Updates from MLA/MEMO Lobbyist Elaine Keefe, Capitol Hill Associates
Most recent first.
April 11
Today the conferees for several of the omnibus budget bills were appointed. Below is a list of the conferees and the key library issues to be resolved in each conference committee.
EDUCATION BILL (HF 934):
Senators Gen Olson (R - Minnetrista), Carla Nelson (R - Rochester), Dave Thompson (R - Lakeville), Pam Wolf (R - Spring Lake Park) and Benjamin Kruse (R - Brooklyn Park)
Representatives Pat Garafalo (R - Farmington), Sondra Erickson (R - Princeton), Tim Kelly (R - Red Wing), Connie Doepke (R - Orono) and Dan Fabian (R - Roseau)
Library Issues:
The Senate bill repeals a maintenance of effort requirement for combination school-public libraries. There is no comparable provision in the House bill.
HIGHER EDUCATION BILL (HF 1101):
Senators Michelle Fischbach (R - Paynesville), John Carlson (R - Bemidji), David Brown (R - Becker), Claire Robling (R - Prior Lake) and Dave Senjem (R - Rochester)
Representatives Bud Nornes (R - Fergus Falls), Bob Dettmer (R - Forest Lake), Kurt Daudt (R - Crown), Paul Mazerol (R - Bloomington) and David Hancock (R - Bemidji)
Library Issues:
Funding for Minitex is reduced by $531,000 per year in the Senate bill and by $281,000 per year in the House bill.
Funding for MnLINK is reduced by $20,000 per year in both the House bill and the Senate bill.
TAX BILL (HF 42):
Senators Julianne Ortman (R - Chanhassen), Dave Senjem (R - Rochester), Warren Limmer (R - Maple Grove), Roger Chamberlain (R - Lino Lakes) and Julie Rosen (R - Fairmont)
Representatives Greg Davids (R - Preston), Sarah Anderson (R - Plymouth), Jenifer Loon (R - Eden Prairie), Linda Runbeck (Circle Pines) and Ann Lenczewski (DFL - Bloomington)
Library Issues:
Library Maintenance of Effort (including the minimum level of local support) for 2012 and 2013 is reduced to 90% of the 2011 level in the Senate bill.
Library Maintenance of Effort (including the minimum level of local support) for 2012 and 2013 is suspended in the House bill.
It is not clear how soon the conference committees will begin meeting. The Legislature will be on Spring Break next week.
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April 7
Budget: Last night in the wee hours, the last of the omnibus budget bills passed on the House floor. The House has appointed its conferees for most of the omnibus budget conference committees, but the Senate has not yet named conferees for any budget bills except the agriculture bill. At this point, the soonest that any Senate conferees could be appointed would be Monday. Senate Republican leaders held a press conference this morning to criticize Governor Dayton for saying that he will not negotiate with Republicans on the budget until they have completed the conference committee process. Look for the rhetoric to become more heated as we move into the final few weeks of the session.
Legacy Funding: Today the House Legacy Division's omnibus bill was released. The bill provides $3.455 million per year to regional public libraries over the next two years, or $6.91 million for the biennium. This is a reduction from the $8.5 million provided in the current biennium. Clearly the committee reduced this funding to express its displeasure over the fee paid to Neil Gaiman for his appearance in Stillwater. The bill also provides $475,000 per year, for a total of $950,000 for the biennium for the Minnesota Digital Library. This is a substantial increase over the $500,000 provided in the current biennium. Here is a link to the spreadsheet for the bill: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/comm/docs/LegacyFunding(HF1061Committeebill).PDF
The Committee will meet next Tuesday, April 12 to walk through the bill. Testimony and amendments to the arts and cultural heritage article of the bill will be taken on Tuesday, April 26.
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March 29
Library Maintenance of Effort: Last night in the Senate Finance Committee the omnibus education bill, SF 1030, was amended to exempt combined school and public libraries from maintenance of effort, retroactive to 2011. The amendment was offered by Senator Doug Magnus (R - Slayton). Senator Magnus' district includes Pipestone, which has one of only two combined school-public libraries in the state. The Pipestone Library has been out of compliance with maintenance of effort for the past four years because the school district has not met its obligation. SF 1030 is expected to be taken up on the floor tomorrow.
