2009 Capitol Update # 15
April 19, 2009
Higher Education Omnibus Bill
On Friday, the Senate took up the Higher Education Omnibus Bill on the floor. The Senate bill requires the U of M and MNSCU to use the $ 148 million of federal stimulus money to mitigate the need to raise tuition for Minnesota students. The net result is a 4 % ($ 54.809 million) cut to the U of M’s 2010-2011 budget and a 3 % ($ 43.732 million) cut to MNSCU’s 2010-2011 budget. The bill also reduces the Assigned Family Responsibility (AFR), that is the amount of a family’s contribution to a student’s cost of attendance, by 3 %. In addition, the bill asks for more transparency and information about tuition benefits already offered by the state and federal government for all students and particularly for students from low-income families. A subsection introduced by Senator Latz will require MNSCU and the U of M to maintain course equivalency guides for credits in learning acquired as a result of the successful completion of formal military courses. Article 3 of the bill addresses the lack of dental care access in Minnesota putting into place two different types of mid-level practitioners that will provide dental services in rural and underserved communities. This article of the bill was very controversial and a motion was made to delete one of the programs from the bill. It did not prevail. Sen. Rest voted to preserve both programs in the bill; she also voted for final passage.
Streamlined Sales Tax Resolution
On April 16, Senator Rest presented SF1708 to the Senate Taxes Committee. The resolution calls on Minnesota's Congressional delegation to sponsor and support the Main Street Fairness Act and urges President Obama to sign the Act into law upon passage by the Congress. The federal legislation, soon to be introduced in Congress, would give states that have adopted the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement (including Minnesota) the authority to require sellers, regardless of nexus (legally defined connection to the state) to collect those states' sales and use taxes. The bill was recommended to pass and re-referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration. Minnesota retailers have long sought this policy change on equity grounds.
Richard Brown, St. Louis Park, uses his communications device during a Minnesota Star Award ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda Tues., Apr. 14. The annual event recognizes excellence in the area of assistive technology. Photo by A.J. Olmscheid—Senate Media Services
Senator Ann H. Rest and her legislative assistant, Peter Brickwedde, review constituent work during a recent committee hearing. Photo by Senate Media Services
Tax Analysis
On March 23, Senator Rest’s tax bill (SF 1274) was highlighted in an article by David Brunori in State Tax Notes, “Corporate Taxes Under Siege – Even in Minnesota”. You can find that article at: www.leg.mn/webcontent/lrl/pdf/statetaxnotes.pdf
Focus on the Capitol
By Allison Jones - Committee Page
This portrait of John Pillsbury (1827-1901) was painted by John Antrobus and is located in the east wing of the Capitol on the first floor. John Pillsbury served three terms as Governor from 1876-1882. John Pillsbury was born in Sutton, New Hampshire in 1827 and spent his formative years in New England. It was not until 1855 when Pillsbury was heading west that he settled in Minnesota and made our state his permanent home. As a successful entrepreneur and merchant, Pillsbury established with his family C.A. Pillsbury and Company, an enterprise that would become the world’s largest flour-milling business. With his business success, locals encouraged Pillsbury to run for office. He served first as a city council member and later as a state senator. In 1875 Pillsbury was elected Minnesota’s eighth governor. While holding public office Pillsbury rescued the University of Minnesota from finanPhoto courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society cial collapse, and encouraged politicians to serve with integrity and compassion. With his personal fortune, Governor Pillsbury started a philanthropic tradition of supporting cultural and education institutions.
Agriculture and Veterans Affairs Omnibus Policy and Finance Bill
On Friday, the Senate took up the Agriculture and Veterans Affairs Omnibus Policy and Finance Bill (SF 1779). The Department of Military Affairs and Veterans Affairs will both see minor increases to their budgets and the Department of Agriculture will be cut by 5.5%. The Omnibus Bill would, among other policies, create a Feeding Minnesota Task Force by bringing together leaders from the agriculture community; appropriate $1 million for use by the University of Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory; extend the sunset date of the Farmer-Lender Mediation to 2013; increase funding to the Board of Animal Health to use toward bovine TB buyout efforts; increase funding to the Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans by $250,000 in each year of the biennium, and change the GI Bill appropriation from a direct to an open appropriation. Senator Rest voted for the bill.
Free Programs at Golden Valley Library
During the month of May, the Golden Valley Library, located at 830 Winnetka Ave. N., will be offering a number of free programs. Baby story time will be offered on Tuesdays, May 5 to 19 at 10:15 a.m.; childcare group story time will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, May 7; and Senior Surf Day will occur from 9 to 11 a.m. on Thursday, May 21. Senior Surf Day provides seniors with hands-on computer experience and instruction. Registration is required for Senior Surf Day. For more information call 952.847.5475.
Courage Center Wheelchair Basketball Teams Win National Championships
Congratulations to our youth athletes who play in the Prep and Varsity divisions of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA.) Both the Courage Center Rolling Rowdies (Prep) and the Courage Center Jr. Rolling Timberwolves teams are national wheelchair basketball champs, following plays last weekend in Denver, Colorado, at the 2009 NWBA National Championships. Senator Rest is introducing a Senate Resolution congratulating the two teams on their championship titles.
A Note from Ann Thanks to all who attended the town meeting last week. It was a beautiful day and I appreciated your willingness to spend part of it talking about our budget crisis. The Senate has now passed three budget bills and will take up the rest of them this week along with the tax bill. The mid-level dental practitioners provisions in the Higher Education bill was a close call for me to support. I did vote to keep both programs in the bill and hope that the issue of supervision will be resolved in the conference committee. The toughest bills coming up this week are likely to be the Public Safety Budget bill and the Health and Human Services bill. The cuts in both areas are deep. The tax bill will have income tax increases in it as part of resolving the budget. What it will not contain is the governor's borrowing of $1 billion to pay for operating expenses of the state, a policy he has criticized the federal government for using. We should balance our budget without resorting to using a credit card. It is one thing to take out a mortgage on a house, another to take out a mortgage to buy needed groceries.
Ann