Friends and Neighbors,
We have spent another busy week in conference committee negotiations. House and Senate leadership announced our joint budget target numbers today, and conference committees in each area will be working within these numbers in coming to final agreements.
Below are the targets agreed upon by both House and Senate leadership; specific budget items in each of the categories will be determined by conference committees as they continue to meet.
It was the hope of House and Senate leadership that the Governor would participate in budget target discussions and announced a three-way agreement on these numbers. Unfortunately, Governor Dayton announced he would not release his own budget targets until House and Senate joint targets were announced.
This brings us to a larger issue, which is Governor Dayton’s lack of participation up to this point in budget negotiations. As I have mentioned before, policy and budget bill deadlines were set significantly earlier this session in order to allow more transparent negotiations in the legislature, and with the Governor specifically.
In addition, Governor Dayton has not empowered his commissioners from various departments to negotiate on his behalf. We are ready and willing to work with Governor Dayton to come to a compromise for Minnesotans that he is willing to sign into law.
If you have time, please contact the Governor’s Office and ask that Governor Dayton negotiate with the legislature to pass a budget compromise.
Sincerely,
Sondra