Dear Neighbor, The House Republican majority has made nice progress with priority bills this week. Here’s a look at some of those notes and more from the Capitol, starting with some thoughts on one part of the state budget. Human Services budget Democrats in full control of the Capitol during the last biennium blew our state budget up by 40 percent and now we need to pick up the pieces. We face a $5.1 billion shortfall and need to make spending reductions to make our state more affordable. Minnesota’s Health and Human Services spending currently accounts for nearly 30 percent of the state’s General Fund budget. It is second only to E-12 education (35%) among Minnesota’s largest taxpayer expenditures and is on track to become the state’s largest area of spending. Even Gov. Tim Walz proposes cutting the bloated Human Services budget by $1.3 billion. I’d like to tell him that’s a good start, but here’s the problem: Walz wants to cut assistance from some of the most vulnerable Minnesotans: disability services, nursing facilities and behavioral health. Because those are people who truly need assistance the most, the cost of Walz’s cuts likely would fall on local governments – paid for by increased property taxes. In other words, the governor is playing a shell game with the state budget that will cost us all more at the local level. The governor likes to say budgets are moral documents, which raises a lot of questions in this case. As a member of the Human Services Finance and Policy Committee, I’m meeting with fiscal analysts to look under the hood at this section of the state budget and hope to share more in an upcoming newsletter. With federal funds included, taxpayers are paying $24 billion for the state’s Human Services budget in 2024 alone. They deserve to know how these dollars are being used. Pull tabs Minnesota charities are facing massive decline in charitable gaming revenue this year due to changes Democrats made to electronic pull tabs. I have co-authored a House bill (H.F. 733) that would essentially bring back the original gaming features. In 2023, Gov. Tim Walz and legislative Democrats approved a law eliminating the popular “open all” feature. The change took just took effect Jan. 1 of this year, and already local veterans organizations report losses ranging from 20 to 44 percent statewide. Even at a 30-percent revenue decline, those relying on charitable proceeds in Minnesota – EMS groups, food shelves, youth sports teams and associations, Boys and Girl Scouts, and other local charities – could be looking at a $115 million annual loss due to the electronic pull tab change. Our charitable organizations do such great work in our communities, but now the state is getting in the way and that needs to be fixed. We just need to get things back to the way they were and that’s what the House Republican bill does. Safe and fair girls sports My last newsletter mentioned I am co-authoring H.F. 12, which says: “Only students of the female sex may participate in an elementary or secondary school athletic team or sport that an educational institution has restricted on the basis of sex to women or girls.” That bill had its first House hearing this week. I am a member of the Education Policy Committee, which conducted the hearing, and I was happy to support this measure and move it along. Let’s hope it comes to the House floor for a vote of the full body soon. Until next time, have a great weekend and please let me know how I can help. Sincerely, Jimmy |