Special Session Update
The House came back on Monday for a special session to finish the budget. Although many of the budget bills are still being negotiated, we started considering the Energy, Commerce & Climate bill on Thursday and will also consider bills on Higher Education, Agriculture and Legacy Funding by early next week.
As I write this, it is 10:30 p.m. on Thursday night and we have been debating the Energy, Commerce & Climate bill for 12 ½ hours. The first 12 hours we fought to re-refer the bill to Committee to try to save the reinsurance program. That effort failed and now we are beginning work on 28 amendments. (Update: We adjourned at midnight and didn’t finish the bill; Friday morning, we started with the Agriculture bill).
Here is the current status on a few key issues:
Tax Bill: Although the language of the tax bill has not been released yet, the Tax Committee is going to have an informational hearing on Friday morning to give us an update on the agreement between the Chairs of the House and Senate Tax committee. As a member of the Tax Committee, I was not involved – or even informed – of the various offers that were being traded, so I am looking forward to see what the bill contains.
The summaries we received Friday morning showed two pieces of good news: 1) All of the DFL proposed tax increases on gas, income, business and estates are not included; and 2) retroactive state tax relief for PPP loans and federal supplemental unemployment benefits were included.
I am very pleased that businesses and unemployed Minnesotans won't be hit with tax increases on their Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) or unemployment benefits. Minnesotans depended on these funds to make ends meet. I am disappointed the Majority refused to get it done on time and that many Minnesotans had to pay extra to file extensions or, instead, paid the tax and will now have to wait for a refund. The concern now, is that it will take many weeks for the Dept. of Revenue to process the refunds for those who should get one – see recent article on this. I will keep working with my colleagues to get the Dept. of Revenue to get these refunds turned around quickly. Minnesotans have waited long enough to get this tax relief!
As I have said many times, the state doesn’t need any additional revenue from hard-working Minnesotans when we have a $4.4 billion surplus. Indeed, just last week, the state announced that revenues were an additional $1.8 million over projections in the month of May. There is no reason to raise taxes and I am glad those proposals are off the table
Ending Governor Walz’s Emergency Powers: On Monday, we voted for the 19th time to end the emergency powers. Cases are plummeting and vaccination rates continue to climb. As of this writing, 66% of Minnesotans have received at least one dose of the vaccine and 90% of the most vulnerable, those aged 65 and over, have received at least one dose.
Clearly, the period of emergency is over and the time has come for the Governor to relinquish his powers. The Legislature is a co-equal branch of government and should again fulfill our constitutional duties to appropriate money and set policy for the state. Ending emergency powers must be negotiated as part of the on-going budget negotiations.
Crime and Police Reform: Crime in the Metro area is skyrocketing. Violent crime spiked 21% in Minneapolis and 25% in St. Paul in 2020. As of May, Minneapolis has more than double the number of murders compared to a year ago. According to a new poll, 81% of Minnesotans are personally concerned about the rising level of crime in our state.
House leadership needs to support, not vilify, law enforcement officers who risk their lives to serve our communities. We need to focus on tackling rising crime, ending autonomous zones and restoring rule of law in our cities, and ensuring Minnesotans feel safe in their communities. My understanding is that negotiations on police reform issues are on-going but I am not aware of any details. I hope to have an update for you on this next week!
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