Legislative Update - May 11, 2009

This time of year is always a mess.  The legislative session ends at the same time as the graduations, Mother's Day, the opening of fishing, spring cleanup, you name it-it happens at the end of May.  It's that time. 

Last night a new tax conference committee was established to deal with the proposed tax increases by the legislature.  To put this in context, it's important to note that four major factors are being considered in the balancing of the state budget.  These include (1) tax increases; (2) shifts; (3) cuts; and (4) federal stimulus monies.  The new House and Senate conference committee on taxes agreed on several new taxes that will be considered by the full House and Senate sometime today. No matter how much the group talks about this, it still comes down to the fact that we are short of money.
The new tax bill raises approximately $1billion in new revenue.  (The new taxes are on high income, liquor and credit card companies.)   Over half of the money ($586 million) would go to the K12 budget.   

All of this activity may be short lived.  Assuming the bill passes and is forwarded on to the Governor he would most likely veto it.  He has said so repeatedly.  The question then will be whether the legislature accepts the Governor's bonding proposal to borrow the $1 billion over the next 20 years in a bonding proposal.    Legislators have the same level of excitement for the Governor's proposals as he has for theirs.
In the surreal component of this, the Governor starts his fishing opener activities today.  He broadcast his radio show from the shore of White Bear Lake, will attend fishing demonstrations and be filmed fishing tomorrow.  Meanwhile, the legislators will be at the Capitol carping that he should be here working with them.  It is the same every year.  Meanwhile, those of us that are dependent upon the legislature for our budgets await some decision on the final money decisions.    Most Minnesotans probably don't know that the legislature is in session.  Brett Favre's decision to stay retired for now has bigger media coverage than current legislative activities.
Remember that the House and Senate are about $500 million apart on K12 funding.  This is the major question that we are waiting on.

Behind the scenes significant discussions are taking place regarding the GRAD test fix.  Rep. Mariani has a proposal to give students breathing room-and allow them to graduate if they fail to pass the math test.  The department unveiled its position on the tests two days ago and it has not been positively received.  Testing experts, legislators, educators and legislative staff met at the department yesterday to try to come to some understanding of the right path to follow on this.  No agreement was reached but discussions continue today.  The Minnesota Business Partnership has been a key player in resisting modifications in this area.  This group has sway with the Governor and the Department.  Testing experts have been circulating emails regarding their concerns-which have been helpful.  This is one of the key issues in the K12 committee discussions. 

In the meanwhile, nothing has happened on the TRA portions of the pension bill as of this time.  The Principals' Academy funding is still intact.  Charter School athletics were included in the last House offer.  The bullying bill has not been taken up on the House floor.  The Type III school bus bill was signed by the Governor.

The House debated the important issue of cocoa bean mulch on Wednesday.  Apparently this mulch has some chemical that can kill your dog, and the bill required a warning to that effect when the mulch was sold.   During the debate, Rep. Emmer asked Rep. Hornstein what language the warning had to be in.  Rep. Hornstein replied that it would only be required in English.  Rep. Emmer noted that although his dog was very smart, he couldn't read English so how would it help him?