Sen Kiscaden: Legislative Update 13
07/08/2005
Each legislative session has its own character and things that make it memorable. This year will be remembered for the end of session impasse which led to an historic first: a partial shutdown of state government. This is not something to be proud of, and is even more unfortunate because it obscures the fact that the legislature did work well and get many pieces of legislation passed without rancor, partisanship, or disagreement until the end of session meltdown. We worked cooperatively and resolved our differences on many issues, but not, unfortunately, on four major elements of the budget.
I am pleased and relieved that it appears we will soon be able to put this session behind us. In this update:
1- AGREEMENT CLOSE!
2- RUMP GROUP OR THINK TANK?
3- WHAT CAUSED THE IMPASSE?
4- COMPROMISES MADE TO REACH AGREEMENT
5- CLOSING NOTE
1- AGREEMENT CLOSE!
As I write to you, it is reported that we are very close to having an agreement for the budget targets for taxes, education spending and health and human services. The Governor and the chief negotiators for the House and Senate will agree on the budget targets for these areas of the budget, and then the committees will get to work and finish the bills. We can expect the government shutdown to end by passing a short-term funding bill to restore all services for about ten days while the committees finish their work, which will take about five days, and then the House and Senate will approve those bills.
An outstanding issue is the transportation bill, which the House and Senate passed, but the Governor vetoed. There is a general sense that a bill that simply keeps current levels of funding, with an increase to restore funding for transit, will be offered and passed. This approach will not take care of our highway and bridge repair and construction backlog, and so will disappoint many sectors of our state.
You can also expect a few other issues to be taken up once the budget agreement is reached: the Twins Stadium is waiting in the wings, and surely other issues will be suggested.
2- RUMP GROUP OR THINK TANK?
For the past two weeks I have taken a leadership role in developing a bicameral, bi-partisan coalition of legislators who prepared our own broad budget framework. We worked together to demonstrate that it is possible to reach consensus on a common sense solution to the budget impasse, without controversial new revenue sources except the tobacco tax and property tax increases. We negotiated with each other and each side gave something in order to reach agreement. This is the way responsible government is supposed to work. Argue your points, but in the end, serve the people.
We have the satisfaction of knowing that our discussions helped focus the budget discussions of the House and Senate chief negotiators. Leadership requires finding a resolution to conflicts where none seems likely.
3- WHAT CAUSED THE IMPASSE?
Many of the letters I read and accounts in the media want to find someone to blame. Members of one party point the finger at the other party. There is plenty of blame to go around, but it is pointless to play the blame game. We must all take responsibility and admit it could have been avoided. Why wasn’t it?
Political conflict is part of a healthy democracy. When people run for office, they pledge to work hard for their districts and to stand for their principles. Political conflict is heightened when there is close to an even number of legislators from both parties. Minnesota has 201 legislators: 99 caucus with Republicans, 102 caucus with Democrats. The numbers are particularly close in the House where there are 68 Republicans and 66 Democrats. In the Senate it is 36-31.
The Republicans have the advantage of having Republican governor. And that is a powerful advantage. The Governor proposes the budget: the Legislature approves or amends his budget proposal. The Governor can also reject what the Legislature approves, as he did this year with the Transportation Budget that the legislature passed and with vetoes he made in other bills. The Governor has a strong hand in negotiating with the legislature: he can agree with or deny the bills individual legislators or the whole legislature wants. All governors also command a degree of loyalty from the legislators of their party, and when the governor plans to run for re-election, as Governor Pawlenty will do next year, there is additional incentive for those legislators to work to make their party leader look good.
On the other hand, Democrats are still smarting from the last time a budget was set in 2001. At that time, Republicans had a strong majority, strong loyalty to the Governor, and thus were able to pass a budget with many, many changes that Democrats disagreed with. In fact, most Democrats voted against all the budget bills two years ago. Senate Democrats were so upset that they changed their caucus leader and were determined to stand strong for their budget principles this time around.
With the numbers so close, nothing can pass in this legislature without bipartisan agreement. And that has been all too slow in coming. For weeks instead of seeking consensus, we have had political competition and gamesmanship rather than statesmanship. But the moment has at last arrived: weeks late*but it has arrived. And both sides have had to compromise
4- COMPROMISES MADE TO REACH AGREEMENT:
The Governor’s budget moved away from his “no new tax” pledge and relied on significant increases in property taxes to pay for K-12 education. The last number I heard is that the increases will average about 11% on residential properties and 3% on commercial properties statewide. (It will vary community by community*Rochester will likely see less increase because it is growing and its tax base is increasing.) Democrats fought this increase because property taxes are generally regressive.
Democrats prefer progressive income taxes and proposed a statewide business tax and a higher rate of income tax for the top 1% of high income Minnesotans. Eventually Democrats accepted the property tax increases and gave up on proposed business and income tax increases when the Governor, in a strong movement toward compromise, proposed the tobacco tax/fee and agreed to higher spending on K-12 education and health and human services. Democrats have had to agree to less spending than they wanted to preserve health and human services and pay hospitals and other providers rates that are closer to what private insurance pays. Democrats have also had to accept some changes in education policies that the Governor and Republicans sought.
Democrats did not prevail in their desire to close more corporate tax loopholes, and Republicans did not succeed in getting a new casino or school vouchers. The list of compromises made by both sides is quite long.
Make no mistake: there are many reductions in government spending that will result from this budget. The state will further reduce its workforce and it is likely that local units of government will have to do the same. But the overall state budget has still grown because over 70% of the state’s budget goes for three broad categories of services most of which are not provided by state employees: K-12 education, Health and Human Services, and Higher Education.
Legislators have had a hard time reaching a compromise agreement because there are strongly held political views. In recent years, both major parties seek to endorse and support only those candidates who will pledge to uphold the party platforms. The majority of Minnesotans no longer have strong political party affiliations, but the majority of those elected to the legislature do. Legislators are constantly encouraged by their parties to “stick to our party’s principles” and be tough negotiators rather than find the common ground. We need more ways to respect one another’s views and seek the common good. I believe our bi-cameral, bi-partisan group’s work and budget framework shows that it can be done, and it can make a difference.
5- CLOSING NOTE:
I noticed that this is my 13th update to you this year. Hopefully, it will be a lucky one, in the sense that it will be the last one while we are in session and because it will signal the end of the protracted and contentious end of session.
Have a wonderful summer weekend. I look forward to being home and seeing you soon.
Sheila
Senator Sheila Kiscaden
District 30
325 Capitol
St. Paul, MN 55155
651-296-4848