2013 Legislative Wrap Up 5/24/2013 Weekly update from Senator Bonoff Click Here to Watch

Dear Friends, The session is over. Bringing this session to a close was challenging. I sent an Update last Friday with all details to that point. Therefore, in this Update I will share the story of the final day and provide you with a separate Session Review. This review contains a summary of all law changes by subject area. It is meant to be a reference document so that you can review the areas that are of interest to you.

Session Conclusion
Final agreements on bonding and the tax bill were difficult to secure. Bonding bills have to originate in the House and get a 60% majority to pass. Many, including myself, felt as though the historically low interest rates made now a good time to tackle much needed infrastructure repair. Yet apparently the

GOP and the DFL House leadership could not agree and the proposal failed. We in the Senate had little ability to affect this but had told the House that we were unwilling to end without including the Capitol Restoration provisions. Our Capitol is crumbling. Stones fall from the ceiling and we have leaks when it rains. It is reckless to abandon the restoration project at this time. We would have to take off scaffolding and shut down the work for a year in mid-project. We had a House provision that we amended and put the minimum amount needed to keep the repairs going onto a bill. We passed that bill with unanimous support and sent it back to the House. Their members were disappointed that only this small bonding bill was going to pass and therefore didn't want to support it. Honestly, the whole session came to a grinding halt and we were not sure we would get our work done in time. We in the Senate had the State Government bill and the Tax bill still to pass and the House had the Tax bill. We did not come to an agreement with the House on the Capitol bonding bill until after 9:00 pm on the very last day and then we did not reconvene until we were sure it was going to pass. That left only two and a half hours to debate both the State Gov bill and the Tax bill. Frankly, because the legislative pay issue was removed, the State Gov bill debate was quick. We agreed, rather than to set our own pay, to have an outside commission set our pay. In order to accomplish this we need to change the MN Constitution. Therefore, the legislature passed a bill that brings this proposed change to the people for a vote. I was pleased with that outcome. I think raising the issue by passing the increase brought enough attention to this matter that we were able to have the political will to tackle it in a responsible way. I was appreciative of that result.

2013 Minnesota Senate

The Tax bill debate was much tougher. Many, including myself, disagreed with the final proposal. We raised $2.1 billion in new money to solve a $627,000 deficit and to invest in new initiatives. While I concurred with the values expressed by our budget, I would have preferred smaller targeted investments at this time. I oppose raising income taxes and support broad tax reform. Based on these concerns and my overall concern with the current economic situation as well as my commitment to a growth oriented budget, I voted against the Tax bill. Yet there was a new provision included in the Tax bill that is worth highlighting and mentioning because of the importance to our school communities. The Metro school districts have been advocating for a categorical component in the formula that reflects the higher costs associated with being in the 7 county Metro. This session the Gen Ed levy was enacted. Suburban districts of high property wealth end up paying more with a Gen Ed levy as those with higher property values end up subsidizing those with lower values. Because of this interaction, a compromise was struck to finally include this provision in the formula. Rep. John Benson was on the Tax Committee and should be thanked for making this happen. I have been the Senate Chief Author for several years and have found great resistance to this concept. Therefore when I learned late in the day Monday that it had been included I was pleasantly surprised, to say the least! Lastly, there was a tremendous effort in the final hours to pass the Child Care/PCA Union bill in the House. Unlike the legislator pay issue where putting the spotlight on an issue yields the best result, this conclusion went in the other direction. I was shocked that in both the House and the Senate there were enough votes to pass this policy. As I mentioned previously, I expected, by demanding public scrutiny and debate, the bill would fail. Apparently I underestimated the influence and the strength of the coalition in support of the effort. I will work with the providers in my community to make sure they are informed and their wishes are respected. My staff, Sean Oyaas, Legislative Assistant and Dave Kornecki, Committee Administrator will be hard at work during the interim. Please feel free to contact our office should you need anything. As we are "Citizen Legislators", I will not be in St. Paul regularly. I will do interim work for my committee and am available for

you at any time. I thank my staff for their excellent work and you, my constituents, for being the best most engaged citizens in our State. (Of course, I might be biased!:)) Final Survey I have prepared a final Survey for the 2013 Legislative Session. Please share your overall thoughts on the work done at the Capitol this year. Let me know what you liked best (and least), as well as giving the work a 1-10 rating. Click here to share your thoughts. Have a wonderful summer- Best wishes to you and your family.
Email: sen.terri.bonoff@senate.mn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tbonoff Twitter: https://twitter.com/terri_bonoff Phone: 651-296-4314

Warm regards,

Terri Bonoff