It was a pivotal week. Midnight tonight marks the second legislation deadline and the end of the twelfth week of the 2023 legislative session. By this time, all bills must have passed out of committee and on to the Taxes, Finance or Bonding committees, or to the Senate floor. (I serve on both Taxes and Bonding so will continue to hear bills.) And Governor Walz, Democratic House and Senate Leaders released their joint budget targets, all determined without any Republican input.
It was a joy to connect with constituents at the Capitol this week! Your voices and experiences are essential to good government. It is not always feasible to drive up to our beautiful St. Paul Capitol so I’m coming to you.
Sign up for a 15-minute time slot to discuss legislative issues or for assistance with any state government agency. Be sure to email my Legislative Assistant: Madeline Hoy to reserve your spot: madeline.hoy@senate.mn
Look for in-district office hours on Saturday mornings at a coffee shop near you. The first Saturday with the Senator will be April 1st from 9–11am at Cabin Coffee in Stewartville.
(Note: no Saturday with Sen. Nelson on April 8, Easter weekend. Other venues to be released soon.)
Please don’t hesitate to contact me for help with any state issue or legislative initiative: sen.carla.nelson@senate.mn or at 651–296–4848.
It is a privilege to serve you!
Carla
Paid Family Medical Leave Exposed
Paid family leave is a laudable goal. But no matter how good the intentions might be, the current bill is fraught with problems and will not achieve the goals we seek. It is well intended, but it is going to end up harming people. I discussed some of the issues with the bill last night in committee.
Watch the video: https://vimeo.com/811418138
Biennial Budget Targets
On Monday, Gov. Tim Walz and Democrat leaders in the House and Senate announced their biennial budget targets. The newly announced targets are in addition to the base budget: $51.65B. This adds $14.338 B in additional state spending for 2024–2025.
I have deep concerns about the budget priorities. For starters, their plan spends far, far too much and provides far too little tax relief. With an even smaller surplus last year, the Senate Taxes committee, under my leadership and the House Taxes committee, under Democrat Chair Marquart, agreed upon $4B of tax relief, aides and credits. Unfortunately the House refused to take up this tax agreement.
Minnesotans are still squeezed by inflation. The budget targets agreed to by Governor Walz and Democrat Legislative Leaders spend the entire surplus and raise government spending a staggering 30%, with $1.5 billion increase for inflationary costs already baked in. We must, I repeat, must, provide serious, significant relief. We should start by fully eliminating the tax on Social Security benefits, which has bipartisan support and could be done quickly and easily.
Additionally, their plan steals $621 million from the healthcare access fund which is paid for with a 1.8% tax on healthcare providers and a 1% gross tax on premiums. Instead of making healthcare more expensive, we should be looking at ways to reduce peoples’ healthcare bills.
Although we share certain goals like funding education and critical infrastructure, this budget is out of alignment with the priorities Minnesotans are asking us to address. We should work together to craft a budget that works for all Minnesotans, with a priority on providing permanent, significant tax relief in our highly taxed state.
Minnesota recently garnered some National attention as ‘Shark Tank’s’ Kevin O’Leary discussed the differences in Minnesota’s business and tax climate compared to North Dakota’s.
Unelected Legislative Salary Council
Prior to 2016, the Minnesota Constitution provided that legislators’ compensation was set by law (Set by Legislators themselves). Under that structure, the annual salary for representatives and senators was $31,140 and had remained at that amount since 1999 — it is widely seen as unpopular for legislators to vote for an increase in pay for themselves, so it was rare that Legislative salaries were increased.
At the 2016 state general election, the voters ratified a constitutional amendment requiring that legislator salaries be set by a newly established Legislative Salary Council.
The council consists of members appointed by the governor and chief justice of the Supreme Court. Council members are prohibited from communicating with legislators during the period when the council convenes its first meeting and the date it submits its salary determinations. The council must report its determinations, and the rationale used to reach them, by March 31 of each odd-numbered year. If it directs a salary adjustment, the adjustment takes effect July 1 of that year.
I am concerned whenever a Governor-appointed-unelected- unaccountable council can authorize spending hard earned taxpayer dollars. In this case it is for legislative salaries which is especially galling when many of those legislators refuse to provide Minnesotans meaningful, ongoing tax relief at a time of over $17Billion surplus.
From the Star Tribune: “The state’s appointed Legislative Salary Council boosted lawmakers’ salaries by $3,500 to $51,750, aiming to entice and retain qualified leaders amid rising inflation. The pay bump will cost taxpayers an additional $810,854 a year, according to council staff.”
This is reminiscent of the scathing Office of the Legislative auditor review of the South West Light Rail (SWLR) another Governor-appointed-unelected- unaccountable board.
Read More: https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-legislators-will-get-7-25-pay-hike/600258516/?refresh=true
State Grant Oversights
Next week, I will introduce a bill to provide much needed fiscal safe-guards for our state grant programs. Over the summer we were made aware of significant, widespread fraud within state grants, specifically noted in this was the ‘Feeding Our Future’ fraud where over $250 Million dollars that was intended to feed hungry kids was stolen from Minnesota taxpayers.
My bill will increase fiscal safeguards for state grants to nonprofit organizations. It will:
· Add requirements for Eligibility
· Submission of proper tax forms
· Proof that employees are not earning more than the Governor’s salary each year
· Bans Governing board members from also serving as: a state agency employee and/or a state, county or local elected official.
· Adds financial audit requirements for nonprofits that receive more than 50% of their revenue from the state funds.
· Requires background checks to ensure board members have not been convicted of any theft, fraud, embezzlement, or misuse of funds or property.
These requirements are basic checks and balances on our state grant programs. We must be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, and I look forward to championing this bill. It will be introduced on Monday, so stay tuned!