Greetings from the Floor,
The Legislature passed seven omnibus budget bills this week including Transportation, Taxes, Health and Human Services, State Government Finance, Environment and Natural Resources, Agriculture and K-12 Education. The major budget bills that remain are Jobs and Energy, Higher Education, Public Safety and Legacy. Negotiations between the Legislature and Governor Dayton took place during the early part of the week, but broke down by mid-week. This led to the legislative majorities passing budget bills off the House and Senate floors. Today, the governor vetoed five of those bills (Health and Human Services, State Government Finance, Environment and Natural Resources, Agriculture and K-12 Education). With the fishing opener on Saturday and Governor Dayton spending the day with Speaker Daudt and Senate Majority Leader Gazelka, I hope real progress can be made early next week to resolve budgetary differences and wrap up the state’s business before the constitutional date of adjournment.
Several bills passed off the House floor this week pertaining to technical policy provisions for transportation, civil law, health and human services, commerce and the state lottery. A couple more notable bills were HFs 399 and 1001. HF 399 would limit severance pay to “highly compensated state employees” (those making at least 60% of what the governor makes) to the lesser of six months’ pay or 35% of unused sick time. HF 1001 would require legislative approval of new state agency codes and rules for housing construction if the new codes and rules would add at least $1,000 to the cost of a new home. I did vote for both bills. Although I don’t view efforts to involve the Legislature in more state agency code and rule making positively, because of the increased government and politicizing it would add to the processes, I’m concerned about new residential housing construction codes and rules that may put our district at a disadvantage for attracting growth in the area. We must approach this subject with a common-sense, cost-benefit analysis of what is best for consumers and the industry.
Thank You for the Opportunity to Serve,
Ben