House Education Bill: HF 934, the House version of the omnibus education bill, passed the House at 2:45am this morning by a vote of 68-59. The bill passed on a party line vote except that two Republicans voted against the bill. The two Republicans were Rep. Mark Buesgens (R - Jordan) and Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R - Mazeppa), who both objected to the bill because they thought it spent too much. A letter from MDE Commissioner Brenda Cassellius outlining the administration's concerns about the bill is attached to the message.
House and Senate Omnibus Higher Education Bills: The Senate debated and passed its version of the omnibus higher education bill on Monday and the House debated and passed its version yesterday. The Senate bill, SF 924, passed by a vote of 36-27. The House bill, HF 1101, passed by a vote of 69-60. Both were party line votes except that Rep. King Banian (R - St. Cloud) voted against the bill. Rep. Banaian is a professor at St. Cloud State University.
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March 28
This week legislators will be spending most of their time debating the omnibus budget bills on the floor. By next week conference committees will begin attempting to reconcile the differences between House and Senate versions of the various budget bills. As I mentioned previously, it is widely expected that the first round of budget bills will be vetoed by Governor Dayton.
Attached is a letter that Governor Dayton sent to legislative leaders today warning them that he will not sign any budget bills until an agreement on an overall budget plan is reached.
Library Maintenance of Effort: On Friday the Senate Tax Committee amended the omnibus tax bill to reduce all maintenance of effort requirements for cities and counties to 90% of the 2011 amounts for 2012 and 2013. For libraries, no distinction is made between the minimum level of local support and what we normally think of as MOE. The amendment applies to all of 134.34. The original version of the amendment would have set the MOE levels at 90% of the 2011 amounts permanently. After I testified, the committee amended the amendment to have it sunset in two years.
The final amendment was adopted on a roll call vote of 10-3. Those voting in favor were: Senator Julianne Ortman (R - Chanhassen), Senator Tom Bakk (DFL - Cook), Senator Roger Chamberlain (R - Lino Lakes), Senator Gretchen Hoffman (R - Vergas), Senator Warren Limmer (R - Maple Grove), Senator Geoff Michel (R - Edina), Senator Julie Rosen (R - Fairmont), Senator Dave Senjem (R - Rochester) and Senator Rod Skoe (DFL - Clearbrook). Those voting against were: Senator John Marty (DFL - Roseville), Senator Larry Pogemiller (DFL - Minneapolis) and Senator Ann Rest (DFL - New Hope).
Legacy Funding: SF 1040, our bill to provide $5 million per year in each of the next two years to regional public libraries from the arts and cultural heritage fund was introduced in the Senate last Thursday.
March 23
Senate Omnibus Higher Education Bill: The bill was released to the public this afternoon. The Minitex appropriation is reduced by $531,000 per year and the MnLINK appropriation is reduced by $20,000 per year. This is a reduction of 9.5% for Minitex and 5% for MnLINK.
Senate Omnibus Tax Bill: The bill was released this morning. It reduces aid to cities and counties by a total of 22% in the next biennium. Aid to cities is reduced by $204 million and aid to counties is reduced by $73 million. The reduction for counties is the same as in the House Tax bill, while the reduction to cities is $48 million less than the reduction in the House Tax bill. Testimony will be taken on the Senate bill on Thursday and amendments will be considered on Friday.
House Omnibus Tax Bill: This afternoon the bill was heard in the House Ways and Means Committee. The bill was amended to extend current levy limits for two more years. The bill passed and was sent to the floor.
Library Maintenance of Effort: Two more bills were introduced this week affecting library MOE. HF 1213, introduced by Rep. Paul Anderson (R - Starbuck), would allow a city or county's library MOE to be reduced in proportion to any reduction in state aid (current law caps the reduction at 10%). HF 1260, introduced by Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R - Mazeppa), repeals library MOE. Both bills were referred to the Education Finance Committee.
Legacy Funding: The House Legacy Funding Division is planning to hear its omnibus arts & cultural heritage funding bill on Tuesday, April 5. No word yet on whether the bill will be made available online in advance. Testimony will be taken on Wednesday, April 6 and amendments and a final vote are scheduled to be taken on Tuesday, April 12.
