On the Issues

Budget

When last year's 2009 legislative session began, despite the deep and painful recession, I believed the public would have supported bold changes and shared sacrifices in a time of crisis. With a $6.4 billion deficit, we needed significant government reform, strategic cuts to programs and departments, and some increases in taxes. The Legislature offered numerous plans, but the governor refused to compromise, and instead, before negotiations and the session were over, made a decision to "unallot" - in other words to cut the budget by himself. It was clear that he overreached his authority using this statute (intended for emergencies or to address small budgetary shortfalls) and the court recently ruled in our favor - the House filed an Amicus Brief. The Governor has appealed the court's ruling, so we will have to see what happens.

In 2010, we had more bad news. The economy is slowly improving but revenue shortfalls in income and sales taxes means that we must erase a remaining $1.2 billion deficit. The outlook for the next biennium looks equally bleak - state economists are predicting another $5-$6 billion deficit. We can't cut and tax our way out of this economic crisis. In my view everything should be on the table - including tax increases, targeted cuts, and government reform.

Taxes

Whether you are a senior living on a fixed income, a two-income family, or an individual whose wages simply haven't kept up with increasing costs, rising property taxes can seriously limit your ability to meet basic needs, such as food, clothing, and health care. This has been especially difficult in St. Paul - last year, due to a reduction in Local Government Aid (LGA) the City hiked property taxes to provide essential services.

Last session, I was chief author of a bill that would have rolled back the 1999 income tax cuts that benefited the wealthiest Minnesotans. I still believe this is the right and fair thing to do. While this will not be enough to resolve our massive deficit, it will help. We should also consider other tax reforms that assist small businesses to create jobs. We must make bold changes in our tax system to avoid continued boom and bust cycles by having a more stable source of revenue.

E-12 Education

Another area of particular concern to me is the financial struggles many school districts are confronting in order to provide Minnesota's children with the quality education they deserve. In St. Paul, our district is facing a $25 million dollar deficit, in part because of the Governor's refusal to consider any new revenue.

I am a co-author of the New Minnesota Miracle, the most comprehensive education finance reform effort in decades. The funding reform would have provided needed investments for our children's education in a fair and equitable manner while providing substantial property tax relief. Given the economic crisis and the Governor's refusal to negotiate a balanced budget bill, the Minnesota Miracle did not advance.

In the House, we passed a K-12 bill without making cutsÑbut we relied on Federal Stabilization money to plug the gaps and we delayed payments to school districts. This year's legislation was a short-term fix and it didn't account for inflation leaving our schools districts in dire shape. This is unacceptable. Tom Stinson the State economist has repeatedly talked about the importance of investing in education during a recession and Art Rolnick, Director of Research at the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis has encouraged the State to invest in early education programs. For our children's future and for Minnesota's future we must change course and adequately fund education at all levels.

Higher Education

In part due to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Legislature held down tuition increases at the University of Minnesota and MnSCU. The U of M was directed not to increase student tuition to exceed $300 million per year, and tuition increases at MnSCU campuses cannot exceed 3% per year. The Governor's plan would have increased tuition by 15-18% a year!

I have long maintained that higher education is the economic engine that fuels our economy. We have a great university and college system, but the percentage of State funding to higher education has continued to decline under the Pawlenty administration.

In 2011, we will hopefully pass the Capital Investment Bill that will fund asset preservation and replacement of buildings at our colleges and universities and continue funding for research facilities.

Creating Jobs

The U.S. economy is expected to lose 7 million jobs in 2010. This is the worst recession since the Great Depression caused by failed regulatory policies and abuses in the financial sector. In Minnesota, the manufacturing and construction sectors have been particularly hard hit and the recovery will be slow. This does not mean that the State can't be proactive and try to stimulate the economy.

While tax incentives (smoke stack chasing) have limited value, we can pass a large Capital Investment Bill when the session begins in February. The bonding bill w provide numerous projects that would put people back to work immediately while investing in Minnesota's infrastructure.

