Dear friends,
We have done good work for Minnesota in St Paul this year. We passed a balanced budget without relying on short term borrowing or shifts and used new revenues to invest in priorities that move our state forward—education, job creation, and property tax relief.
And education investment was at the top of that list. We made historic investments in students from early childhood through college. We stepped up repayment of the debt still owed to schools so that the money will be repaid within the next two years. And at long last we have moved Minnesota toward significant investment in early education. The brain research is clear and finally we are investing where it counts the most. We fund all-day kindergarten for our youngest learners, support additional resources to ensure their success in reading at grade level by third grade and work toward preparing our students for the future by aligning our educational systems from Kindergarten through early post secondary. For the first time, our focus is on all of our learners from early childhood through adult education and we are connecting and aligning students’ education from preschool all the way through to career and/or college.
I authored K-12 assessment reforms that eliminate high stakes testing and move to an assessment system that is college and career aligned. This provision is endorsed by education advocates and school districts across Minnesota and is the product of many years of work by a broad range of educators, parents and assessment experts. Under the new system, students at all levels will be guided and challenged based on their skills and interests towards their individual post-secondary goals. We are focused on preparing every student for meaningful work and/or study beyond high school.
We also reversed a decade of disinvestment in higher education this session and focused on holding down tuition and reducing student debt. Our higher education budget will freeze tuition at both the U of M and MnSCU, including MSU-Mankato, for the next two years for undergraduates. And we fund the MnDrive research program at the University of Minnesota and the Office of Higher Education to increase grants for access, choice, and debt reduction. New reforms have been implemented to hold our public higher education institutions financially accountable for state funding.
Property tax relief was another key focus this session, in light of a decade of rising property taxes and recent elimination of the Market Value Homestead Credit. We are providing $400 million in property tax relief through the Homestead Credit, expanded Renter’s Credit and increased local government aid. We created the Homestead Credit Refund and expanded the Renter’s Credit, both starting next year. Due to the Homestead Credit Refund and retooled renters’ credit 380,000 homeowners and renters will see their refunds increase and 200,000 additional homeowners will receive a refund.
After a decade of cuts to Local Government Aid and County Program Aid, we streamlined the funding formulas and added $80 million and $40 million to each program respectively. These new funds, along with increased education funding, will help keep local tax levies low and bring property taxes down. Cities and counties will also no longer be subject to state sales tax. This $172 million sales tax cut for local communities will help bring property taxes down even further while allowing communities to make much needed investments.
Finally, we made jobs a priority. This session we have expanded the Minnesota Investment Fund to provide more competitive loans that will bring new businesses to Minnesota and help existing businesses grow. We are also providing Minnesota businesses a historic $346 million tax cut to make it easier for existing businesses to invest in their operations and stay on solid ground financially. We invested in additional job training, apprenticeship, and trade expansion initiatives all with the goal of creating a healthy economic environment in Minnesota. We also supported the jobs of those who care for our seniors and will be providing a much needed 5% rate increase for nursing home workers to improve senior care and reduce employee turnover. We were not able to provide as robust an increase throughout the long term care industry. For waivered services providers we were only able to provide a 1% increase. However we did buy back the 1.67% cut from last session that was scheduled to go into effect in July.
We were able to make these critical investments by asking the wealthiest Minnesotans, those making $250,000 a year (after tax deductions and credits), and corporations to pay their fair share (as determined by the Tax Incidence Study). By increasing income taxes on the top 2% by only 2%, we made historic investments in education, property tax relief, and job creation to move our state forward.
The Department of Revenue is implementing these 2013 tax law changes. To ensure those affected by the tax law changes have the information they need, the department is updating their website with the changes. More information can be found here:
http://www.revenue.state.mn.us/Pages/law_changes.aspx
Real Estate Professionals and Collection Agencies License Renewal
The Minnesota Department of Commerce is reminding real estate professionals and debt collectors with a license expiration date of June 30, 2013 to renew by 4:30 PM Central time.
For the first time, the renewals are done entirely online at
www.pulseportal.com; additional detailed information is available on the Commerce Department website
here and
here.
I want to thank those of you who have been in touch this session with your questions, comments and concerns. I appreciate your input on the wide range of issues affecting Minnesota. Even though we may disagree on a particular issue, hearing your perspectives helps me raise concerns with my colleagues and often helps improve the legislation in question. Please continue to contact me at 651-296-3248 or by email at
rep.kathy.brynaert@house.mn.
Sincerely,
Kathy Brynaert
State Representative
Mankato