Local Legislators Key in on GOP Budget Bills as Deadlines Loom

 The Minnesota Senate, led by Sen. Amy Koch of Wright County, along with the Minnesota House, including District 19B Rep. Joe McDonald, both pitched bills that would cut deeper than Gov. Mark Dayton’s proposals last month.

Republican majorities in both the Minnesota House and Senate approved preliminary budgets that call for the state to collect $34 billion in revenue, adding money to what Sen. Amy Koch (R, Buffalo) called the “state checkbook” in hopes to not only solve the state’s $5 billion problem, but to help stem shortages in the future.
But that will come at a huge price, opposing lawmakers from the Minnesota DFL said, as cuts in higher education, local government aid and health and human services budgets pour salt into deep wounds created by former Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s “no new taxes” pledge the last eight years. That’s a mantra Republicans today are trying to cling to, as well.

“Raising taxes in this kind of economy isn’t a good idea for anyone, at any level. The governor wants to tax the rich, and we’ve seen how that has gone over with the public,” Koch told St. Michael Patch. “It’s not received well by those who want the state to create jobs.”

But Democrats say the proposal to continue to cut aid to Minnesota cities will just cause another jump in local property taxes, and that more cuts to higher education will create tuition hikes at Minnesota colleges and universities that have testified to Senate and House committees that they can’t “take anymore” for the team.

Gov. Mark Dayton’s plan actually called for more cuts (he’s said he’d revise some since the state’s budget revenues increased from $32 billion to $33 billion). But, he also called for more revenue with that added tax bracket on the state’s highest earners.

“That’s the largest tax increase in state history,” McDonald said in an e-mail to Patch. “His new top taxpayer tier would easily be America’s highest and the second tier of 10.95 percent all but equals the national leader. This would be damaging to our job creators at a time when Minnesotans want to get back to work.”

McDonald said the governor needs to look at slowing down spending, not seeking more revenue. Dayton’s tax increases, he added, allow the state to grow the budget “faster than Brett Favre played out his football career.”

Both sides look at continuing the $1.4 billion K-12 education accounting shift, a key part of solving the budget crisis at the end of the 2010 legislative session

The budget bills are in committee and being reviewed. A conference committee will hash out final numbers by the end of March.

For a closer look at the ins and outs of the Republican budgets, read more here.

In other news:

Rep Paul McDonald: The rookie legislator has introduced a number of bills that relate to his committee standing on health and human services. Two bills, H.F. 1057 and 1058, deal with state dental coverage for adults. Another, H.F. 668, looks at non-emergency transfer of medical patients. All can be seen at this link, which outlines bills McDonald has authored or co-authored.

Sen. Amy Koch: The Senate Majority Leader has spent a ton of time in front of cameras and media microphones explaining and defending the Senate GOP budget.

In the meantime, she is sitting on the Energy and Technology Committee that is examining lifting the state’s moratorium on coal plant construction, similar to legislative action she keyed to lift the moratorium on nuclear energy.

That nuclear effort, which passed the Senate and House, is in committee due to an attachment on the bill that did not pass muster with the Senate. It’s not known, even if the House and Senate work out the details on S.F. 4, if Dayton will sign the bill.

The Governor has said he has concerns about both waste and nuclear safety if the moratorium is lifted. Those concerns have only been stoked by the emergencies at Japanese energy plants created by the massive earthquake and tsunami Saturday, March 12.