ST. PAUL – The Minnesota House adjourned Thursday from a special session after having approved a series of omnibus finance bills to shape the state’s next two-year budget.
State Rep. Matt Bliss, R-Pennington, said the finished product is a mix of key accomplishments, causes for concern and things that remain a work in progress. He cited approval of legislation he authored to fund camps in northern Minnesota for veterans with PTSD as a local victory.
“I’m happy to earn another win for veterans in our area,” Bliss said. “The Bemidji veterans home is being built after we landed funding for that and now these camps will provide another resource to help provide the care they deserve. We’re making a lot of progress in supporting our veterans and I am proud of this latest step we took in the Legislature.”
As for the budget itself, Bliss said he was pleased legislation passed to stop health care costs from soaring and to support law enforcement. Bliss also said he was pleased that billions of dollars in tax increases the House majority and governor proposed at a time the state has a massive surplus were stopped.
“With a surplus of more than $4 billion, it was unrealistic for tax increases to be proposed this year and I am glad Republicans in the Legislature united to stop them,” Bliss said. “It especially would have been an injustice for the state to profit off struggling businesses that accepted federal Paycheck Protection Program loans and people who were out of work during the pandemic. I’m glad we fixed those issues.”
Bliss said he has concern for a lack of progress on a couple of other issues. Legislative action was not taken preventing the governor from mandating California’s auto standards in Minnesota. And a long-term extension for Minnesota’s reinsurance program that has reduced health care costs also was not approved.
“We were able to keep reinsurance in place a little longer, but this issue needs to be addressed again soon to make sure people aren’t sent back to the days of double-digit premium increases,” Bliss said. “And, as for California auto regulations, we need to let the market sort itself out. We can’t be forcing vehicles people don’t want or aren’t ready for onto our lots. It would be a bad idea to cede these decisions to a state halfway around the country and we need to check the governor on this issue.”
In addition, the Legislature on Wednesday approved language ending Minnesota’s peacetime emergency for COVID-19 the governor declared in March of 2020. The move came on a motion made by House Republicans to amend a state government finance omnibus bill which subsequently passed both bodies.
House Democrats then on Thursday amended language related to emergency onto an omnibus tax bill which was approved. Bliss said he objected to the change and expressed concern that it grants power to the governor’s commissioners to declare a public health emergency for nearly any reason without proper guardrails to prevent overreach.
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