Greetings from the House Floor,
Bills passed off the House floor this week were:
· SF 5 (Omnibus Higher Education Finance and Policy Bill)
· SF 878 (Omnibus Public Safety Finance Bill)
· SF 1458 (Omnibus Health and Human Services Finance Bill)
· SF 1238 (Omnibus Liquor Bill)
· HF 848 (Omnibus Tax Bill)
· HF 294 (Health Plan Contracts and Stop Loss Coverage)
· SF 1444 (Foreclosure Sale Provisions)
· HF 1127 (Savings Promotion Raffles)
· HF 1535 (Omnibus Human Services Policy Bill)
· SF 1147 (Requirements for Mortgage Foreclosure by Advertisement)
· HF 303 (Omnibus Legacy Finance Bill)
· SF 100 (The Right to Try Act)
· HF 1358 (Uniform Municipal Contracting Law; Energy Conservation Measure)
· HF 1770 (Conciliation Court Jurisdiction Over Nonresidents)
· HF 546 (Government Entity to Release Military Release Forms to Another Government Entity for Locating Records)
· SF 1455 (Commissioner of Veterans Affairs Guardianship Program
· HF 1003 (Local Governments to Donate Surplus Equipment to Non-Profit Organizations)
We have just about wrapped up House passage of the omnibus finance bills for this session. The Omnibus Agriculture Finance Bill is the final major budget bill yet to come to the House floor. The Capital Investment bill would be another major finance bill we have yet to complete; however, we do not have to pass a Capital Investment bill this year and, unfortunately, there has been little talk about if a Capital Investment bill will be passed this year.
The most notable, or at least controversial, omnibus finance bills of this session are the K-12 Education Bill, Health and Human Services Bill and Tax Bill. I did not vote for any of these bills on the House floor. I think these bills illustrate a real mismanagement of priorities for Minnesota. The Tax Bill proposes $2.2 billion in tax cuts for the biennium, most of which are through the elimination of the state general levy (state property taxes) on commercial/industrial and seasonal/recreational properties. Once fully phased in, the elimination of property taxes on commercial/industrial and seasonal/recreational properties would leave a roughly $2 billion hole in the state budget each biennium and would benefit the 7 county metropolitan area much more than Greater Minnesota (70% of the benefits would be seen in the 7 county metro). The Tax Bill also contains provisions related to personal income taxes including, additional exemptions on income that can be taxed by the state for the next two years; the gradual elimination of Social Security income taxes; retired military pension subtractions; and expanded K-12 education tax credits. When fully phased in, the cost of all tax cuts the bill proposes would be $4.5 billion per biennium. Also, the Tax Bill does not include any additional property tax relief for homeowners or renters. While I agree with some of the provisions related to personal income taxes, overall I think this bill goes too far with corporate tax cuts and would leave Minnesota with deficits for years to come.
The K-12 Education Bill provides for a 0.6% funding increase over the next two years. This is far less than adequate funding for our schools and may force some schools to cut programs, layoff teachers and increase class sizes. The K-12 Education bill also does not address early childhood education. Studies show that investments into early childhood education yield a $15 to $1 return on investment through increased economic productivity and reduced social costs.
The Health and Human Services Bill proposes a $1.1 billion cut to this area of the state budget. The one positive provision is this bill is the improved reimbursement system for nursing homes across Minnesota. This is severely needed to give nursing homes stable funding as our population ages. Otherwise, there is little I agree with in the Health and Human Services Bill. The major provision of this bill is the repeal of MinnesotaCare. This repeal would move the 100,000 folks who are currently on MinnesotaCare to the MNSure health insurance exchange. MinnesotaCare provides comprehensive healthcare coverage to low income working Minnesotans. MinnesotaCare benefits Greater Minnesota families more than folks who live in the 7 county metropolitan area and its repeal is opposed by all of the healthcare provider groups. The bill does provide a 5% funding increase to long-term care organizations in fiscal year 2017; however, it does not put the funding into the base of the state budget. In other words, the funding increase would be taken away after fiscal year 2017 unless the Legislature acted next session to permanently fund it.
We need to do much better, especially with a $1.87 billion surplus. Last session the Legislature and Governor Dayton signed into law $407 million in tax cuts. This, along with a strong economy, will result in a decreased tax burden for 90% of Minnesotans through 2017 (as recently reported by the Minnesota Department of Revenue). We do not need to break the state budget in tax cuts to make Minnesota a better state. Targeting the surplus dollars in investments for education (early childhood through higher education); property tax relief for individuals and families; and economic development are ways we can ensure Minnesota will continue to be strong and have a stable budget for decades to come.
Thank You for the Opportunity to Serve,
Ben