Politics & Government

Back to Work: Governor Vetoes Holberg-Led Budget Bill

Thompson led bill to freeze wages in school districts passes senate.

It’s back to the drawing board for state lawmakers trying to balance the budget.

Late last week, Republican legislators pushed through a bill on a party-line vote that would cut the deficit by $900 million. The vetoed bill was first introduced by State Rep. Mary Liz Holberg (R-District 36A), of Lakeville, on Jan. 18, but approved in both the house and senate last week.

DFL Gov. Mark Dayton, who criticized the proposal throughout the process, vetoed the bill within hours of its passage. Without enough votes to override the veto, lawmakers will have to set to work drafting a new plan.

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Holberg’s bill, HF0130, took aim at reducing the state’s massive $6 billion deficit.

It included $200 million in cuts for state agencies and made other one-time spending cuts permanent, which Holberg said reduced the long-term deficit by another $840 million.

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“We need to prevent automatic spending increases that are included in the state government budget, and passing this budget bill will keep some of state government’s expenditures at current levels,” Holberg, chair person for the ways and means committee, said in January.  “For the most part, the budget bill includes spending levels that were approved by the DFL-controlled Legislature and Republicans at the end of the 2010 legislative session.”

The bill also proposed $460 million in cuts from city and county government aid and public universities lost about $185 million in the bill. Another $105 million stripped out of property tax refunds for renters and homeowners.

In a news conference explaining the veto, Dayton accused the Legislature of “extreme rashness” and said the cuts would have only put more of the tax burden on local governments, forcing them to increase property taxes. Dayton will release his own budget Tuesday.

Wage freezes

A contentious bill authored by State Sen. Dave Thompson (R-District 36) of Lakeville, passed the senate on Feb. 10.

The bill, SF0056, passed 36-29, and prohibits school districts from raising wages in new two-year contracts with teachers, and other employees, though it does not affect contracts already in effect.

The bill also prevents school employees from striking to demand more pay.

Many critics, including Education Minnesota-Lakeville President Don Sinner, have said the bill takes local control away from school districts. But during debate on the floor last week, Thompson said “local control is not real.

A similar bill is making its way through the house.

State Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-District 36B), of Farmington, didn’t author any legislation this week.


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