Greetings from the Capitol-

Most Popular Constituent Contact Issue This Week - Gun Control Bills

This week, the Public Safety Committee took testimony on various gun control proposals. For three days, there have been hundreds of citizens in the building showing their strong opposition to the bills being considered. Citizens began arriving at 7 am to try to get into the hearings that began at 10 am. The hearing room was packed each day as well as multiple overflow rooms that were set up so that citizens could listen to the testimony.

Between e-mails and phone contacts I have heard from nearly 200 residents of my district. They are overwhelmingly opposed to these bills. At the bottom of this email I’ve included one letter sent to me from a constituent expressing their concerns (sent with the writer’s permission).

Meetings with Constituents and Groups

I had the pleasure of meeting with several groups and individuals from Lakeville this week, including:

• Representatives of District 196 (Rosemount/Apple Valley/Eagan) Public Schools, including Superintendent Jane Berenz, School Board and Cabinet Members, and some residents.
• Minnesota Fire Fighters
• Representatives of Microsoft Corp.
• Wells Fargo, and others representing banks for Bank Day
• Lakeville students on MN School of Business Day
• DECA participant from Lakeville North
• Participants in MN Physical Therapy Day
• Participants in Aviation Day at the Capitol
• MN Builders Association members
• MN Hospital Association representatives
• Gun Rights Activists

A common theme from business representatives were concerns regarding the Governor’s tax increases and uncertainty surrounding the implementation of Obamacare. 

Committees Analyze Governor Dayton’s Budget

Last week, the Minnesota House Taxes and Ways and Means committees began scrutinizing Governor Mark Dayton’s budget proposal and determining what it means for Minnesotans. The plan, which increases projected  state spending by $2.5 billion and increase taxes on Minnesotans by nearly $3.7 billion, would negatively impact  virtually every sector of the state.  While reducing the sales tax rate and broadening the base, it is true that currently taxed items would cost less.  However, the fact that it raises an additional $2.1 billion in revenue is proof that nearly all state taxpayers will pay more.  On top of the sales tax expansion, he is also proposing an additional quarter-cent sales tax in the seven-county metro area to fund transit.  This is an additional $350 million more in taxes paid by residents in the metro. 

Through lengthy question and answer periods, lawmakers learned that Governor Dayton’s “balanced” budget approach didn’t quite live up to its name. While crafting what would be a $38 billion budget, it was discovered that the governor’s spending reductions were far less than the $225 million stated in his initial budget documents.  Upon closer scrutiny, it was discovered that many of the general fund spending reductions were being backfilled with fees.  At this point, it appears that for every dollar of true spending reductions, he is increasing taxes $22. 

In the area of K-12 funding, it is alarming that with  all of this new money, the students actually lose ground as a percent of the total budget.  In the last budget cycle, K-12 funding received 43.23 percent of total general fund state spending.  Governor Dayton’s budget only provides 40.97 percent of the budget.  It is disappointing that with a budget with a 7.58 percent increase in spending the Governor choose not to protect the students’ share of the budget pie. I’ve attached a document which breaks down the proposed budget and compares it to our current budget (adopted under GOP control).

The governor's recently issued budget proposal increases K-12 funding by $344 million over the base budget, including a $52 increase in the per-pupil formula. This is roughly half of the commitment Republicans made to education in 2011 by increasing the education budget by $675 million, with a $100 increase to the per-pupil formula spanning fiscal years 2012 and 2013. The Governor's plan waits until 2017 to pay off the remaining $1.1 billion in delayed K-12 payments that were enacted in 2009. 

The Governor is required to submit the actual budget bills to the Legislature no later than 15 days after the budget is released; that deadline was yesterday. We were informed that only two of his agency bills made the deadline. Until he provides the written details of his entire budget proposal, we will not be able to assess the additional impacts on the State.  Stay tuned.

Sincerely,

Mary Liz Holberg

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Please feel free to contact me with any thoughts or concerns you may have. I can be reached at 651-296-6926 or by e-mail at rep.maryliz.holberg@house.mn.

The State Budget

It Is About Priorities…

Minnesota’s General Fund (GF) budget isn’t only about the total dollar amount, but what categories those dollars are allocated to. The following table shows the difference between the percentage allocations of the overall biennial FY2012-13 GF budget compared to Governor Dayton’s proposed biennial FY2014-15 GF budget.

The FY’12-13 GF budget column represents the last budget adopted with GOP control of the MN House & Senate. The FY’14-15 column is the governor’s proposed biennial budget.

(Chart based on House Fiscal Analysis 12/2012 spreadsheet: “General Fund Allocations – projected FY 2014-15 Compared to FY 2012-13. And Governor Dayton’s budget released 1/22/13)

This shows that when it comes to allocating the state’s General Fund, the governor’s priority is not K-12 Education, not Public Safety, and not property tax aids and credits.

Instead, when handed a complete DFL majority the governor has clearly put Health & Human Services as a higher budget priority by increasing its share of the total GF budget.

As for the dollar amount of the GF budget, ($ in 000’s)

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Letter from Resident on Gun Control

 Dear Rep. Holberg,

As a Minnesotan who proudly served 4 years in the US Air Force, and who has never had even a traffic ticket his entire life, I am dismayed to read how eager the DFL is to take away my Second Amendment rights.

Other than a nut in Connecticut, where is the justification for making me register my humble Ruger Ranch rifle—fearsome only to prairie dogs— with the government and consent to home inspections by the police? I can’t even hand it down to my grandson.

I took up pistol target shooting 5 years ago. It’s a great hobby, and for those into competition, a fun sport. They’ll take that away from me too, since no manufacturer I know of makes a pistol with a magazine of 7 rounds or fewer. Again: I must turn in magazines from my 5 pistols, so that they are immediately inoperative or I become a criminal.

I’m not putting up with this. I feel like I’m in a targeted class of persons in this state, whether these bills pass or not. As a consultant to international airlines and heads an LLC in Minnesota, I’ve decided to move to a state more respectful of the rights of its citizens. We’ll be gone within 90 days.