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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Ben Lien (DFL)

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Legislative Update - February 26, 2016

Friday, February 26, 2016

Greetings from Moorhead,

Minnesota Management and Budget released the February budget forecast today and downgraded our surplus by $306 million to $900 million.  Some reasons for the downgrade were lower than expected income growth (slowing income tax revenue) and taxable sales.  This is a change from the November forecast as higher than expected sales and corporate tax collections led to the higher surplus three months ago. 

Our state’s economy and budget are still healthy.  We need to be sure any tax cuts and supplemental budgeting done in 2016 are going to grow our economy through targeted investments. We need to be sure our economy is working for all Minnesotans, no matter what part of the state we live.  I have spent the last couple of months looking into developing ways to encourage more cooperation between private sector employers and our higher education system, specifically our 2-year community and technical colleges.  This is just one example how we can use the resources we have to grow our economy for all Minnesotans.

Governor Dayton’s Water Summit will take place tomorrow in St. Paul.  The summit was called by the governor to discuss issues pertaining to Minnesota’s water supply and quality.  For those who cannot make it to St. Paul for the summit, the governor’s office announced online options will be available for folks to participate. 

Some of the online options are live streams, a public forum and an online survey.  The summit will begin at 9:00 with opening comments from Gov. Dayton, which will be live streamed.  For more information and links to the online options, please go tohttp://mn.gov/governor/blog/the-office-of-the-governor-blog-entry-detail.jsp?id=102-179036

Thank You for the Opportunity to Serve,

Ben