Volume 4, Issue 8
A weekly message from your Senator
Dear Constituents and Friends,
With just four weeks left in the 2018 legislative session, this week finally brought a handful of bills to the floor. Unfortunately, the bills had nothing to do with the major work left this session. In the nine weeks since session began, only three bills have been sent to the Governor’s desk.
There are only four weeks left and no tax conformity bill has been presented by the Senate majority. Tax conformity is important this year. By running down the time on even releasing their bill, majority leadership is gambling on passage. If the Legislature does nothing, taxes will go up for most Minnesotans.
There is also no capital investment bill. The second year of a biennium is a bonding year. The Governor’s proposal was released months ago and would create nearly 23,000 jobs in the state. The Senate Capital Investment Committee met to review a few minor provisions but has not released a bill or recommendations. There is no excuse for this. Minnesotans deserve transparency, and the opportunity to be involved in the discussion. Leaving bills to last minutes means Minnesotans get cut out of the process.
Sincerely,
Melisa
Governor’s tax plan
With 30 days left in this legislative session, the majority has yet to present a tax conformity plan that is needed to avoid an automatic tax increase on 300,000 filers that will occur if no compromise is reached. In the Governor’s plan, no Minnesota wage-earner would see a tax increase and 2 million filers would see a state tax cut. In addition, the nonpartisan analysis shows the Governor’s plan makes the state’s tax system more progressive – in other words, the balance between what rich and regular Minnesotans pay becomes fairer.
This week, Governor Dayton highlighted a handful of the 2 million Minnesotans who would see tax cuts under his tax proposal – the only idea on the table at this late point in session. A centerpiece of his plan is a new, $60-per-person tax credit available to all but the highest-income taxpayers. His bill also makes necessary adjustments to avoid negative impacts of the federal bill and retains important tax benefits Minnesotans currently enjoy. Some of those include:
- Work-related travel: Under new federal law, Minnesota employees can no longer deduct money spent on work-related travel on federal taxes. The Governor’s plan would allow 111,000 Minnesotans to save an average $419 annually.
- Property tax subtraction: The federal government now limits the amount of state and local taxes that may be deducted from federal taxable income to $10,000. Governor Dayton’s plan retains the full subtraction in Minnesota, saving 40,000 Minnesotans an average $502.
- Casualty loss deduction: Families that suffer a fire, for instance, may no longer deduct losses incurred on federal taxes. The Governor’s plan allows roughly 800 Minnesotans affected by such loss each year to continue receiving state tax considerations, saving them an average $16,400.
- Mortgage insurance premiums: The Governor’s bill allows 70,000 homeowners paying mortgage insurance premiums to retain the tax break, saving $94 annually.
- Tuition payments: Minnesotans paying for higher education would be able to continue deducting a portion of these expenses under the Governors’ plan, saving 27,000 Minnesotans an average $96 a year.
The most important piece of the Governor’s plan is that, if passed, it avoids a $60 million tax increase on 300,000 Minnesotans next year. It is critical that we move on from distorting numbers and work together on tax proposals as soon as possible so the legislature can spend the remaining 30 days having a real debate about potential solutions.
Academic balance bill
This legislation, included in the Omnibus Education Finance bill, applies to public and charter schools and requires that school boards design a policy that applies to students, teachers, administrators and all school employees. The policy must include reporting procedures and disciplinary actions.
The bill’s language seems to direct how school employees and students can think, speak and study during the school day. Specifically, the bill:
- Requires the policy must prohibit school employees from requiring students to express a specified social or political viewpoint for academic credit, extra-curricular participation or as a condition of employment;
- Requires the school to provide a learning environment on a broad range of serious opinions;
- The bill states that public education is not for political, ideological, religious or anti-religious indoctrination;
- Requires the basis for how students are to be assessed and prohibits discrimination based on political, ideological and religious beliefs; and
- Requires the policy to caution classroom teachers when expressing personal views in classrooms and prohibit introduction of controversial matters without a relationship to the subject taught;
- The bill also makes a blanket statement that “public education courses are not for the purpose of political, ideological, religious or anti-religious indoctrination”; such statements are rarely included in state law.
