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March 5, 2021

Forecast: $1.6 Billion Surplus 

Last week, Minnesota Management and Budget released the February forecast, which showed a $1.6 billion dollar surplus for the state of Minnesota.

Our last forecast revealed a deficit but the better-than-estimated tax receipts during the last few months—taxes paid by the hardworking Minnesota taxpayers— shows us that Minnesota's economy is bouncing back, and it will continue growing if we let it.

This should put to end any thought of raising taxes on struggling Minnesotans this legislative session. It's time for the Democrat House, Republican Senate, and Governor Walz to come together and negotiate a budget that uses available funds before tax increases, while fixing things like unfairly taxing struggling businesses who received PPP loans from the Federal Government.  

Businesses and family budgets are still hurting all across our state, and now is not the time to raise taxes across all income levels. With the end of the need for lockdowns due to COVID-19 in sight, it's time to end the governor's unilateral powers and allow Minnesotans to get back to living.

Exempting PPP from MN Taxes

Without legislative action, Minnesota will be one of the only states in the upper Midwest to impose these taxes on businesses who received forgivable PPP loans. Right now, Minnesota is truly an island on this issue in the upper Midwest. 

On Monday, House Taxes Lead Rep. Greg Davids (R) sent a letter to Chair Marquart urging quick action to address this issue, and issued a press release along with the letter later in the day.

Chair Marquart was quoted in the Star Tribune recently as saying he laid the bill over so they could "see how the finances look" — with a $1.6 billion surplus, it's obvious the finances look good, and there's plenty of money available to eliminate state taxes on forgiven PPP loans. Gov. Walz has also signaled support for the measure, saying "it's not intended to punish those very businesses it helped," and replying "yeah, we need to find a solution" when asked directly if he supported exempting PPP loans.

I fully support these efforts to conform to the federal code on this issue and will work to make sure this gets done as soon as possible. I will keep you informed as we make (hopefully quick) progress on this important issue. 

Update on Local School Plans

This past week, I had a nice conversation with Lisa Sayles Adams, Superintendent of ISD 112, and Celi Haga, Director of Communications and Community Relations for our School District. I have been wanting to meet with Superintendent Adams for some time, but waited to give her some time to settle into her new position. It was nice to talk with her, and welcome her to our community.

We talked about eastern Carver County, our school system, and the challenges that face our district. For example: they are working to move ahead with increasing in-person learning.

As of Feb 1, K-5 was full-time in-person, and Middle Schools were running a hybrid that is approaching 50% in-person. I hope that progress will continue to expand, for the sake of our children. Strategic planning is continuing. Enrollment is down. Mental health concerns continue for our children.

Vaccinations for staff are occurring, and that pace should continue to expand. I am proud to have co-authored a bill naming teachers as essential employees, thus moving them higher in the vaccine priority line. 

Vaccine Update Timeline & Guidance

Over 948,000 Minnesotans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 Vaccine but hundreds of thousands of seniors, teachers and others in the current priority pool are still waiting.

Last Thursday, the path forward was clarified on how to vaccinate the remaining Minnesotans who want to receive the vaccine. Minnesota will not move on to the next category of eligible recipients until 70% of seniors 65+ get a vaccine. At current levels of supply, we are expected to hit that mark before the end of March and then move on to other priority groups. The vaccine is expected to be available to the general public this summer. This timeline does not take into account increased manufacturing efficiency of current vaccines to increase supply and also does not consider the Johnson and Johnson vaccine that was recently approved for emergency use. 

For weeks many health experts have been pushing Gov. Walz for a focused approach on seniors for vaccination. This new announcement and plan is a step in the right direction, as it is finally committing to prioritizing those who are most vulnerable to COVDI-19. Vaccinating our seniors will lead to a dramatic drop in deaths and serious cases of illness. 

Vaccinating these vulnerable groups should allow us to continue safely reopening our economy in the coming weeks as cases and deaths continue to drop.

Earlier this week, AARP Minnesota sent a letter criticizing the Walz administration about their handling of vaccine distribution, saying it left many Minnesota seniors feeling "frustrated and confused." 

With the rapid availability of new information on COVID-19 and the vaccine process, it is best to check the following links regularly for updates:

• Vaccine Connector

• Minnesota COVID-19 Dashboard 
• MN Vaccine Data
• Carver County COVID-19 Dashboard
• Minnesota Department of Health: Find my Vaccine
• Carver County Vaccine Information 
• Veterans Affairs Health Care System 

If you have a link to local information that would be helpful to add to this list, please send that information my way. I will keep this section as a fixture on future updates. 

Please Contact Me

Please stay in touch and let me know if there is any way I can assist in overcoming this challenge. You can always reach me at 651-296-5066 or rep.greg.boe@house.mn. 

Sincerely,

Greg

313 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, MN 55155
ph: 651.296.5066