Dear Neighbors,
Greetings from the House Floor. Today wraps up a full week of considering omnibus supplemental budget bills. All areas of the state budget were wrapped into three different bills. Mondaynight we passed the E-12 and Higher Education Bill, last night we passed the Jobs, Agriculture and Environment Bill, and we are now considering the Health and Human Services, State Government, and Public Safety Bill. Considering we have a $900 million surplus, it’s disappointing how little we were able to accomplish in these bills.
There are many letdowns contained in (or in many cases, absent from) these bills, but a pair stand out to me. The first was the absolute lack of investment in broadband infrastructure throughout greater Minnesota in the House Majority’s Jobs Bill. The Governor’s Broadband Task Force has illustrated how significant of a statewide need this is with a recommendation of $200 million per year to help provide border to border access. While Governor Dayton has recommended $100 million this year, and the Senate Majority has recommended $85 million, the bill which passed the House only contained $15 million.
We have to do better than this. Whether it’s students trying to get their homework done, or businesses trying to sell products to a global marketplace, fast, reliable internet should be available in every corner of the state. If we don’t act on this now, Greater Minnesota will continue to lose future generations to the metro area. Hopefully before we adjourn for the year we can move closer to the Senate and Governor’s recommendations.
The other major letdown I have to highlight is the lack of funding for security and safety upgrades at the Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter and the remaining questions over whether we can fund the renovation there in this year’s bonding bill. The challenges are unique, and the needs are urgent. The current environment at the hospital is grossly unsafe for both some of the most vulnerable Minnesotans who have been committed there, and the employees who show up to work every day and take care of these people. The Public Safety bill left all of these people behind by failing to fund these staffing needs. Rep. Clark Johnson and I tried to amend the bill on the floor to provide this funding, but the amendment was halted on procedural grounds.
The security hospital’s bonding request is another matter that remains up in the air. The House Majority has said their total bonding bill to fund improvements of state assets, such as higher education institutions, public safety facilities, some transportation needs, and parks and trails, to name a few, will be just $600 million. For comparison, Gov. Dayton has proposed a bonding bill of $1.4 billion. While we can certainly debate which amount is the most appropriate, there are many competing priorities and it would be most unfortunate if this critical construction at the hospital was squeezed out. With the clock ticking on session I hope that this project won’t be left behind.
We can’t continue ignoring the situation at the security hospital, and it would frankly be disgraceful if we adjourned this session without taking the steps necessary to take keep these folks safe. With a budget surplus, this should be one of the first things taken care of.
This doesn’t even scratch the surface on other disappointments, such as a lack of action on student loan debt, a raise for those who care for people in home and community settings, no funding for state cyber security, and a continuing stalemate on a comprehensive transportation bill, among other things. There’s still time left, and I’ll continue working hard to get things done for ordinary Minnesotans.
As always, I hope you will stay in touch with your thoughts on these and other issues. Feel free to write me or call me any time about the issues that matter to you.
Sincerely,
Jack Considine
State Representative