Dear Neighbors,
I, along with Representative Wagenius and Senator Torres Ray will be hosting two town hall meetings on Saturday, April 23, and would be delighted if you can attend. The first meeting will begin at 9:30 am and go until 11:00 am at the Riverview Wine Bar located at 3747 42nd Ave. S in Minneapolis. The second meeting will be held at the Nokomis Rec Center in Minneapolis at 2401 E. Minnehaha Parkway and goes from 1:00-2:30 pm. Please bring your questions and concerns on any state related matter. I look forward to seeing you there.
House Budget Targets
The Republican House Majority released their budget targets late last week. Spending targets are established for each budget area and set the tone for the House Majority’s priorities. Unsurprisingly, it is a very severe and limited proposal with little or no changes at all to a number of specific areas of state funding.
One of the most striking was a $0 budget target for any sort of education funding. With a $900 million surplus, House Republicans are promising that half will be dedicated to transportation funding, and the other half will be go toward tax cuts. Less than six weeks remain in the 2016 session and the Taxes Conference Committee has yet to meet and the Transportation Conference Committee has only met once.
In fact, when Speaker Daudt spoke to the Minnesota Tea Party Patriots in Champlin last week to promote his transportation plan, he pointed out that “one of our constitutionally defined core functions of state government is to fund our roads and bridge infrastructure.” I would agree with the Speaker on this point. He then continues on that after shifting various sources of revenue from the state’s general fund to transportation such as sales tax on auto parts, rental cars, and leased vehicles, “it would start to starve out the general fund, so it would remove money currently going in to the general fund, which is a really good thing.” The general fund is how we pay for education, healthcare, and vital government services and if the Speaker wants to deplete that, I have serious concerns. You can find the audio clip here.
The House Republicans overall state budget plan and Speaker Daudt’s words are concerning but also sets us up for long term economic failure. The targets they have established go against their core ideal of fiscal responsibility and would send Minnesota back into a deficit. Their small proposed bonding bill won’t meet the needs of the state. During the 2013-2014 session, we had a moral responsibility to pay back our schools, and we did. The 2013-2014 House Majority passed a responsibly balanced budget that put an end to a decade of deficits and shifts.
Legislation
The third and final deadline on April 21, is for committees to approve or choose not to act on major budget and finance bills. Once the bills have gone through all of the committees pertinent for the subject, the bill comes to the House floor for action by the entire House of Representatives. Once that action has been taken the bill is sent to the Senate if passed.
Although House Republicans have made it clear in their budget targets that education investment is not a priority, I am pleased that my bill, HF 2731, funding grants for school based mental health services, has been included in the K-12 omnibus bill. This would provide mental health services funding for schools and would increase the base funding for children’s mental health grants. School based mental health services makes counseling more available to students allowing more of them to succeed. My bill aims to provide these tools to teachers, administrators and counselors to help struggling students address their mental health challenges and thrive in the classroom.
I am concerned that the small bonding target will make it harder to include a second bill I’ve authored HF 2274, which will allocate funds to construct a new building for the Family Partnership nonprofit organization in Minneapolis. Family Partnership provides essential mental health and education services to low income individuals in our neighborhood. It provides culturally specific high quality preschool classes and has been a key leader in providing services to victims of sex trafficking.
Planned Parenthood Press Conference
Wednesday I joined a number of my House DFL colleagues to stand by Planned Parenthood officials, patients and advocates for a press conference. We stood together in opposition to HF 3374, which would eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood. I will continue to support comprehensive healthcare for all, free of government and discriminatory bias.
Please feel free to reach out to me on any issue you care about. I can be reached at 651-296-0173 or via email at rep.jim.davnie@house.mn.
Sincerely,
Jim Davnie
State Representative