Greetings from the Capitol!
The 2013 legislative session came to a close at midnight Monday after a complete budget and a number of other bills passed both bodies of the Legislature. Here is a quick look at some of the big issues we addressed down the stretch.
TAX INCREASES
I am concerned that the tax bill, which allows for $2.1 billion in new tax increases will be damaging to Minnesota families and businesses. A new tax on business-to-business transactions will make Minnesota less competitive in the global market and result in higher prices for consumers. A $1.60 increase on the cigarette tax is extremely regressive and will prove costly for Minnesotans of even the lowest income levels. Other new tax increases include internet purchases and digital downloads, and warehouse storage. Our state’s top earners also will now be paying some of the highest income tax rates in the nation.
The legislative majorities passed these historic tax increases in order to pay for an 8.8-percent increase in state spending, pushing us to an unprecedented $38.3 billion budget. I advocated for a more efficient budget that stays within the bounds of our projected revenue growth instead of increasing spending by more than twice as much. Growth in governement is not what the majority of Minnesotans that I have heard from want.
A significant portion of this spending increase will go toward creating an estimated 1,300 new government jobs. If you figure at least $50,000 in wages and benefits for each job, that commits another $63 million annually to the state spending base. Our focus should be on helping people get back to work through economic freedom, not by spending more of the hardworking taxpayers’ money.
DAY CARE/PERSONAL CARE UNIONS
The bill that unionizes day care providers and personal care attendants passed the House floor after many hours of debate late in the session. I joined the vast majority of providers and parents in opposing this initiative. The interests of unions should not interfere with care for children and vulnerable citizens.
Despite our consistent efforts to show how this move will only hurt low-income families who rely on government assistance as well as providers who never asked for this, the bill passed without a single vote from Republican legislators.
For child care businesses, only providers whose clients pay with state assistance will be permitted to vote in the union election. However, the union representatives testified that, if a union is formed, they will lobby for new regulations that impact both licensed and unlicensed providers.
It is my fear that unionizing child care providers will reduce options and raise costs for working families. Providers shouldn't be put in the position of having to choose between caring for children of low-income families and joining a union. Throughout the debate at the Legislature, there was no evidence that this bill would increase the quality of care for Minnesota families.
Here is a quick video where I talk more about this issue on the House floor, including an amendment I offered to improve the bill by protecting providers who do not want to join the union.
K-12 EDUCATION
K-12 education makes up the largest part of our budget and the bill which passed this session is $15.6 billion. It is good to see the majorities continues some of the initiatives Republicans put forth two years ago, including early-learning scholarships. Where I disagree with the approach this bill takes is that it focuses too much on creating new offices and centers that will only serve to expand bureaucracy and micromanage our school districts. More central management is not what our districts need, rather they are asking for more local control and less mandates coming from the state. This legislation moves us in the wrong direction.
A couple other notable components in the K-12 bill impact property taxes and special education.
The property tax portion changes referendum revenue calculations from being based on the number of resident students within the district to being based on the number of students enrolled in the district. This would include counting open-enrolled students coming into district while excluding open enrolling students leaving the district. This provisions will negatively impact our local school district as it tends to attract open enrolled students because of our high performing schools.
As for special education, this bill changes the current law where school districts or charter schools bill the resident district of an open enrolled student for any unreimbursed special education costs. Under the new provision, the serving district where the open enrolled student is attending will be responsible for 10 percent of the unreimbursed special education costs, and bill back to the resident district the remaining 90 percent.
PUBLIC SAFETY
I was proud to support the public safety finance bill which had provisions to add extra protections for sexually exploited youth, supports for police officer training, emergency equipment for local officers and initiatives to fight human sex trafficking. These should absolutely be priorities of governement and I was happy to seem them in the budget priorities.
Thank you to all the people who provided me with outstanding input throughout the session. With the session having adjourned, my updates will be less frequent but I look forward to continued correspondence as we move through the interim and start laying the groundwork for the 2014 session, which starts next Feb. 25.
As always it is an honor to represent you and our great community at the State Capitol.
Have a good week and a great Memorial Day weekend!
Tara