ST. PAUL – As the 2021 legislative session was constitutionally mandated to adjourn on May 17, State Representative Bjorn Olson (R-Elmore) said he was disappointed in the lack of urgency displayed by legislative leaders.
“Our Number 1 priority this session was to create a new state budget, and we didn’t even get a budget target until the last day of session,” Olson said. “I’m disgusted that our legislative leaders basically wasted this session.”
Part of the budget setting process includes approving spending bills in every area of state government, such as transportation, agriculture, and health and human services. Olson said not one of these budget proposals was agreed upon by the House and Senate prior to adjournment, the first time that has happened in decades.
Also left undone – exempting Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) income on struggling business owners from state taxes, as well as eliminating the state tax on Unemployment Insurance on residents forced onto unemployment last year. Yet House Democrats refused to bring the proposal up for a vote on the final day, even though they verbally agreed to eventually pass these provisions. Had they allowed a vote on this provision there is little doubt it would have been approved with overwhelming bipartisan support.
“House Democrats did whatever they wanted this session, and their insistence on not giving up on their tax increase proposals until the final day of session has put us in this predicament,” Olson said.
Olson expects special session to be called in mid-June to begin approving state budget bills.