The Senate Environment Committee is using a somewhat more formal process for hearing Legacy funding requests from that used by the House, and the chair has indicated we should have a bill introduced. Our bill will be introduced on Friday of this week. The chief author is Senator Gary Dahms (R - Redwood Falls), Senator Tom Saxhaug (DFL - Grand Rapids), Senator Keith Langseth (DFL - Glyndon), Senator John Carlson (R - Bemidji) and Senator Bill Ingebrigtsen (R- Alexandria). If one of these senators represents you, please drop him a notes of thanks for signing on to our bill.
Many of the other groups requesting funding from the arts and cultural heritage fund (in a sense, our competition -- but also our partners) are funded in the State Government budget bill. I took a look at those bills to see how those groups fared. It is not pretty. Despite the prohibition against Legacy funds supplanting existing state funding, the proposed cuts to these groups will probably be a factor as legislators consider where to allocate Legacy funds. Here is a rundown:
Minnesota State Arts Board House: 20% cut Senate: 20% cut
Minnesota Historical Society House: 12% cut Senate: 10% cut
Public Television House: 8.5% cut Senate: 100% cut
MPR House: 15% cut Senate: 100% cut
AMPERS radio stations House: no cut Senate: 5% cut
Humanities Commission House: 10% cut Senate: unclear (the four councils of color are merged with the Humanities Council, and the numbers on the spreadsheet are aggregated)
Science Museum: House: 15% cut Senate: 15% cut
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March 21
Senate Education Bill: This afternoon the Senate's omnibus education bill was released. Happily, it maintains current funding for all library appropriations.
The bill increases the general education formula from the current $5,124 per pupil to $5,174 in FY 2012 and to $5,224 in FY 2013 and subsequent years.
The bill also postpones the repayment of the education funding shift until the 2014-15 biennium. Tomorrow the committee will take public testimony on the bill and on Wednesday amendments will be considered.
House Education Bill: The House Education Committee met most of the day today to hear testimony on its omnibus education bill. In my testimony I thanked the committee for maintaining current library funding, noting that public libraries will be adversely impacted by the provisions in the tax bill cutting aid to cities and counties and suspending library maintenance of effort for two years. I also mentioned that libraries are working hard to meet the enormous demand for library services.
At this writing the committee is considering amendments to the bill. A final vote will be taken on the bill tomorrow.
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March 20
House Tax Bill: The House Tax Committee met all day on Saturday to complete work on the omnibus tax bill. No changes were made in the maintenance of effort suspension or the cuts in aid to cities and counties that I reported on in my legislative update dated March 18.
Rep. Diane Loeffler (DFL - Minneapolis) offered an amendment to remove the provision authored by Rep. Ann Lenczewski (DFL - Bloomington) repealing the 1.5% annual increase in the portion of the Twins' ballpark sales tax that can be used for extending library hours in Hennepin County. The amendment failed on a divided voice vote.
Prior to the final vote on passing the bill out of the Tax Committee, the discussion in the committee made it clear that everyone expects Governor Dayton to veto this bill. The bill next goes to the House Ways and Means Committee.
House K-12 Education Bill: The omnibus K-12 bill was released online last night. It makes NO cuts in any library programs. Regional Library Basic System Support, Multi-type grants, Regional Library Telecommunications Aid, the Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM) and Telecommunications Equity Aid are all funded at current levels. As expected, the bill postpones the repayment of the education funding shift for another two years.
Other items of interest:
Most recent first.
April 11
Today the conferees for several of the omnibus budget bills were appointed. Below is a list of the conferees and the key library issues to be resolved in each conference committee.
EDUCATION BILL (HF 934):
Senators Gen Olson (R - Minnetrista), Carla Nelson (R - Rochester), Dave Thompson (R - Lakeville), Pam Wolf (R - Spring Lake Park) and Benjamin Kruse (R - Brooklyn Park)
Representatives Pat Garafalo (R - Farmington), Sondra Erickson (R - Princeton), Tim Kelly (R - Red Wing), Connie Doepke (R - Orono) and Dan Fabian (R - Roseau)
Library Issues:
The Senate bill repeals a maintenance of effort requirement for combination school-public libraries. There is no comparable provision in the House bill.
