Session Approaches Final Week

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May 13, 2023

Executive Summary

• Conference Committee Update

• Defending Taxpayers

• Veterans Omnibus Bill

• Agriculture Omnibus Bill

• Higher Education Omnibus Bill

• Reauthorizing the Environment & Natural Resources Trust Fund

• Equal Rights Amendment Resolution

Conference Committee Update

Conference committees continued meeting and negotiating the final omnibus budget bills this week. Unfortunately, the DFL Trifecta continues to abuse its power and continues to try to silence the Minority. The Paid Family & Medical Leave Conference Committee was appointed this week and again the Speaker did not include a Republican Member, making a total of 4 Conference Committees without a Republican Member. This bill will increase taxes on employers and employees by over $1 billion in the next four years and Republicans will not even be in the room for the negotiations. 

This is wrong and it does not serve our state well. The Republicans in the House represent at least 48% of the voters in this state and our voices continue to be shut down and shut out.

Of the Conference Committees that do have a single Republican member, many are not including the Minority member in discussions to work out the differences between the House and Senate and many are failing to hold open meetings, as is required by our Joint Rules.

In both Higher Education and Early Childhood, the Conference Reports were finalized without the Minority member being included in (or even being made aware of) the meetings, which were also not held in public. The reports were filed without the Minority Member being notified a deal had been reached or asked to sign the conference report. 

This is a clear violation of the Joint Rules, which require that “all conference committees shall be open to the public” and that “actions taken shall be agreed upon in an open meeting.” We had a lengthy discussion of this violation of Joint Rules as part of the debate last night and this morning, finally getting the Majority to send the Early Childhood bill back to the Conference Committee so a proper open meeting could be held.

This is a “small” victory, but it is important for the institution. If the Majority cannot abide by its own rules and allow the voice of the Minority to be heard in public, it is not governing well.

Defending Taxpayers

Despite our $17.5 billion surplus, Democrats are passing budget bills that are expected to grow the state budget by 40% over two years and increasing taxes and fees by about $10 billion. This is fiscally irresponsible and is setting us up for a deficit in the next two or four years. I will continue to defend taxpayers and work to return the surplus, instead of making life more expensive for Minnesotans.

Veterans Omnibus Bill

We started the week with a great bipartisan bill to support our Veterans. The Veterans omnibus bill will provide bonuses for Veterans, construction of new military and museum facilities, a new Army Fitness Field House, and staffing for three new Veterans Homes.

Supporting those who risked their lives to defend our freedoms is so important. I'm so glad that we could deliver this critical support for our Veterans. 

I am also very glad that this was a “clean” omnibus that didn’t mix multiple subjects.  The first time this happened was last year, when Rep. Bob Dettmer, a Veteran, was retiring. He had advocated for a Veterans-only bill for years and they gave it to him as a parting nod to his service. It is a good sign that strong bipartisan support for a free-standing Veterans bill has continued this session!

Agriculture Omnibus Bill

On Thursday the House approved the Agriculture and Broadband omnibus bill. This bill was improved in the Conference Committee and had several provisions I supported, including more money for the grain indemnity account and DAIRI programs, as well as $100 million for broadband, which I support.

I am concerned, however, that this bill gives unconstitutional power to the Commissioner of Agriculture to raise the taxes/fees unilaterally, without first seeking approval from the Legislature, as is currently done.

There are a few bills this session that are ceding the power to raise taxes to unelected Commissioners and I will be opposing all of them. Article X of the Minnesota State Constitution permits the Legislature to grant taxing authority to local governments but otherwise, “The power of taxation shall never be surrendered, suspended or contracted away.”

Higher Education Omnibus Bill

This session, I sat on the Higher Education Committee for the first time, and I have really enjoyed learning more about the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State.

I was surprised and disappointed when the Higher Education omnibus returned from conference committee with a provision that was never heard in committee. The Conference Committee added language to provide free tuition to students whose families make less than $80,000 a year.

This new “North Star Promise Fee College Program,” which was never vetted, will cost taxpayers $117 million to serve approximately 15,000 students.

While I certainly want to make college more affordable and accessible for all families and students, this is not the best way to do it.