The bill is a response to the local issue affecting Edina families after an article alleged “indoctrination and persecution” at Edina schools. As teachers and school staff prepare our students to be critical thinkers, decisions on how to educate our children should be kept at a local level with parental involvement and elected school boards, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach at the state level.
Senate hears transportation omnibus bill in committee
The future will remain uncertain for a fix to the Metro Transit operating deficit, many road and bridge projects will remain untouched, and funding will be temporary for developing and improving the troublesome Minnesota Licensing and Registration System (MNLARS), if the senate passes the supplemental transportation finance omnibus bill heard this week in committee.
The majority declined to take up any of the Governor’s budget recommendations for transportation and public safety, opting instead for one-time fixes and earmarks. While the Governor had proposed a $2 fee on most driver’s licenses, vehicle registrations, and title transactions to guarantee a steady stream of funding in the future to ensure MNLARS problems do not escalate, the current omnibus bill makes a one-year allotment of $15.1 million dollars for the vehicle services side of MNLARS. The bill also offers $9 million to deputy registrars across Minnesota who have suffered business losses due to problems with MNLARS. Governor Dayton suggested $10 million for deputy registrar reimbursements.
Roads and bridges all over the state are in need of reconstruction and repair, but the bill only provides $1 million in earmarks for feasibility studies to reconstruct two interchanges. In both cases, MnDOT has said they see no need for further study—they either already understand the challenges in those locations, or the project has already been determined to be a local concern. There is no further spending on any roads or bridges.
Despite a looming deficit of $95-100 million in 2020 and 2021, leadership does not spend a penny on transit, opting instead for further restrictions on transit expansion. The omnibus bill contains a provision restricting the use of state dollars for light rail transit operating dollars for expansion of the system—meaning Metro Transit would not be able to expand service hours using state dollars. Without dollars committed to fill the deficit this year, the state will need to find a solution so there are not drastic cuts to service. (SF 3806)
MNLARS update
One month ago, a plan was introduced to help Minnesotans get timely answers to their questions about the new Licensing and Registration System (MNLARS). the proposal failed due to a party-line vote. As a result, Minnesotans are waiting weeks to get their questions answered. The proposal could have made serious improvements to customer service by now.
According to public testimony from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, hundreds of thousands of calls are met with a busy signal each month, and some emails take weeks to get a reply. In February and March of this year alone, more than 500,000 calls were met with a busy signal.
Approximately 73% of calls are dropped or get a busy signal because there just aren’t enough people to answer the phone. That’s unacceptable. If you divide the average of 332,287 calls per month by the 43 customer service employees, it comes out to 7,740 calls per employee. Assuming a 40-hour week, employees would have to answer approximately 48 calls an hour, meaning each Minnesotan gets just over a minute to get their question answered. That’s just not reasonable.
Transportation constitutional amendment
Minnesota voters may have the option to vote this fall on whether to devote millions of general fund dollars to transportation funding. The Senate Transportation Committee heard a bill this week that would divert sales tax revenue from car rentals, auto repairs, and auto parts from the general fund to newly created and existing transportation accounts.
The bill phases in the diversion of general fund dollars so that by 2022, $133.4 million dollars would be dedicated to transportation each year. In order to simply maintain our current system, it’s estimated the state needs $900 million annually.
Proponents say the state is long overdue for increased transportation spending, and the bill will create construction jobs. Although the increased funding will still be inadequate, any infusion of cash will be put to good use to repair our state’s aging road and bridge infrastructure.
Opponents say general fund dollars, which are primarily spent on education, health care and local government aid, should not be shifted because it tradeoffs with these priorities. Because these funds would be constitutionally dedicated, the shift would be permanent—if times got tough economically for our schools, seniors, or local governments, these general fund dollars could not be shifted back.
The bill passed the Transportation Committee on an 8-7 vote and will next be heard in the Rules Committee. (SF 3837)