Dear Neighbors,
Summer is flying by. I hope you have been able to take advantage of some of the nice weather. The next few days are expected to be extremely hot, so please take care of yourself and your families. The Minnesota Department of Health has tips on staying safe in hot weather. http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/eh/emergency/natural/heat/tips.pdf
Our country and our state have been through a lot of non-weather related stresses these last few weeks. It seems like every day we hear more tragic news of violent events around the country and even close to home. Like many of you, I struggle to make sense of these incidents. It’s all too easy for people to be pitted against each other in these times of stress, but I’ve been heartened by the responses I’ve seen where we come together to peacefully express our anger and share our sadness.
A lot has been happening around the Capitol since my last update.
Special Session Possible
Negotiations restarted last Friday between Gov. Dayton and legislative leaders regarding a possible special session. As you know, the regular session adjourned in late May with a lot of work unfinished and some that needed a do-over. Among these were the tax bill – which included a student loan tax credit and increases to the working family and child and dependent care credits along with a tax cut for tobacco companies – a capitol investment bill, and a comprehensive transportation package. Every legislator wants to get these things done, but a final conclusion is going to require give-and-take from all sides. Many of the same disagreements that stopped progress during the two year legislative term seem to be still there. It appears that any special session won’t happen until mid-August at the earliest.
Governor Dayton vetoed the tax bill because of a $100 million error, so that bill will probably be on the table again in any special session. While there are many good provisions in it—along with the tobacco giveaway--I am concerned about the ongoing cost of the bill. No financial “targets” were ever agreed upon this year, so there was no planning about how the overall budget would work in future years after these tax cuts. While I know that many legislators want to pass a tax bill to help their re-election campaigns, I would rather wait to see if a better bill can be passed next session.
Our tax code is full of special provisions that, once enacted, are almost never repealed or even reviewed. A few years ago I passed legislation to require that any new tax break must have a “purpose clause” that sets out what it is trying to achieve and how success will be measured. This year’s bill ignored that provision.
I am hoping that there will be an agreement on a bonding bill, but that seems to still be out of reach. The bill that failed to pass in the last hour of session had a lot of good projects in it. However, from Rochester’s point of view it had a glaring omission. Rochester Community and Technical College has a project that was rated #7 on the MnSCU system’s priority list and is by far the Rochester area’s biggest request this year, yet we were skipped over for higher education projects with much lower ratings. The lower-rated projects just happen to be in the districts of legislators who are facing difficult re-election campaigns. Since no other explanation has been given, so I can only assume that that is the reason—which sets a terrible precedent for the state as well as being very unfair to Rochester. If all Rochester legislators would make this a condition of voting for the bill we would be in a MUCH stronger position, but our GOP friends don’t seem concerned about the omission. Please join me in advocating for a bill that is fair to the whole state.
State Budget
Good news came earlier last week from Minnesota Management and Budget. When fiscal Year 2016 ended--June 30--revenues were higher than had been expected by $230 million. This suggests that even with economic growth slowing a bit our economy is still in a solid position. I hope we will enter the 2017 session with another sizable budget surplus.
We still need to be fiscally conservative, but we should use this situation as an opportunity to make key investments in the things that lay the groundwork for a successful economy, such as education, job creation, and infrastructure. I look forward to more discussions about this as January approaches.
New Laws
July 1 is the start of Minnesota’s Fiscal Year, when the new budget goes into effect. August 1st is the day many new policy provisions become law.
A summary of selected new laws that took effect July 1, 2016, can be accessed at http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hinfo/leginfo/0716nlrelease.pdf
A complete summary of all laws passed by the 2016 Legislature is available online from the House Public Information Services Office at http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/newlaws/#/search/2016
Last Update
This will be my last official update until after the November elections. State law prohibits legislators from using state resources to proactively send out information to constituents during this time. However, I will still respond to e-mails, letters or phone calls sent to me by constituents. I can also attend community events, tour your organization or business, and meet with you in Rochester about issues of concern to you. And I’ll continue to post information and comments on my Facebook page, Tina Liebling, State Representative, since this is not paid for with public funds.
So please don’t hesitate to contact me with your questions, comments, concerns, or events. I look forward to visiting with you in person over the coming months.
Warmly,
Tina