Dear Neighbor,
The House has conducted a number of lengthy floor sessions this past week as the majority has brought their omnibus finance bills before the body for thorough debates and votes.
As the House Republican lead on Agriculture, I have been very interested in the omnibus bill containing that subject. On Thursday, the House approved an omnibus bill related to ag despite lacking the broad, bipartisan support packages on this subject typically receive from the body.
The agriculture section is a relatively small portion of our state’s overall budget, but it supports an important part of our state’s economy. I am satisfied with the funding components of this bill, including support it provides for retail service stations to handle higher blends of ethanol gasoline. I also am pleased with additional resources for farmers’ mental health and farm safety.
At the same time, there are concerning policy changes in this bill that make this bill more controversial than usual. For instance, a provision in the bill eliminates the Senate’s confirmation process for the governor’s appointments to the Board of Animal Health. This would eliminate legislative oversight and cede power to the governor. Another concerning provision strips the BAH of its authority to appoint the state veterinarian and provides the governor with that responsibility, a move which could politicize the position.
There are issues that need to be resolved with this bill and I am optimistic a conference committee will iron out those things before the bill comes back to the House for final passage. There is still a long way to go in the process and plenty of time to make this bill better so that it can gain bipartisan support for final passage. I will continue working to help make that happen and hope I can vote in favor of the ag bill next time.
A $30 million allocation for the Border-to-Border program, which expands high-speed internet access to unserved and underserved areas of the state, was added to the bill late in the committee process.
As for subjects of broader concern, the majority also on Thursday approved an omnibus tax bill that raises our taxes by more than $1 billion for the upcoming biennium. This is on top of the omnibus transportation bill they recently approved which raises taxes by $1.6 billion, including an increase to the gas tax.
The tax bill would give Minnesota the 2nd highest income tax rate in the country and directly impact many businesses who have been hit hard during the pandemic. It also fails to fully exempt forgiven Payment Protection Program loans struggling businesses received from the federal government. This means many businesses will still be taxed on forgiven PPP loans that were used to pay employees and keep their doors open during a difficult year.
As with the ag bill, the transportation bill, the tax bill and all the other omnibus bills now will be taken up by a conference committee to reconcile differences between House and Senate proposals. This really is the beginning of the negotiating process and I am hopeful the problematic provisions in the House’s packages are addressed in the coming weeks so we can find broad agreement on a new state budget and provide final approval before adjourning May 17.
Stay in touch and I will do my best to keep you in the loop as things unfold the next few weeks.
Sincerely,
Paul