By Rep. Matt Bliss, R-Pennington
The framework of a budget deal was reached between the governor and legislative leaders but more work remains to enact a plan before the June 30 end of the fiscal year.
Reports of an agreement surfaced on Monday but there was not enough time left before our constitutionally required adjournment at midnight that day to put all the pieces in place. Now a special session is likely to be called in the coming weeks to finish the job. It is expected the governor will call a special session June 14 to extend his emergency powers by another 30 days, so the budget could be taken up around that time as well.
The “agreement” that was reached is more like a set of bullet points of top-line items and details still need to be pulled together. It is nice to see the House majority has given up on its push to raise taxes at a time the state has a historic surplus and it appears state tax relief will be applied to federal Paycheck Protection Program loans and unemployment insurance.
Those are good things, but more work needs to be done in other areas if there’s going to be broad support for the new budget. For example, an end date/off ramp for the governor’s emergency powers needs to be established. There is no emergency in our state and it’s time to end the state of emergency in Minnesota.
We also should put an end to (or at the very least delay) the governor’s push to force Minnesota’s automobiles to adhere to California’s regulations. And, with billions of federal stimulus dollars coming to our state, we need to ensure there is proper legislative oversight and control over billions of dollars in federal funds our state is receiving.
Again, it’s a work in progress and we need to continue working to make sure the finished product for the state’s next budget is as good as it can be.
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