HIGHER EDUCATION BILL (HF 1101):
Senators Michelle Fischbach (R - Paynesville), John Carlson (R - Bemidji), David Brown (R - Becker), Claire Robling (R - Prior Lake) and Dave Senjem (R - Rochester)
Representatives Bud Nornes (R - Fergus Falls), Bob Dettmer (R - Forest Lake), Kurt Daudt (R - Crown), Paul Mazerol (R - Bloomington) and David Hancock (R - Bemidji)
Library Issues:
Funding for Minitex is reduced by $531,000 per year in the Senate bill and by $281,000 per year in the House bill.
Funding for MnLINK is reduced by $20,000 per year in both the House bill and the Senate bill.
TAX BILL (HF 42):
Senators Julianne Ortman (R - Chanhassen), Dave Senjem (R - Rochester), Warren Limmer (R - Maple Grove), Roger Chamberlain (R - Lino Lakes) and Julie Rosen (R - Fairmont)
Representatives Greg Davids (R - Preston), Sarah Anderson (R - Plymouth), Jenifer Loon (R - Eden Prairie), Linda Runbeck (Circle Pines) and Ann Lenczewski (DFL - Bloomington)
Library Issues:
Library Maintenance of Effort (including the minimum level of local support) for 2012 and 2013 is reduced to 90% of the 2011 level in the Senate bill.
Library Maintenance of Effort (including the minimum level of local support) for 2012 and 2013 is suspended in the House bill.
It is not clear how soon the conference committees will begin meeting. The Legislature will be on Spring Break next week.
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April 7
Budget: Last night in the wee hours, the last of the omnibus budget bills passed on the House floor. The House has appointed its conferees for most of the omnibus budget conference committees, but the Senate has not yet named conferees for any budget bills except the agriculture bill. At this point, the soonest that any Senate conferees could be appointed would be Monday. Senate Republican leaders held a press conference this morning to criticize Governor Dayton for saying that he will not negotiate with Republicans on the budget until they have completed the conference committee process. Look for the rhetoric to become more heated as we move into the final few weeks of the session.
Legacy Funding: Today the House Legacy Division's omnibus bill was released. The bill provides $3.455 million per year to regional public libraries over the next two years, or $6.91 million for the biennium. This is a reduction from the $8.5 million provided in the current biennium. Clearly the committee reduced this funding to express its displeasure over the fee paid to Neil Gaiman for his appearance in Stillwater. The bill also provides $475,000 per year, for a total of $950,000 for the biennium for the Minnesota Digital Library. This is a substantial increase over the $500,000 provided in the current biennium. Here is a link to the spreadsheet for the bill: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/comm/docs/LegacyFunding(HF1061Committeebill).PDF
The Committee will meet next Tuesday, April 12 to walk through the bill. Testimony and amendments to the arts and cultural heritage article of the bill will be taken on Tuesday, April 26.
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March 29
Library Maintenance of Effort: Last night in the Senate Finance Committee the omnibus education bill, SF 1030, was amended to exempt combined school and public libraries from maintenance of effort, retroactive to 2011. The amendment was offered by Senator Doug Magnus (R - Slayton). Senator Magnus' district includes Pipestone, which has one of only two combined school-public libraries in the state. The Pipestone Library has been out of compliance with maintenance of effort for the past four years because the school district has not met its obligation. SF 1030 is expected to be taken up on the floor tomorrow.
House Education Bill: HF 934, the House version of the omnibus education bill, passed the House at 2:45am this morning by a vote of 68-59. The bill passed on a party line vote except that two Republicans voted against the bill. The two Republicans were Rep. Mark Buesgens (R - Jordan) and Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R - Mazeppa), who both objected to the bill because they thought it spent too much. A letter from MDE Commissioner Brenda Cassellius outlining the administration's concerns about the bill is attached to the message.
House and Senate Omnibus Higher Education Bills: The Senate debated and passed its version of the omnibus higher education bill on Monday and the House debated and passed its version yesterday. The Senate bill, SF 924, passed by a vote of 36-27. The House bill, HF 1101, passed by a vote of 69-60. Both were party line votes except that Rep. King Banian (R - St. Cloud) voted against the bill. Rep. Banaian is a professor at St. Cloud State University.
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March 28
This week legislators will be spending most of their time debating the omnibus budget bills on the floor. By next week conference committees will begin attempting to reconcile the differences between House and Senate versions of the various budget bills. As I mentioned previously, it is widely expected that the first round of budget bills will be vetoed by Governor Dayton.
