Dear Neighbors,
The House has passed several major funding bills in the areas of Health & Human Services, Public Safety, State Government, Environment, Agriculture, and Jobs & Economic Development in the last two weeks. These bills were passed in two major legislative packages which combined Health & Human Services, Public Safety, and State Government in one supplemental bill and Environment, Agriculture, and Jobs & Economic Development in the other. You can read the House Public Information summary of the good and bad in both of these bills by clicking the links above. These bills are now in conference committee, being compared to the Senate counterparts of the supplemental budget.
We also had a joint hearing of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee to hear a presentation on methods we might use to reform the way we set joint budget targets in Minnesota. The House and Senate set different spending amounts for their supplemental budget bills, called targets, and when members of the House and Senate come together in a conference committee to resolve the differences they must set a joint budget target for any money spent or reduced. Some feel that the process in place currently for setting that target is not as transparent as it could be, and there might be ways to improve the process for the benefit of the public. We heard about ways that other states set joint budget targets, and as a former chair of the Ways and Means Committee, I was listening closely for ways we can improve this process in the future.
To help keep track of all the moving parts in the final two weeks of the legislative session, you can always check House Public Information Services here. They do a great job of providing a summary of bills and votes with no partisan slant.
If you have any questions or concerns, you can also contact my office at 651-296-4255 or Rep.Lyndon.Carlson@house.mn .
It is an honor to serve you at the Capitol!
Sincerely,
Lyndon Carlson
State Representative