Dear Neighbor,
Things are coming together with the House’s series of omnibus finance bills that form the base for the state’s next two-year budget. We have had a number of late nights meeting in the House Ways and Means Committee, the last hurdle these finance bills face before coming to the floor for votes.
The good news is that by the end of this week all of the finance bills should have received initial approval from the House. They then will be in the hands of conference committees, joint panels that will work to resolve differences between House and Senate budget proposals. Once the conference committees find reconciliation, the bills will come back to each legislative body and, upon final approval, will be sent to the governor for his action.
Transportation is one of the omnibus finance packages that seems to be of interest to people. The House plan puts in place the framework to invest $6 billion over the next 10 years toward the state’s transportation needs without raising taxes.
By using existing revenue and a portion of the $1.6 billion budget surplus, we can provide more funding to improve our roads and bridges. A new Transportation Priorities Fund would use current, transportation-related state tax revenues such as taxes we already pay when purchasing auto parts to invest $450 million in new dollars for roads and bridges. The transportation proposal also would fund:
- $25 million for the Small Cities Road Assistance program
- $300 million for Corridors of Commerce program
- $35 million for rail grade crossings
- Funding to repair or replace all 97 bridges on MnDOT's local bridge priority list
Another finance bill of high interest to people is K-12 education. A bill the House approved provides $1.1 billion more in education funding over the previous budget level, and targets more than $300 million for proven early learning programs including scholarships and school readiness aid. Other highlights of this bill include:
- $22 million for a new, targeted academic achievement initiative that funds before school, afterschool and summer programs to help low-income students.
- $40 million for enhanced school readiness aid that gives 74 school districts with voluntary pre-k more flexibility to either continue the program or fund other early education needs
- $2.3 million to implement a new Professional Educator License and Standards Board to replace the troubled Board of Teaching and bring clarity and consistency to our teacher licensure policies
I will keep you posted as budget news develops at the Capitol and, as always, your input is welcome.
Sincerely,
Bob