, or another violation of the legal standard of care.” It also adds a reporting requirement (right now it is very difficult to get data on how often this happens). For more details, see: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/bill.php?b=House&f=HF1047&ssn=0&y=2015
A sincere and heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who had a hand in the passage of this pro-life legislation- to all my colleagues who co-authored and voted in support of it, to Governor Dayton for signing the omnibus bill, to Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) and Andrea Rau for their help, to our awesome staff for their hand in crafting this bill, to everyone who prayed that it would pass, to my prayer team specifically for their dedication from the very beginning, to my Mom and Dad for their prayers and support, and to the Chairs of the Health and Human Services committees, Rep. Tara Mack and especially Rep. Matt Dean, for his insistence that it be included in the conference committee report. I am truly grateful and in awe of God's hand in this bill.
Governor’s Desire for Universal Pre-K Leads to Special Session
Our education budget was crafted on a bipartisan basis as 91 GOP & 31 DFL lawmakers voted for the final bill. This budget makes significant financial investments and reforms that will help build on Minnesota’s already strong education system. Given this, it is extremely disappointing that we are going to a special session because of the governor’s demand for universal pre-kindergarten.
The plan for universal pre-K is a one-size fits all proposal that not only failed to pass either the DFL Senate or GOP House but also lacks support from Minnesotans state-wide, including school boards and education organizations.
Our bi-partisan bill invested $17 billion into Minnesota’s education system, a $1.3 billion – 8 percent – increase over current funding. Of that $1.3 billion, $400 million was invested in new initiatives for education. Specifically, we allocated over $60 million for proven early learning initiatives, including early education scholarships and school pre-K aid. We also increased funding on the basic per-pupil formula more than the DFL-controlled legislature did in their initial education bill last session.
The other $800 million of the $1.3 billion funding increase was allocated for the all day kindergarten initiative passed last biennium.
That is, a proposal that just passed last year, all-day K, is now siphoning over half of the funding increase for education. Education is already the largest part of General-Fund spending, and the Governor wants to add another early education program that will cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
In my own experience with constituents, people are still upset with all day kindergarten as it is not only expensive (as illustrated above) but removes choice. Some school districts may want to do all-day K, but maybe with that same amount of funding (again, $800 million of $1.3 billion) some would prefer to invest in English language learners, or maybe some would prefer to spend more on special education.
My priority and that of my colleagues has always been to increase local control. Therefore the House Republicans have and continue to advocate for more funding to go to the basic per-pupil formula rather than to new programs, like universal pre-k. I know this is what our own school district desires.
Finally, I believe it is important to note some things that are not in the education bill, as they highlight the immense compromise on behalf of the House Republicans: The LIFO and the Student Physical Privacy provisions were presented as top priorities in negotiations with the Senate DFL and Governor, and both were practically non-starters for the other side. Understanding the need for compromise, we dropped both of our top policy priorities.
I think it was very reasonable to request that Governor Dayton do the same. Yet, since he did not, we are going to a special session. I believe our top priorities should be back on the table, and will continue to advocate for the Student Physical Privacy provision.
Stayed Tuned
We are expected to convene a special session sometime in June. I will be sure to keep you up-to-date on how things are progressing.
Again, I hope you all have a lovely Memorial Day, remembering the men and women who, in the words of President James A. Garfield, “…summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue.”
Sincerest Regards,
Abigail