Our legislative budget work for the year has been completed following a one day special session on June 12. The special session was necessary after Governor Dayton vetoed three bipartisan compromise spending proposals agreed to by the House and Senate.
With a full budget now approved by the Legislature and signed into law by the governor, residents should know that lawmakers this session were successful in slowing the growth of state government.
Overall, the new Fiscal Year 2016-17 budget results in a 5.3 percent general fund spending increase from biennium to biennium. This represents the third lowest increase in more than 50 years, and I'm pleased the legislature did a better job of prioritizing your tax contributions for the next budget cycle.
During the one day event we approved a K-12 Education finance proposal, which provides $525 million in additional education funding, and gives schools a two percent funding increase in Fiscal Years 2016 and 2017.
The environment and agriculture finance bill I helped craft was also approved. I was proud that for the first time, this legislation will provide full funding to the Minnesota Zoo, state parks and trails, and DNR forestry. Also included is $23 million to state agencies in order to better prevent and respond to the avian influenza outbreak that has devastated Minnesota's poultry flocks.
We also approved finance legislation for jobs and energy, a small capital investment bill that funds a number of construction projects around the state, and a Legacy funding spending bill where lawmakers need to allocate revenue collected from the sales tax for projects pertaining to the environment, arts, and trails.
It's disappointing that we needed to come back in a special session because the governor vetoed bipartisan bills, but I am pleased we were able to once again find common ground and provide certainty to Minnesotans.
Keep in touch,
Denny