Dayton signs slew of bills

Posted at 3:56 PM on May 23, 2013 by Tim Pugmire (0 Comments)
Filed under: Mark Dayton, MN Legislature

Gov. Mark Dayton has signed the tax bill and the budget bills that state lawmakers sent to him in the closing hours of the 2013 session.

A news release from the governor's office today said he signed the bills to finance environment/agriculture, jobs/economic development, health/human services, public safety/judiciary, state government/veterans and transportation.

The tax bill will raise $2 billion in new revenue, most of which comes from increases in the income tax for top earners and the cigarette tax.

He also signed bills signed relating to data practices, election law changes and public pensions.

Earlier in the day, Dayton signed a bill allocating Legacy amendment sales tax revenue after vetoing two projects it would've funded. He signed the E-12 education bill Wednesday during a brief ceremony at the State Capitol.

Dayton strikes two projects from legacy bill

Posted at 11:56 AM on May 23, 2013 by Tim Pugmire (0 Comments)
Filed under: MN Legislature, Mark Dayton

Gov. Mark Dayton used his line-item veto authority to remove two contentious projects from the Legacy Bill passed by lawmakers on the final day of the session.

Dayton removed a $6.3 million allocation for metropolitan regional parks and $3 million to stop aquatic invasive species, according to a statement released by his office this morning.

Several legislators, the Nature Conservancy and nearly two dozen other habitat and sportsmen's groups had requested the projects be removed, because neither was endorsed by the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, which is a citizens panel that helps to decide how legacy amendment sales tax revenue is spent.

In a letter (posted below) to House Speaker Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, Dayton said the decision was extremely difficult.

"I have given contradictory assurances to legislators during the past few days and to thousands of Minnesotans during the past few years," Dayton wrote. "I have decided that I must honor my promise to those citizens."

Dayton also noted a high level of acrimony and distrust between legislators and concerned citizens over the issue.

"The bitterness is not about the merits of the two projects I am vetoing, but rather the way in which they were added and other significant changes proposed to the House bill."

Dayton also recommended that the leadership of the House Legacy Committee, which is chaired by Minneapolis DFL Rep. Phyllis Kahn, repair its relations with the Lessard-Sams council and outdoors groups.

Kahn said the advisory group rejected the proposal without recognizing its benefits; she said the metro area provides important habitat.

"The metropolitan area is a major part of the Mississippi flyway, which is the most internationally renowned part of Minnesota state's natural heritage map," Kahn said. "That duck that gets shot in Crow Wing County probably stopped for lunch and breakfast in Hennepin County and Dakota County."

MPR reporter Stephanie Hemphill contributed to this report.

Dayton strikes two projects from legacy bill by Minnesota Public Radio

Dayton signs education funding bill

Posted at 12:56 PM on May 22, 2013 by Tim Pugmire (0 Comments)
Filed under: MN Legislature, Mark Dayton

Gov. Mark Dayton says the education funding bill he signed into law today is one of the primary reasons for raising taxes this session.

The bill provides $485 million in new spending for public schools, including early childhood education scholarships, all-day kindergarten and a bump in the basic per-pupil formula. Dayton said while more money for education doesn't guarantee success, less money would guarantee failure.

"This is why we raised taxes progressively," Dayton said. "So that we could deal with the deficit, pay that off without having to make more draconian cuts, such as these programs here that would have been inevitably affected by that, and have the resources to make these new investments that are going to pay off for Minnesotans, for middle income families and for people throughout the state."

Sen. Chuck Wiger, DFL-Maplewood, said the bill he worked on as chair of the Senate Education Committee helps to turn the financing tide of the past decade by making needed investments in schools.

"This is the best education bill to be signed in Minnesota history," Wiger said.

Many Republican lawmakers opposed the E-12 bill.

Rep. Kelby Woodard, R-Belle Plaine, described the bill as empty slogans and promises. He said Democrats are increasing funding, but doing little to improve the current education system.

"We're just taking more money and putting it into the programs that have given us the same results over the last decade," Woodard said.

Woodard and other Republicans are also critical of the bill's repeal of the current tests required for high school graduation. Gov. Dayton said those tests are "onerous" and "absurd," and will be replaced with a better system for measuring student performance.

Dayton hails results of session

Posted at 12:05 PM on May 21, 2013 by Mike Mulcahy (1 Comments)
Filed under: MN Legislature, Mark Dayton

Gov. Mark Dayton talked about the legislative session with reporters today as Sen. Katie Sieben, DFL-Newport, looked on. Photo: Tim Nelson

From MPR's Tim Nelson:

Gov. Mark Dayton says the just-concluded legislative session was a landmark.

This morning he touted results including statewide all-day kindergarten and financial support for Rochester to help with the Mayo Clinic's Destination Medical Center plan.

"When people asked me last fall what would happen when we had a DFL legislature and a DFL governor, I said one word: progress," Dayton said. "And that's what we've brought about in the last five months."

Dayton and DFL leaders said legislation passed this year will also give Minnesotans property tax relief, a fairer income tax system with higher taxes on top-tier earners, a two-year tuition freeze for University of Minnesota and MNSCU students and tax incentives to create private sector jobs.

Republicans decried the results, much of which happened without any GOP support.

"We started with a $627 million budget problem and Democrats solved it by raising sales, income and business taxes that everyone will pay," said Senate minority leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, ahead of a statewide barnstorming tour.

"Unfortunately, everyone will pay more because of the Democrats' overreaching."

Republicans were particularly critical of the Legislature's passage of a bill authorizing day care workers and personal care assistants to vote to join a union. Republicans called it "political payback" to unions looking to expand their reach in the state's workforce.

Legislative leaders said they didn't overplay their political hand, but corrected a long-standing imbalance, marked by chronic budget crises for the state.

"I think this is a Legislative session where we really turned the corner," said House Speaker Paul Thissen. "We did finally get past the partisan gridlock and balance our budget without gimmicks in a fair and lasting way. And that is going to be a lasting legacy."

Dayton was also critical of Republicans for not agreeing to a proposed $800 million state borrowing bill. Lawmakers could only agree to a pared-down version that funds Capitol restoration work, improvements to the Minneapolis Veterans home and flood protection in northwest Minnesota.

Dayton said the state should have done more.

"The Republicans wouldn't pass a bonding bill that had all these economic development projects, the Mayos of these small towns; Fosston and St. Cloud, Mankato. Not so small. But those were the equivalent projects. And they just turned them all down," he said. "They don't believe there's any role for government in positive economic development, and they're wrong."

The state's Independence Party was also critical of the results of the legislative session.

"The 2014-2015 budget still does not address that the debt that this state incurred to our schools in 2012-2013. Republicans and Democrats are both complicit in it. They both passed imbalanced budgets," said party chair Mark Jenkins.

He called on state leaders to pay back the so-called school shift by Dec. 1, or the party would file a lawsuit to ask the court to balance the state budget.

The Dayton administration isn't worried about the potential suit.

"The budget is absolutely balanced, it's absolutely constitutional," said state budget director Jim Schowalter. "Simple timing of payments has been found under the purview of the Legislature and the governor for years."