Tag: Sen. Latz

BUDGET RESERVE CORRECTION: JUNE 18, 2019

Last week, I sent out my post-session newsletter to those of you who receive my Senate District 46 Capitol Updates emails. The newsletter included an incorrect explanation of actions taken on our state’s budget reserve. In order to correct the record, I am sending a clarified and more detailed account of our state’s budget reserve that can be found below. I appreciate your patience on the matter.

Budget Reserve

The last time the budget reserve amount was set in statute was in Minnesota Session Laws 2016, Regular Session, Chapter 189. The amount of the budget reserve defined in statute was $1,596,522. Since then, the amount has fluctuated during various points in the accounting cycle as mandated by law (e.g. November forecast transfers of 33% of the positive budget balance, certain cancellations and surpluses that transfer into the reserve, and other one-time uses of the reserve in special law).

At the end of last session, the amount in the reserve was $1.583 billion. At the November 2018 forecast, the budget reserve level grew to $2.074 billion due to (1) $90 million in cancelled funds appropriated for the premium subsidy program being transferred into the reserve, (2) $47 million in surplus funds for the Workers Compensation Assigned Risk Plan being transferred into the reserve, and (3) $354 million being transferred into the reserve based on the requirements of 16a.152 Subd. 1b (b), which mandates a transfer of 33% of the positive unrestricted budget balance ($1.074 billion) projected at the close of the biennium, as measured at the time of November forecast. Continue reading “Sen. Ron Latz (SD46) Update: June 20, 2019”

CAPITOL UPDATE: END OF SESSION 2019

It was an honor to serve the Senate District 46 community during the 2019 legislative session. This year, the only divided state Legislature in the United States found a way to strike a compromise aimed at moving our state forward. With Governor Tim Walz at the helm of the executive branch for the first time, a newly-elected and Democratic-controlled House, and a slim Republican-controlled Senate, there was much winning and losing for both sides in the final compromise.

We successfully fought off cuts to programs and crucial services that millions of Minnesotans depend on every day. We also succeeded in furthering investments in E-12 education, higher education and public safety, passed a bill that intends to mitigate the opioid crisis, continued the provider tax at a 1.8% level, and agreed to many other important measures that will assist in moving our state in the right direction. However, I am disheartened by the lack of progress in some areas or even the outright blockade of sound bipartisan bills. Continue reading “Sen. Ron Latz (SD46) Update: June 10, 2019”

CAPITOL UPDATE SPECIAL SESSION 2019

Recently, the Legislature adjourned until Tuesday, February 11, 2020. However, much of the Legislature’s 2019 work is yet to be completed. With a $48 billion agreement between the Senate, House, and Governor, a Special Session is happening now. I am confident that the three sides can come together and find a compromise in a timely manner, but that task is often difficult to complete in a divided government.

Senator Latz thanked a Hmong veteran who served in the U.S. Vietnam War on April 30 during the celebration of the dedication of Hmong Veterans Day. Pictured to the right is Attorney General Keith Ellison and Senator Foung Hawj. We thank all of the Hmong veterans for their brave service to our country.

Included in the agreement that was struck Sunday evening were global budget targets. These global targets are essentially an agreement on the amount of funding each committee receives with some micro-level details, but leaves room for negotiations between the three parties. For example, the Governor and Legislature agreed to remove the Provider Tax sunset and settle at the reduced rate of 1.8% – compared to 2.0% previously – in the Health and Human Services budget. However, other policy provisions and budget items are in the process of being negotiated between the three parties. Continue reading “Sen. Ron Latz (SD46) Update: May 25, 2019”

CAPITOL UPDATE APRIL 12, 2019

As the Minnesota Legislature reached its third deadline on April 12, committees produced packages of budget bills and other policy-related omnibus bills. As the minority lead on the Judiciary and Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee, I was very disappointed that a number of important state initiatives, some of which are outlined below, were left out of this particular majority-led caucus budget bill.

The Senate majority caucus has the power to put forth a budget that reflects their priorities. This week, the Judiciary and Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee put forth a budget that would cut funding to our state’s many public safety criminal investigation and prevention programs. A budget is the ultimate moral document because the money that we spend as a state reflects those philosophical and moral priorities. It’s not merely about whether you agree with the Governor. This is a choice by the Senate majority caucus to cut funding for a program that helps our veterans coming back home to prevent domestic violence and save their families as well as themselves. This is a choice by the Senate majority caucus to cut funding for the Department of Corrections that will save the lives of our corrections officers and other offenders living in those facilities, and whether we’ll have the funding to treat offenders so when they go back to their homes and their community, they aren’t reoffending and creating more victims. The budget put forward by the Senate majority is their preferred budget, and I don’t accept it as simply a negotiating ploy. They must do better. If you’d like to see my full committee speech, please click on the YouTube link below. Continue reading “Sen. Ron Latz (SD46) Update: April 12, 2019”

CAPITOL UPDATE MARCH 21, 2019

Friday, March 15 marked the halfway point of the 2019 session and the end of first deadline for bills to pass through committee. As of first committee deadline day, over 2,500 bills have been introduced in the Senate and many will not meet the first deadline. The first deadline requires policy bills to have had their first hearing in the committee of origin unless the companion bill in the House has been heard. However, finance, tax, and capital investment bills do not have to meet this deadline.

Unfortunately, the majority-controlled Senate has yet to hear both of the gun violence prevention measures that I introduced with my Senate colleagues in the first weeks of session. It’s been more than a year and a half and the Senate Judiciary committee has yet to give these bills a public hearing. However, because the House has heard both the criminal background check expansion bill and the extreme risk protection orders bill, the bill has met first deadline qualifications and the measures live on.

Below you can click on a mid-session Capitol video update. I highlight a few items in the video, but there of course remains much to do. Continue reading “Sen. Ron Latz (SD46) Update: March 22, 2019”

CAPITOL UPDATE MARCH 1, 2019

Senator Ron Latz testified in support of a bill this past week.

Net Neutrality: As many of you may know, I am once again pursuing a net neutrality bill in the Senate. Rep. Zack Stephenson (DFL-Coon Rapids) is carrying the measure through the other legislative body. By prohibiting internet service providers from blocking or slowing internet traffic based on its content, Minnesotans would not be charged more based on the content they wish to access. If net neutrality regulations aren’t put in place, small businesses would not be able to fairly compete with larger companies. Providers could slow down access to websites to the benefit of large corporations that can afford to pay the high costs, leaving upstart businesses reeling to pay high costs for the particular kind of content they would need to access in order to be successful. The bill is currently moving its way through the House, but may face obstacles to receive a hearing in the Senate. Nonetheless, I remain committed in pushing forward this crucial consumer protection initiative. Continue reading “Sen. Ron Latz Update: March 1, 2019”

 

Responding to Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Comments

As many of you may know, Rep. Ilhan Omar recently tweeted anti-Semitic tropes. Please read my statement below and click the number of links to the media coverage if you’d like to know more.

Unfortunately, Rep. Ilhan Omar has once again made clearly anti-Semitic public statements. While I was prepared to give her an opportunity to assuage my doubts, instead she has reinforced them. She cannot constantly make statements that suggest she was “ignorant” of the anti-Semitic implications of what she says or publishes, as she has been educated by myself and others on numerous occasions. I condemn her recent tweets in the strongest terms and call upon her to refrain from making future such comments. In the long term, maybe Rep. Omar should take the time to educate herself on the history of world anti-Semitism and its horrifying consequences rather than promoting. Continue reading “Sen. Ron Latz (SD46) Update: February 14, 2019”