Dear Neighbor,
The House majority has spent this week bringing a series of omnibus bills to the floor for votes on preliminary approval before conference committees work on them to resolve differences between what they and Senate Republicans propose.
Let’s pray the Senate is successful in eliminating an endless list of problematic provisions House Democrats have approved so these bills come back in much better shape for votes on final approval. There are a lot of wide gaps to negotiate and loose ends to tie down before the Legislature adjourns on May 23 and time will tell what transpires. As I noted in my last email, this is not a budget year so there is not a state shutdown looming if no agreements are reached.
Omnibus packages with provisions related to K-12 education, the Legacy Amendment and agriculture were among the first to come to the House floor this week. Each of them include misguided state spending and a host of state mandates, setting a theme for what House Democrats propose throughout their omnibus bills this year.
On education, they loaded their bill with provisions that take power away from parents and place it in the hands of bureaucrats while forcing politics into classrooms. Their package on agriculture includes an 81-percent spending increase while eliminating an important tool for farmers that helps them manage their fertilizer applications.
And, on Legacy, the House majority has engaged in another land grab with the state using over-collected tax dollars to purchase thousands more private acres. The bill also funds numerous projects that have not been thoroughly vetted and have not been recommended by the Clean Water Council. They read as a wish list of the House committee’s chair.
Bills already in the hands of conference committees include one providing drought relief to farmers and another that would repay the deficit in Minnesota’s unemployment insurance trust fund to reverse the recent tax hikes that hit Minnesota employers.
The main point of contention on drought relief is House Democrats unnecessarily added $13 million in DNR tree funding to their version of the bill. Similarly, House Democrats complicated matters by piling more than $1 billion in frontline worker funding onto what was a clean Senate unemployment insurance bill.
On a quick side note, flood relief could become an issue soon. I am hearing concerns from officials in Clearwater County and elsewhere that may need to be addressed as things play out this spring.
Watch for more as things develop in St. Paul and let’s hope Senate positions prevail on these omnibus packages.
-Steve