Greetings –
We completed our special session work in the early hours of Saturday morning, and the governor has now signed our complete budget for the upcoming biennium. The strong bipartisan support for our five special session bills, and for our budget package as a whole, has demonstrated that balanced government is good for Minnesota.
The five budget bills passed on Friday night and into early Saturday morning were:
E-12 Education
Our newly-passed E-12 Education budget contained a $125 million increase over the vetoed bill, totaling $525 million in new spending. We delivered on the two percent increase to the formula, which school districts requested, and increased funding by $95 million for pre-K scholarships and school readiness programs versus implementing statewide pre-K.
The E-12 Education budget passed the House 115-10, and the Senate 53-12.
Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources
You may have noticed a sharp increase in the costs of eggs and poultry over the past few weeks – a byproduct of the avian flu crisis. Included in our Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources bill was $23 million in funding to state agencies to help combat the crisis. This funding will help us to better support our farmers as they recover from the impacts of avian flu on their poultry operations. The bill also includes funding for local control over Soil and Water Conservation District projects, and reforms to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Department of Natural Resources.
The Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources bill passed the House 78-47, and the Senate 38-29.
Job Growth and Energy Affordability
The Job Growth and Energy Affordability bill remained relatively unchanged from the original, bipartisan bill. It contained $10.6 million of funding for broadband infrastructure for Greater Minnesota, as well as $1.8 million for job training grants, as well several other great proposals to improve Minnesota’s workforce. To combat the avian flu crisis, the Job Growth and Energy Affordability bill contained special unemployment insurance for those laid off as a result of the crisis.
The Job Growth and Energy Affordability bill passed the House 78-47, and the Senate 50-14.
Legacy
The Legacy bill contains allocations of constitutionally-designated sales tax dedicated to improving Minnesota’s natural resources. During the final days of the legislative session, the House passed the Legacy bill, while the Senate did not. The bill was passed by both bodies in the special session. It included clean up and protection plans for Minnesota waterways and cost saving measures for taxpayer-funded programs that no longer fulfill their duty.
The Legacy bill passed the House 116-6, and the Senate 54-10.
Capital Investment
The bipartisan Capital Investment bill includes more than $370 million for projects across the state of Minnesota, including $140 million for the reallocation of Highway 53 in Virginia. The highway has interrupted the workflow of a local mining company, so the company is exercising their right to have the highway moved to resume business as usual. The bill also includes $27 million for two agriculture research labs – a modernization of veterinary laboratories and a veterinary isolation facility at the University of Minnesota, and improvements to the University of Minnesota poultry testing laboratory in Willmar. Funding both of these laboratories will help us better combat and understand the avian influenza crisis. Additionally, the bill includes $32 million for transportation projects, $23 million for disaster relief and flood prevention, and $33 million for Capitol renovations
The Capital Investment bill passed the House 96-25, and the Senate 48-18.
Please continue to stay in touch throughout the interim if I can be of assistance in any community or state matters. I am available via phone at (651) 296-7808, or via email at rep.tim.odriscoll@house.mn.
Have a great week,
Tim