Dear Neighbor,
The House majority has begun bringing a series of omnibus finance bills to the floor for votes of the full body. A dozen or so of these bills have been assembled to fund various aspects of state government and, collectively, form Minnesota’s budget for the next two years. In total, the budget bills House Democrats propose would increase state spending by 40 percent, spend the $17.5 billion surplus and raise taxes by billions of dollars (we’re still counting).
Omnibus finance packages related to higher education and Legacy Amendment funding were the first two budget bills approved by the House majority this week. Here’s a look at those and more from St. Paul:
Higher education bill
We want to fund higher education in Minnesota and we need to ensure we’re making the right investments in the right places. This bill the majority approved spends $4.2 billion and does more to fund administration than students. For example, the bill provides a $650 million (18.5%) increase in the next biennium as universities across the state are experiencing an average 6-7% drop in enrollment. This can only mean we are funding systems (administrative bloat), not students. We need to prioritize funding students’ education and keeping them safe, not paying executives.
Legacy bill
This bill totals $821 million, appropriating revenue raised by a three-eighths of one percent additional sales tax that was passed by Minnesota voters in the 2008 Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to the Minnesota Constitution (“Legacy Amendment”). Tax revenue is distributed into four funds as follows: 33 percent to the Clean Water Fund; 33 percent to the Outdoor Heritage Fund; 19.75 percent to the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund; and 14.25 percent to the Parks and Trails Fund.
A recent sexual harassment judgement against Honor the Earth (which Winona LaDuke led until last week) turned this bill contentious. A “treaty museum” owned by a sister non-profit that still has LaDuke on its board could have applied for Legacy funds despite the scandal, but House Republicans were successful in adding an amendment to the bill preventing that from happening.
Where’s the tax relief?
While bills to spend billions of taxpayer dollars continue coming to the House floor, tax relief remains glaringly absent from the majority’s proposals this session. For example, we’re now 15 weeks into the 2023 legislative session and the majority still has not fulfilled its promise to end the unnecessary state tax on Social Security – despite that massive surplus.
Elections bill
Minnesota has a long history of bipartisan support for elections bills that come out of this legislature and become law. This bipartisan support goes back decades through governors from three different parties that demanded that election bills that make it to their desk have bipartisan support. Our current governor also has said that he expects election bills to be bipartisan.
That is not the case with H.F. 3, a controversial bill related to elections the House majority approved this week despite zero Republican support. This bill is highly contentious because it regulates campaign speech, limits engagement in the political process, and threatens election integrity with automatic voter registration when you sign up for a driver’s license.
One of the main parts of this bill has to do with express advocacy, which relates to who must report to the campaign finance board. The lines on that subject have been crystal clear in the past, but this bill blurs those lines and, in fact, this issue is likely to be challenged in the courts, leaving our taxpayers to pay for a completely unnecessary lawsuit as the state defends something most people may not want.
The House’s work on elections should focus squarely on increasing public confidence in our system, particularly at a time when many of our citizens are questioning validity and the authenticity. This bill, unfortunately, does the opposite of increasing voter confidence and could further undermine the our state’s ability to ensure elections are fair and free.
Thanks for the continued support and, as always, your input is welcome.
Sincerely,
Lisa