We can also focus on rebuilding human capital by retraining workers and education at all levels. We can help local governments maintain services and prevent layoffs through Local Government Aid (LGA) unfortunately; the Governor continues to target LGA in his budget reduction action through unallotment. We should resurrect the MEED program from the 1980's that subsidize and targeted jobs that helped employees and employers alike.

Transportation

In 2008, by partnering with business organizations, labor, environmental and conservation groups, the Legislature was able to enact a transportation package that stimulated the economy, improved the safety of our state's roads and bridges and took a giant step to fund mass transit as we prepare for 250,000 people moving into the metropolitan area in the next twelve years. The Transportation Bill provided a $6.6 billion investment in roads, bridges and transit over the next 10 years. A broad coalition of Minnesotans, including Democrats and Republicans, came together in support of this responsible investment in order to address a transportation crisis. The collapse of the I-35 Bridge was a tragic reminder of what can happen when we ignore our infrastructure. The Chamber of Commerce stated, "The Transportation Bill demonstrates to the public leadership on transportation, and should increase their confidence in our state's transportation system."

The last piece of the puzzle appears to be solved as we move forward with the Central Corridor light rail line down University Avenue that I believe will transform that corridor and with the start North Star rail commuter line from Minneapolis to Big Lake. We have begun moving closer to connecting the metropolitan area with a multi-model transportation systemÐsafe roads and highways, LRT and commuter rail, high speed rail, and bicycle lanes.

Health Care

Thousands of Minnesotans are being financially squeezed as the cost of their health insurance outpaces their wages. For others, the prohibitive cost of health insurance simply prices them out of the insurance market altogether leaving them uninsured.

Through unallotment the Governor eliminated the General Assistance Medical Care (GMAC) program that provides health care to the poorest of the poor. We tried to override the Governor's veto, but did not get one Republican to side with us. The Health and Human Services Committee has been exploring some possible solutions to restoring the programÑcutting health care to the poor simply means that people will not get needed medical attention or will end up in emergency rooms at Region or HCMC costing county taxpayer more money in uncompensated care.

I am a co-author of the MN Health Plan (single payer) the state version of a public option. We are slowly gaining momentum with this bill. We have made significant reforms around prevention in Minnesota, but too many people still can't afford health care coverage.

Environment, Energy and Natural Resources

The public approved the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Constitutional Amendment that increased the sales tax that began to generate new monies for the environment, conservation and the arts.

The Legislature also funded an assessment of surface water quality testing, sewage treatment system inventories and passed the Mississippi River Critical Act, Greenhouse Gas Emissions reporting, funding for invasive species management, and regulation for composting yard wastes.

While we didn't stop ethanol subsidies like I had hoped, I was pleased that the Legislature began to debate the merits of subsidizing the profitable ethanol industry and we were able to expose some of the myths that ethanol is better for the environment and saves energy. While there is certainly a place for bio-fuels, the unintended consequences of this industry on the environment and rising costs of food production must be part of the discussion for any future expansion of alternative energy.

Public Safety

As Chair of the Public Safety Finance Committee, I was very proud of our work setting our budget in these difficult times - we were forced to make some difficult cuts from public safety to help balance the budget. In particular, cuts to the courts and public defenders will present challenges for the criminal justice system, yet we kept the reduction to 1%. Similarly, we held the Department of Corrections harmless and insisted that any reductions that are made will not mean cuts to prison guards and treatment programs.

We also managed to stave off reductions to battered women, sexual assault and general crime victims programs in part with federal stimulus monies.

I was the chief author of a bill to end the loophole that allows unlicensed gun dealers to sell firearms with a background check. The bill was designed to keep firearms out of the hands of felons, people with mental health problems and those convicted of domestic assault. Unfortunately, the NRA misrepresented the bill and it did not pass on the House floor. I intend on bringing the bill back during the next session.

The Governor unfortunately made large cuts to the Department of Human Rights through unallotment.

Veterans

Despite a record shortfall, the Legislature didn't forget its veterans and the National Guard. Veterans homes were increased by $4.4 million, or 5.3% and the Veterans Services programs were increased by $1.7 million, or 6.1%.