First, the program is a “cliff” – families that make $79,999 or less get free tuition, but those that make $1 more get nothing. Good fiscal policy uses a “phase-out”, not a “cliff” so it doesn’t disincentivize people to earn more money. If a family earns close to the cliff, but they have one or two college-aged children, it might make more short-run financial sense for them to not earn more than $79,999. Unfortunately, people’s prime earning years are usually about the same time that they have kids going to college and they need to maximize earnings in those years to save for long-term goals like retirement. This new cliff creates a disincentive to increase earnings at a time when most people should be maximizing earnings.

Second, it creates a significant new bureaucracy. It will cost more than $1 million to run this new program when we already have a very successful program that could simply be expanded.

The state already runs the State Grant Program, which provides grants to students to enable them to “close the gap” after they have received their federal Pell Grant and made their family contribution, which is a sliding scale, based on income and can be zero. This year, the state grant was capped at $16,106 for a four-year college or university and $6,484 for a two-year college. In addition to the State Grant to offset tuition, students are also eligible for a Living & Miscellaneous Expense (LME) grant, up to $11, 418.

If we want to help more families afford college, it would make much more sense to expand the eligibility for the State Grant Program, which has strong bipartisan support and proven success, rather than create a costly new program.

Creating this new program was not without trade-offs. In order to fund the $117 million, other programs were cut, including the State Grant Program, the tuition freeze at the University of Minnesota (which would have helped all students), grants to teacher candidates in shortage areas, grants to under-represented teacher candidates, the Next Generation Nursing Assistant Program, and more.

House Republicans are focused on putting students first and meeting the needs of our state’s workforce. By holding institutions accountable, we can ensure that college is affordable and that state resources are going to help as many students as possible. I voted no on this bill.

Reauthorizing the Environment & Natural Resources Trust Fund

This week I voted for a bill to create a constitutional amendment ballot question to reauthorize the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENTRF). If passed by the voters in the 2024 general election, it will also create a new community grant program. 

This fund supports activities that protect, conserve, preserve, and enhance the state's air, water, land, fish, wildlife, and other natural resources. Minnesota is blessed with rich natural resources and has broad bipartisan support. While I have concerns that the new grant program will divert money away from important projects to fund “pet projects” of those in power, I still supported this effort to continue our tradition of prioritizing conservation. 

Equal Rights Amendment Resolution

Finally, the House passed an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) Resolution this week. I voted against this resolution because it uses new gender-expansive language, rather than the original language, which focused on equality for women.

Minnesota passed the original language in 1973 and 38 states needed to ratify it by 1979. When that effort failed, Congress extended the deadline to 1982, but only 35 states met the new deadline.

Beginning in 2017 a new movement to get to 38 states to ratify began, but most legal scholars have argued the process needs to start over. Indeed, no less a feminist and legal icon than U.S. Supreme Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, stated in 2019:

“..there is too much controversy about late comers” and “I hope someday it will be put back in the political hopper, starting over again, collecting the necessary number of states to ratify it."

We need to take the process of amending the U.S. Constitution very seriously and follow the process the Constitution itself prescribes. Since this effort missed the deadline and the language has changed, a new amendment process should be initiated. 

Photos

So thankful for Veterans at Osseo/Maple Grove American Legion Post 172 who are great partners in the fight to let charities keep using “open-all e-pull tabs!” They have testified in Committee, held rallies & worked with other charitable gaming groups like Maple Grove Lions, Northwest Area Jaycees & local sports teams. These heroes want to continue meeting needs in our communities and are not giving up!

Happy to support a House Resolution reaffirming the sister-state relationship between the State of Minnesota and Taiwan! We were honored to have Jay Lin from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago accept the Resolution on behalf of Director General Johnson Sen Chiang. We look forward to continuing our strong trade and cultural ties!

Please Contact Me

Many of you have already been in touch to discuss your thoughts on the issues that matter most to you. Thank you for sharing your ideas! Please continue to contact me to discuss any matters to which I can be of assistance. I’d also love to meet you if you are coming to the Capitol!

The best way to reach me is by email: rep.kristin.robbins@house.mn.gov. For occasional updates, you can follow my Facebook Page at @RepKristinRobbins. You can also leave a voicemail on my office number, 651-296-7806, which is checked multiple times/week.

Have a great weekend!

Kristin

239 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, MN 55155
ph: 651.296.7806