Dear Neighbor,
The House has been bringing a series of supplemental omnibus budget bills to the floor this week. There are fiscal impacts in the legislation but, since our state is fully funded through June of 2017, the House plan has a net-zero impact on the bottom line.
This preserves our $900 million surplus for use on priorities such as tax relief and a long-term transportation plan later this session.
Here are overviews of the three supplemental bills we passed in the House this week.
K-12 and Higher Education
The House passed legislation which re-invests $56 million of K-12 cost savings back into programs proven to boost learning outcomes for students, innovative new proposals to bring broadband to students across the state, as well as programs to reduce Minnesota's teacher shortage and increase diversity in the state's teacher workforce. College students will save money through reforms that reduce the need for remedial classes, as well as a provision to increase awareness of loan forgiveness programs. The bill also expands higher education opportunities for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Health and Human Services, State Government Finance, and Public Safety
This package approved by the House focuses on increasing access and affordability of child care and health care in Minnesota, improving quality of life for Minnesota seniors and puts an end to the failing MNsure program. The latter transitions Minnesota to the federal exchange (because that seems to be the only alternative at this point), and makes several reforms to limit the state's ability to make future estate claims, reduce the MNsure premium withhold, and establish performance benchmarks that may result in additional premium withhold reductions if benchmarks are not met.
The state government finance portion includes eliminating non-essential travel, reduces salaries for top Dayton administration executives by 5 percent and implements a hiring freeze until the end of Fiscal Year 2017. One public safety measure orders the Commissioner of Corrections to attempt to purchase or lease-to-own the Appleton prison to reduce Minnesota's prison bed shortfalls.
Jobs, Agriculture & Environment
House legislation which passed on these subjects delivers the increases Minnesotans’ access to everyday necessities like clean water, broadband internet, housing and child care and addresses emerging issues like farm safety, livestock disease, economic disparities and potential state-incurred legal costs.
A new grant program is provided to assist Greater Minnesota communities struggling with child care shortages and the bill repeals the statute passed by Democrats in 2014 allowing for the unionization of independent day care providers. This repeal is in response to the overwhelming rejection of a union by Minnesota providers in an election earlier this year.
Ag provisions reprioritize unspent avian flu emergency response dollars passed last session to improve farm safety, including livestock disease prevention, and response funds in the event of a future agriculture crisis.
Look for more on these subjects as things develop in St. Paul. I will pass along more details, along with any updates on progress regarding taxes, transportation and/or this year's bonding bill.
Sincerely,
Bob