NEWS RELEASE -- Capitol Update
A report from State Representative Al Juhnke
May 2003
Dear Friends,
The 2003 legislative session has less than two weeks to go. At this critical time, I hope you'll keep sending me your thoughts and comments - and if you have a chance, please come to see a legislative floor session yourself in our historic State Capitol!
Warmest Regards,
Al Juhnke
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How to reach Al Juhnke
Capitol: 281 State Office Bldg., St. Paul, MN 55155; (651) 296-6206
Home: 3951 Horizon Hills Circle, Willmar, MN 56201; (320) 235-4442
E-Mail: rep.al.juhnke@house.mn
Web: www.house.mn/13b
Adjournment nears with sides far apart
May 19 - the constitutional deadline for legislative adjournment - is looming with no sign that Republicans will accept a balanced and reasonable solution to the state budget crisis, according to Rep. Al Juhnke
'Republican lawmakers are still paying lip service to ultra-right groups like the Taxpayers League,' Juhnke said. 'Without good faith negotiations on both sides, and a willingness to compromise, I don't know if we can avoid going to a special session.'
Juhnke noted recent statewide polls showed Minnesotans overwhelmingly favor a budget solution that combines new revenues with spending cuts.
'For three months, the public has heard the debate, and most of them are coming down on the side of protecting our social safety net, our schools and the things that made Minnesota great place to live,' he said. 'There will be spending cuts. But people are recognizing that those cuts come with long-term costs attached.'
The Star Tribune's Minnesota Poll found 75% support for increasing the state income tax on people in the highest income tax brackets, the centerpiece of the House DFL plan to balance the budget. A poll by the St. Paul Pioneer Press found 77% support for that idea.
Fewer than 1 in 100 taxpayers in Kandiyohi County would be affected by those proposed taxes, Juhnke noted.
Testing competing budget plans, the Star Tribune found 73% support for a plan including 'state income tax increases on the highest income brackets, large cigarette tax increases, smaller state budget cuts and a smaller local property tax increase.' Only 18% favored a plan similar to that proposed by the Governor for 'no state tax increases, large state budget cuts and increases in local property taxes.'
'Minnesotans have historically preferred solution based on balance, reason and compromise,' Juhnke said. 'Hopefully, that message will make it through to the Capitol.'
GOP budget cuts schools by half a billion dollars
Schools across Minnesota would lose more than half a billion dollars of state funding over the coming two years under a Republican-designed education budget bill passed by the House of Representatives, according to Rep. Juhnke.
'The important thing to look at is what those dollars pay for,' Juhnke said. 'Losing these dollars means losing teachers, which boosts class sizes. It means losing new textbooks or computers. It means not having that little extra help that will lift a kid from being an F student to a C student. Dollars don't buy quality - but they buy the tools needed to provide quality education.'
Juhnke noted that House DFLers offered a budget that prevented all cuts in education, but majority Republicans stopped it from coming to a vote.
'Republican legislators are claiming they reversed the cuts proposed by Gov. Pawlenty, but in truth they've just hidden them,' Juhnke said. 'The biggest trick is that about $366 million of school aid is shifted to the next cycle. That's going to force a lot of districts to go to short-term borrowing, at a high cost to their taxpayers.'
In addition, the bill cuts funding for a variety of programs, such as special education, school nutrition, libraries and classes for non-English-speaking students.
Impact of House K-12 Finance Bill
Revenue Loss vs. Base Funding, 2004-05
New London-Spicer -$106,974
Willmar -$598,903
Hutchinson -$303,419
Litchfield -$1,164,201
Paynesville -$150,017
Kerkoven-Murdock-Sundburg -$97,345
Prinsburg -$8,188
MACCRAY -$149,206
Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa -$48,281
Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City -$128,500
BOLD -$145,471
Renville County West (DRSH) -$179,985
Ethanol funding cut 35%
The House of Representatives passed a Republican-authored budget bill cutting ethanol support by 35% and slashing other useful farm programs. Rep. Juhnke voted against the measure.
While ethanol producer payments are cut by more than a third, the Agriculture Department bureaucracy is cut only 10%. 'This budget protects the bureaucracy, while farm families, agricultural education and sustainable and organic agriculture bear the brunt of the cuts,' he said.
Roads bill a dead-end
Rural Minnesota will continue to suffer from poor roads and inadequate bus service under a $1.1 billion transportation bill.
'We face a $10 billion gap in highway needs over the next 20 years just to keep things from getting worse, and this is nothing more than a baby step toward that need,' Juhnke said. 'What's worse, the funding that is provided will be eaten up by costly metro-area projects, since the provision requiring equal distribution between the Twin Cities and rest of the state has been removed.'
The Governor's highway bonding proposal will put $550 million into roads, 'but that will have to be paid back with interest over the next 20 years,' Juhnke said. 'We'll be paying $825 million for $550 million of improvements. That's not smart shopping.'
32% tuition hikes lie ahead
Tuition increases of at least 32% - and possibly more - over the next two years will result from the higher education budget bill passed by the Minnesota House of Representatives over the opposition of Rep. Juhnke.
'This shows just how misleading that Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Republican lawmakers have been,' Juhnke, of Willmar, said. 'While their political spin-machine claims they balanced the budget with spending cuts, they are in fact raising things like college tuition.'