Attached is a letter that Governor Dayton sent to legislative leaders today warning them that he will not sign any budget bills until an agreement on an overall budget plan is reached.
Library Maintenance of Effort: On Friday the Senate Tax Committee amended the omnibus tax bill to reduce all maintenance of effort requirements for cities and counties to 90% of the 2011 amounts for 2012 and 2013. For libraries, no distinction is made between the minimum level of local support and what we normally think of as MOE. The amendment applies to all of 134.34. The original version of the amendment would have set the MOE levels at 90% of the 2011 amounts permanently. After I testified, the committee amended the amendment to have it sunset in two years.
The final amendment was adopted on a roll call vote of 10-3. Those voting in favor were: Senator Julianne Ortman (R - Chanhassen), Senator Tom Bakk (DFL - Cook), Senator Roger Chamberlain (R - Lino Lakes), Senator Gretchen Hoffman (R - Vergas), Senator Warren Limmer (R - Maple Grove), Senator Geoff Michel (R - Edina), Senator Julie Rosen (R - Fairmont), Senator Dave Senjem (R - Rochester) and Senator Rod Skoe (DFL - Clearbrook). Those voting against were: Senator John Marty (DFL - Roseville), Senator Larry Pogemiller (DFL - Minneapolis) and Senator Ann Rest (DFL - New Hope).
Legacy Funding: SF 1040, our bill to provide $5 million per year in each of the next two years to regional public libraries from the arts and cultural heritage fund was introduced in the Senate last Thursday.
March 23
Senate Omnibus Higher Education Bill: The bill was released to the public this afternoon. The Minitex appropriation is reduced by $531,000 per year and the MnLINK appropriation is reduced by $20,000 per year. This is a reduction of 9.5% for Minitex and 5% for MnLINK.
Senate Omnibus Tax Bill: The bill was released this morning. It reduces aid to cities and counties by a total of 22% in the next biennium. Aid to cities is reduced by $204 million and aid to counties is reduced by $73 million. The reduction for counties is the same as in the House Tax bill, while the reduction to cities is $48 million less than the reduction in the House Tax bill. Testimony will be taken on the Senate bill on Thursday and amendments will be considered on Friday.
House Omnibus Tax Bill: This afternoon the bill was heard in the House Ways and Means Committee. The bill was amended to extend current levy limits for two more years. The bill passed and was sent to the floor.
Library Maintenance of Effort: Two more bills were introduced this week affecting library MOE. HF 1213, introduced by Rep. Paul Anderson (R - Starbuck), would allow a city or county's library MOE to be reduced in proportion to any reduction in state aid (current law caps the reduction at 10%). HF 1260, introduced by Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R - Mazeppa), repeals library MOE. Both bills were referred to the Education Finance Committee.
Legacy Funding: The House Legacy Funding Division is planning to hear its omnibus arts & cultural heritage funding bill on Tuesday, April 5. No word yet on whether the bill will be made available online in advance. Testimony will be taken on Wednesday, April 6 and amendments and a final vote are scheduled to be taken on Tuesday, April 12.
The Senate Environment Committee is using a somewhat more formal process for hearing Legacy funding requests from that used by the House, and the chair has indicated we should have a bill introduced. Our bill will be introduced on Friday of this week. The chief author is Senator Gary Dahms (R - Redwood Falls), Senator Tom Saxhaug (DFL - Grand Rapids), Senator Keith Langseth (DFL - Glyndon), Senator John Carlson (R - Bemidji) and Senator Bill Ingebrigtsen (R- Alexandria). If one of these senators represents you, please drop him a notes of thanks for signing on to our bill.
Many of the other groups requesting funding from the arts and cultural heritage fund (in a sense, our competition -- but also our partners) are funded in the State Government budget bill. I took a look at those bills to see how those groups fared. It is not pretty. Despite the prohibition against Legacy funds supplanting existing state funding, the proposed cuts to these groups will probably be a factor as legislators consider where to allocate Legacy funds. Here is a rundown:
Minnesota State Arts Board House: 20% cut Senate: 20% cut
Minnesota Historical Society House: 12% cut Senate: 10% cut
Public Television House: 8.5% cut Senate: 100% cut
MPR House: 15% cut Senate: 100% cut
AMPERS radio stations House: no cut Senate: 5% cut
Humanities Commission House: 10% cut Senate: unclear (the four councils of color are merged with the Humanities Council, and the numbers on the spreadsheet are aggregated)
Science Museum: House: 15% cut Senate: 15% cut
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March 21
Senate Education Bill: This afternoon the Senate's omnibus education bill was released. Happily, it maintains current funding for all library appropriations.
