Welcome to week 19, the last week of session. The Senate majority called for a long floor session on Monday to pass their remaining budget bills. These include, taxes, transportation, higher education, jobs, and judiciary. All 5 were vetoed on the same day by Governor Dayton. These budget bills included many provisions, including policy provisions, that should be debated separately and are based on bad policy in a budget bill, that the Senate majority knew Governor Dayton could not sign.

Legislative leaders are now busy crafting a global budget agreement with Governor Dayton. There has been positive movement and the two sides are closer to an agreement than they were a week ago, with Governor Dayton willing to meet the Senate and House majorities halfway. I am still concerned and disappointed that we are cutting the health and human services budget in a time of surplus. The Health and Human services budget takes care of our most vulnerable citizens including people with disabilities, the elderly and those in poverty. Even more worrying, the current Health and Humans services budget by the Senate and House is relying on payment shifts instead of budgeting actual numbers. 

At a press conference Wednesday, Dayton said  “You do not have to accept the way we are going to get to those numbers. And we do not have to accept the way you are. We will have to work that out. But the numbers we offered were real. And if they want to not do anything out of the Health Care Access Fund, they need to tell us where they are going to cut another $250 million out of Health and Human Services. It is not going to be out of their imaginary projections for the next biennium.”

He added “and It is going to be real money and it is going to come out of the real pockets of real Minnesotans…they are going take away services and dollars for them. Same thing for nursing homes, same thing for personal care attendants, same thing for education, special education, prekindergarten. All these things they are going to cut, for them they are numbers on a piece of paper. For us they are real people. They are real Minnesotans.”

A real frustration for me is that they are also not funding K-12 education to match inflation. This so the Senate majority can craft tax breaks for the top 1% when we are in a period of uncertainty on funding from the federal government.

I encourage the Senate Majorities to meet the Governor halfway and to drop their 609 policy provisions. These policies provisions will only bog down negotiations. I will continue to advocate for a budget agreement as no one benefits from a government shutdown.

Please feel free to send me your thoughts on the budget negotiations.

Keep a lookout for next week, when I will have an extensive breakdown of the important bills that passed this year.

Sincerely,

John Hoffman

What is Happening at the Capitol

REAL ID Signed into Law

The Minnesota Senate voted on Wednesday for REAL ID language that would allow Minnesotans to board flights and visit their loved ones on military bases without unrelated and controversial immigration issues. After years of trying, the Minnesota Legislature finally reached a compromise that leaves the issue of driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants out of the REAL ID debate. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 57 to 8.

After years of wrangling over the language for a REAL ID bill, I am glad we finally came together to pass a clean REAL ID bill. It is too bad that the House majority took so long to compromise and remove the controversial language. It had nothing to do with implementing REAL ID, and the delay caused the public so much anxiety over being able to board airplanes. Like many of my constituents, I am happy this bill passed and I am proud to be able to vote and support it.

Teacher Licensure Bill Vetoed

Governor Mark Dayton today vetoed HF 740, which would direct restructuring of Minnesota’s teacher licensure system. Governor Dayton said “I have vetoed the teacher licensing bill, for the reasons stated in my letter. However, I strongly encourage the Conferees to work with Commissioner Cassellius and my staff to resolve those remaining issues. It is my hope that they will do so quickly, and that I can sign the revised teacher licensing bill in this session.”

I voted no on this bill. The current teacher licensure system is far to complex, and contributing to our teacher shortage. I disagree with this bill’s solution however as it would allow under qualified individuals into the class room, which would weaken our public education system.

Katie Sieben Confirmed to Public Utilities Board

I had the pleasure to serve with Senator Katie Sieben for the first four years of my term. She is one of the hardest working and smartest people to have served in the Minnesota legislature.

She came before the Energy and Utilities committee, that I serve on, for confirmation on Thursday. After roughly 40 minutes of questions she was approved by the committee and will now be voted on by the full Senate to serve as a member of the Public Utilities Board, a regulatory body for energy in the State of Minnesota.

Save the date: Capitol Grand Opening

After four years and a $310 million restoration, the Minnesota State Capitol is now open to the public. Our beautiful Capitol has been returned to its former glory and is ready for the next 100 years!  To commemorate this special occasion and to invite Minnesotans back to the People’s House, there will be a Grand Opening Celebration held on August 11, 12, and 13. The celebration will have something for everyone; fireworks, concerts, demonstrations by the artisans that worked on the restoration, behind the scenes tours, and much more. With featured events to entertain Minnesotans of all ages from all corners of the state, the Grand Opening weekend will be, educational, interactive and, most of all, FUN!  Most of the events are free, or offered at a very low cost.

Please mark your calendars and plan to celebrate the People’s House this summer!

For detailed information on the weekend, please visit us at mn.gov/mymncapitol or connect with us by Facebook, Twitter andFlickr.

Local bills up in the air

As the negotiations continue in St. Paul, some bills I authored would benefit our local communities are among them. The most notable bills are compensatory education, which was included in the E-12 finance omnibus bill. There are also two bonding bill projects, the Champlin mill pond and the Hanson boulevard rail-grade crossing that are a part of final negotiations.

Compensatory education bill would benefit the Anoka-Hennepin school district receive funding if they are teaching students who are in poverty. The bill helps move Anoka-Hennepin forward by making the compensatory education project permanent instead of a pilot project. I will keep an eye on this bill when we end up voting on the conference committee report that comes out of final negotiations.

The two bonding bill projects in the district would benefit the communities I represent. The Champlin mill pond project gives $3.3 million dollars to improve the mill pond area so that it can be a recreational area that families can enjoy. The second project would provide $12.6 million to build a rail grade crossing on Hanson boulevard in Coon Rapids. This would relieve traffic congestion but more importantly is heavily supported by the Coon Rapids fire department as it would provide immediate access to emergency vehicles instead of being blocked by trains.

There is also a bill I authored for the Highway 169 and 101st Avenue interchange that would provide a key transportation facility in the northwest metro region of the Twin Cities within the City of Brooklyn Park. This project is vital to northwest Brooklyn Park and the surrounding communities, as the Target Campus and planned developments for NorthPark, Gateway, and Astra Village are expected to experience significant growth over the next decade. This bill did not end up receiving a hearing this year.

If you have any questions or concerns feel free to call my office at 651-296-4154 or by e-mail at jhoffman@senate.mn