Friends,
It's been a busy last month. Before we headed back home for Passover and Easter break we passed all of our key budget bills that will set the budget for Minnesota for the next two years. Since then the House and Senate have been negotiating in conference committees. Unfortunately, Governor Dayton has decided to not fully engage in the process and instead wait until the end result to fully negotiate. While this is disappointing, the House and Senate is committed to getting our work done and in that effort we announced joint budget targets this week which can be read in the chart below. See that and more in my update below. Have a great week!
Joint Budget Targets Set
As you can see, the House and Senate have come to agreements on funding priorities while still returning over a billion dollars in long overdue tax relief and reform to Minnesotans. We have also dedicated $372 million in new transportation funds and dedicated $1.14 billion in new education funding.
Again, it's unfortunate that Governor Dayton has declined to fully participate in the process. But with these budget targets set, our hope is that Governor Dayton will come to the table so we can get our work done in a transparent and open process. It's not in the best interest of Minnesotans for the Governor to not participate in the process, veto bills that he declined to have a hand in negotiating, and then have us all start back over. I have hope we will get all our work done on time but to do that, we will need the Governor to engage.
Conference Committee Process
The conference committee process can be confusing to people who don't spend significant time around the Capitol. They take place when the House & Senate pass different versions of bills. You can read an article that House Public Services put together about the whole conference committee process here.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at 651-296-5513 or emailing me at rep.mark.uglem@house.mn.
Thank you and have a great week,
Mark