Sen Sheila Kiscaden: Legislative Update 14
09/30/2005
Greetings on a beautiful fall day!
I have not written to you for a few weeks. I went back to graduate school after the very long special session, and then too some time for family vacations. Here is what I will discuss in this update.
1- Don’t Forget to Vote October 4th!
2. A Fall Special Session?
3- Fall: Definitely Back to Work.
4- Reflections of the 2005 Session:
1- Don’t Forget to Vote October 4th!
If you live in Rochester, don’t forget to vote next Tuesday, October 4th on the local option sales tax referendum. Voter turn out is expected to be light, so relatively few votes will determine the outcome.
As you probably know, we got legislative approval this year to collect an additional $40 million in the ½ cent sales tax for two purposes: $32 million will be split between the city and the county to pay the local share of transportation projects, and $8 million will be used for higher education facilities in Rochester. Using sales tax revenue for the transportation projects will keep you from having to pay for it with your property taxes. This way, everyone who uses the roads to come to Rochester to work or shop will help pay for the improved roads. And, I am sure you are well aware that we have long sought and to have a university in Rochester. With the sales tax funds, we can help it grow.
If you will be out of town on Tuesday, you can go the City Clerk’s office during business hours Friday or next Monday. They will also be open from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM this Saturday. I went on Thursday, and it took less than five minutes to vote.
DON’T FORGET TO VOTE! This puts you, the voter, in charge of whether or not the local sales tax continues.
2. A Fall Special Session?
At the moment, a special session does not seem likely.
Only the Governor can call the Legislature into a Special Session. Most legislators are not eager to return to St. Paul for a Special Session. Despite the urgings of the various stadium supporters, most legislators know these proposals have been around for several years and do not think that the decision must be made this fall. If there is to be a Special Session, the Governor will have to take the lead, overcome resistance, negotiate and make the call. If the Governor calls a Special Session, we will be there.
So far, he has not found a way to work with the caucus leaders to discuss the options and agree on an agenda. Hopefully he will do more than send out a check list and will take leadership by calling the leaders together and working through all the issues that need to be resolved.
The real question isn’t, what do you want on the agenda for a Special Session? The real questions are: which issue(s) is so urgent that delay of a few months will have serious adverse effects for the public interest? Is there a solution or proposal that can readily be agreed to by the House, the Senate and the Governor? Is there public support for this solution?
Few things on the list the Governor sent to the caucus leaders meet all three of these criteria. However, if the tobacco companies succeed in their court case challenging the “Health Impact Fee” (more commonly referred to as the tobacco tax), a special session might be the solution to plugging the $400 million dollar hole that would be created in the state’s budget.
At the present time, a special session seems unlikely.
3- Fall: Definitely Back to Work.
For students, fall is time for back to school. For legislators, whether or not there is a special session, it is the time for back to work. Legislative responsibilities really begin in earnest in the fall. For example, I serve as Vice Chairman of the Capital Investment Committee, which reviews all the requests for state funding for buildings. Our committee has been on tour for at least three days every other week, starting the first week in September. Next week I will spend four days in northern Minnesota visiting local communities and reviewing their projects.
When I am home, there are many meetings, presentations to classes or groups, constituent issues, briefings, and research to be done. Fall is a wonderful time to meet with constituents, learn about issues, reflect on the past and prepare for the next session. I have been out and about all over Senate District 30 and I always I learn a lot. These visits always remind me why all the debates, the deliberation, and even the heated disagreements in St. Paul and the decisions we finally make matter for the people and the communities I represent. So, do not hesitate to let me know if you want me to speak to a group you are involved with or simply want to tell me your perspective on about issues of concern to you.
In the coming weeks, I intend to begin sending periodic email updates in which I will try to give you advance notice of upcoming issues, and share some of what I am learning in my various discussions with the people and organizations in our area. I will start this week with some reflections on the last session.
4. Reflections of the 2005 Session:
I do not think there is a single legislator who did not find the 2005 session to be extremely frustrating. After months of making steady progress with a great deal of bi-partisan cooperation on many different issues, at the end of session things came to a standstill for weeks.
The stand-off was over important issues: how much should be spent on public education, what kind of health services should be made available for low-income working adults, and what taxes would be used for pay for education and health care. Ultimately, a compromise was forged that allows both Democrats and Republicans to say they accomplished their most important priorities. Democrats feel they succeeded in getting increased funding for early childhood and K-12 education and succeeded in keeping health insurance for low-income working adults. Republicans feel they succeeded by avoiding income tax increases to pay for those services. In fact, the Governor’s proposal to increase property taxes and accept cigarette fees/taxes was agreed to as the way to pay for these services.
The acrimony at the end of session has made it hard to praise and hail the many real accomplishments and successes our delegation had in getting approval for many things our communities had requested. In fact, it was one of the most successful legislative sessions we have ever had for our local requests. In large part this is because we were uniquely positioned as the only area of the state that had legislators to make the case in each of the four caucuses: Kiscaden in the Senate Democratic Majority Caucus, Senjem in the Senate Republican Caucus: Bradley and Demmer in the House Republican Majority Caucus, Liebling and Welti in the House Democratic Caucus. In addition, there was a strong lobbying effort by members of the community that supported our legislative efforts. We worked together, focused on the community initiatives, and we got it done.
Here are some of the successes for our area: - authorization for the Rochester sales tax (which the House had refused to pass several years in a row but finally agreed to this year.) - funding for the Mayo-University Genomics Research Facility ($21.7 M) and $15 million in genomics research funding - commitment to develop a plan for growing a university in Rochester: a Governor’s Higher Ed Development Committee and $3.2 million in one-time development funds. A Governor’s initiative we all worked to make happen. - funding for local projects: RCTC Health Sciences facilities, Chesterwoods and Douglas Trail funds, Waste to Energy facility funds - a sales tax exemption for Chatfield’s waste water treatment plant - restoration of local government aids to area cities
One of the hardest fought battles in the Legislature was about funding for K-12 and early childhood education. Although part of it will be paid for with local property taxes, we ultimately agreed to the largest funding increase in many years. All our area schools will have about a 4% annual increase in basic education aids. Here is how that breaks out: Chatfield: $206 more per student in ‘06: $465 per student in ‘07 Dover-Eyota: $205 more per student in ‘06: $468 in ‘07 Elgin -Millville: $238 more in ‘06: $503 more in ‘07 Plainview: $205 more in ‘06: $462 more in ‘07 Rochester: $213 more in ‘06: $473 more in ‘07 Stewartville: $213 more in ‘06: $473 more in ‘07
In addition, I was really pleased that in the final agreement, the proposal to fund Gifted and Talented Education that Randy Demmer and I sponsored was also approved and statewide will have $11 million allocated.
While both Democrats and Republican can claim victory and celebrate the increased funding for education, how education got funded remains a bit controversial: property taxes and the tobacco “fee”. More on that subject in the future.
5- Final Reminder: If you live in Rochester: DON’T FORGET TO VOTE TUESDAY!
Senator Sheila Kiscaden District 30
325 Capitol St. Paul, MN 55155
651-296-4848