Tom Saxhaug: End of Session Recap

End of Session Recap

The 2011 Legislative Session ended at midnight on Monday, May 23rd.  On Tuesday, the Governor vetoed the 9 budget bills that were presented in the last week of session.  There was no final budget agreement in the waning hours of the regular session.  Consequently, we will need to have a special session to balance the State Budget or we will end up in a government shutdown.  Governor Dayton moved from his original position of $3.35 billion in new revenue to a mix of $1.8 billion in new revenue and $1.8 billion in cuts.  The $1.8 billion in new revenue will only be generated from the top 2% of income earners in the State.  
The Republican controlled Legislature did not move from its original budget position, refusing to compromise in any way.  Some of the effects of their budget and the reasons that Governor Dayton vetoed the bills include:

• Increasing property taxes on homeowners, renters, and small businesses across the state by more than $1 billion over the next four years.
• Taking health care away from 140,000 Minnesotans, cutting $250 million from programs serving the elderly and disabled, and slashing funding for Minnesota hospitals by over $900 million.
• Cutting special education by $56.5 million.
• Making the biggest cuts to colleges and universities in our state's history – 14% from MnSCU and 19% from the University of Minnesota.
• Cutting funding to the DNR that will result in park closures during the summer, negatively affecting the tourism season that is one of the main economic drivers in our region.

Legislative Accomplishments

Even though the Legislature was unable to reach a compromise with the Governor on a balanced budget, there were important pieces of legislation that were passed in the 2011 session.  Below are the highlights of work accomplished for the citizens of Senate District 3:

• $100,000 grant from the Department of Agriculture to Lake of the Woods County. This is for a feasibility study, site identification and site preparation for a proposed biomass facility.
• Final legislation for the Highway 332 turnback in Koochiching County.  This will help with the county's transportation budget and economic development related to the Foreign Trade Zone near International Falls.
• The Aquatic Invasive Species language was part of the final Environment and Natural Resources Policy bill.  This will go a long ways towards stopping these non native species in their tracks, bringing this issue to the attention of the people of Minnesota, and getting tough on those who won't respect our natural resources.
• Language in the Agriculture bill will allow for counties to make improvements to their fairgrounds.  Aitkin County requested this legislation in order to exchange part of their county agriculture lands with an adjacent landowner.
• The Tax Policy bill which passed the final day of session contained language relating to a Tax Increment Financing shift for the City of Cohasset.  This will enable Cohasset to improve infrastructure related to economic development.

The Regular Session ended without a balanced budget and with fears of a government shutdown.  We sincerely hope it won't come to that and an agreement can be reached in June.