Saxhaug Capitol Update: Conference Committee Reports nearly completed

Conference Committee Reports nearly completed

As we head into the final week of session, the Legislature is getting closer to presenting its budget to the Governor.  The Senate and House have finalized the majority of their conference committees.  Once those are completed and all the conference committee reports are passed on to the Governor, the Legislature will have its position for final negotiations.  There is still an approximate three billion dollar difference between what the Legislature is proposing and the Governor's budget recommendations.
Northern Minnesota is going to be negatively affected by whatever budget solution is passed.  The Sustainable Forest Incentive Act (SFIA), Local Government Aid (LGA), County Aid programs, Market Value Credit, Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) and the Environment and Natural Resources Budget are critical to maintaining our way of life, and the budget being adopted does serious damage to those programs.  Below is a list of the major cuts that we stand to face:

• The SFIA program is repealed in the Omnibus Tax Bill (House File 42) voiding all contracts currently in place.
• PILT is cut 12% in the Omnibus Tax Bill (HF 42) resulting in property tax increases in counties that have public land.
• LGA, County Aid and the Market Value Credits are reduced by almost $487 million in the Omnibus Tax Bill (HF 42) which will result in cuts to essential services like Police and Firefighters for rural communities across the State.
• The cuts to the forestry budget in the Environment and Natural resources Budget Bill (HF 1010) will result in reductions of foresters working for the DNR and 250,000 fewer cords of wood being put up for sale – a 31% reduction to the 4th largest industry in the State.
• The Parks and Trails budget in the Environment and Natural Resources Budget Bill (HF 1010) is cut by $7.3 million.  This will result in DNR staff reductions, closing State Parks and have a negative effect on our tourism industry which creates $11 billion in revenue and almost $700 million in sales tax each year.

With seven days until adjournment of the Regular Session, I am still hopeful that a balanced approach can be reached and some of these cuts can be modified.

Final Issue:

A recap of the final budget solution and the 2011 Regular Legislative Session

Senator Saxhaug greeted the 6th grade students from McGregor Elementary during their visit to the State Capitol