Speaker of the House
Steve Sviggum

Every two years, Minnesota voters head to the polls to elect someone to represent them in the state House of Representatives. They expect that person to responsibly deal with the challenges confronting our state and to act in a way that represents their priorities. The House is referred to often as "the people's house" as it reflects the people's priorities.

Lawmakers are challenged this year to bridge the gap from the tough economic times we are facing today to a new time of prosperity and growth. Our response must be prudent, responsible and not compromise the state's ability to recover economically or provide critical services for which people rely on state government.

With the budget balancing plan put forth by House Republicans on Thursday, we have presented a plan that reflects the priorities of the people of Minnesota and bridges the gap. It balances the budget without raising taxes, cutting local classrooms, cutting nursing homes, or shifting the burden onto property taxpayers.

Minnesotans now have a choice. The Governor has recommended a major tax hike, cutting funds to schools while protecting the state bureaucracy, and shifting the deficit burden onto property taxpayers. The Senate DFL, while wisely opposing tax increases, ducks the problem by exhausting the state's reserves and not cutting spending enough to balance the budget in future years.

The House Republican plan relies on prudently tapping the state's reserves, cutting state spending by more than $650 million, and taking state government off of automatic pilot. Most Minnesotans don't know this, but each year the state budget automatically increases for inflation. By taking state government off of autopilot, we are in effect cutting $1 billion of future growth out of the budget.

Governor Ventura, on the other hand, uses a $1.8 billion tax increase to finance a state budget that continues to grow from $28 billion this biennium to nearly $31 billion the next. House Republicans and Senate Democrats agree that taking state government off autopilot is a responsible move and it is critical to controlling state spending.

In addition, we are proposing cutting $100 million in personnel by using a state hiring freeze, attrition and every other mechanism possible to avoid painful layoffs of state workers. Since the early 1980s, we have added 17,000 state employees and it is essential that we downsize the state bureaucracy. It is the responsible thing to do and we are proposing that it be done in the most compassionate way possible. The states of California, New York, Wisconsin, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina and others have hiring freezes in place as a responsible way to control costs.

The Governor has resisted a state hiring freeze for more than two months. In the month of January alone, the executive branch of state government added 479 new employees. Granted, some were part-time and temporary employees, but it shows this administration is not serious about downsizing the state bureaucracy.

During the recession of the early 1980s, the State of Minnesota reduced Minnesota's state workforce by 6.6 percent - or 4,060 positions. Now, 17,000 new employees later, we need to downsize once more to control costs and make state government more efficient.

In our budget plan, we protect local schools, nursing homes and local government aid by controlling the cost of government and reducing the size of the state workforce without increasing the tax burden on working Minnesotans.

Throughout the budget debate, there has been a lot of discussion about pain. The Governor brags that he spreads the pain to everyone with higher taxes and cuts to schools and local governments. The Senate DFL's plan merely avoids the pain by ducking the problem.

The House Republican plan bridges the gap between the Governor and Senate by protecting the people's priorities of schools and care for the elderly while not increasing the tax burden on working families.

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Text of this column is available by e-mail from dan.wolter@house.leg.state.mn.us or calling (651) 296-0640.