The bill increases the general education formula from the current $5,124 per pupil to $5,174 in FY 2012 and to $5,224 in FY 2013 and subsequent years.
The bill also postpones the repayment of the education funding shift until the 2014-15 biennium. Tomorrow the committee will take public testimony on the bill and on Wednesday amendments will be considered.
House Education Bill: The House Education Committee met most of the day today to hear testimony on its omnibus education bill. In my testimony I thanked the committee for maintaining current library funding, noting that public libraries will be adversely impacted by the provisions in the tax bill cutting aid to cities and counties and suspending library maintenance of effort for two years. I also mentioned that libraries are working hard to meet the enormous demand for library services.
At this writing the committee is considering amendments to the bill. A final vote will be taken on the bill tomorrow.
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March 20
House Tax Bill: The House Tax Committee met all day on Saturday to complete work on the omnibus tax bill. No changes were made in the maintenance of effort suspension or the cuts in aid to cities and counties that I reported on in my legislative update dated March 18.
Rep. Diane Loeffler (DFL - Minneapolis) offered an amendment to remove the provision authored by Rep. Ann Lenczewski (DFL - Bloomington) repealing the 1.5% annual increase in the portion of the Twins' ballpark sales tax that can be used for extending library hours in Hennepin County. The amendment failed on a divided voice vote.
Prior to the final vote on passing the bill out of the Tax Committee, the discussion in the committee made it clear that everyone expects Governor Dayton to veto this bill. The bill next goes to the House Ways and Means Committee.
House K-12 Education Bill: The omnibus K-12 bill was released online last night. It makes NO cuts in any library programs. Regional Library Basic System Support, Multi-type grants, Regional Library Telecommunications Aid, the Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM) and Telecommunications Equity Aid are all funded at current levels. As expected, the bill postpones the repayment of the education funding shift for another two years.
Other items of interest:
- The bill increases the general education formula from the current $5,124 per pupil to $5,155 in FY 2012 and to $5,210 in FY 2013. In FY 2014 and subsequent years the formula allowance is $5,250 per pupil.
- The provision requiring school district to spend 70% of their general education budgets on direct classroom instruction is NOT in the bill.
- The bill includes many controversial provisions reforming labor contract negotiations and teacher evaluations.
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March 18
This has been an extremely busy week at the Legislature. Hearing agendas have been very full and omnibus budget bills are starting to be brought out in anticipation of the March 25 deadline for passing them out of committee. Already a number of hearings have lasted late into the evening, and there will be many more late hearings next week.
Maintenance of Effort: As I reported a few days ago, the House Property Tax Division report suspends library maintenance of effort (along with all other MOE requirements) for the next two years. I testified against the provision in the Property Tax Division on Wednesday evening and in the full House Tax Committee today. The version that passed the Property Tax Division on Wednesday evening suspended MOE requirements for counties only. Today in the full House Tax Committee the bill was amended to suspend library MOE for cities as well. The League of Cities testified to having mixed feelings about the suspension -- they are supportive of libraries and yet fear that if library MOE is suspended only for counties, it will put a great deal of pressure on cities to keep their libraries going.
Yesterday Rep. Tom Rukavina (DFL - Virginia) introduced HF 1136, a bill that would reduce a city or county's library MOE by the amount saved due to staff retirements "and other reduced operating costs." My understanding is that this bill was motivated by the retirement of the library director in Buhl.
Aid to Cities and Counties: The cuts in aid to cities and counties proposed last Saturday in the initial version of the House Property Tax Division bill have been reworked to lessen the aid cuts to metro area suburbs. The phase-out in aid to Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth and the reductions for cities in Greater Minnesota and for counties have not changed.
Minitex/MnLINK Funding: The House Higher Education Committee released its omnibus budget bill yesterday. It reduces Minitex funding by 5% ($301,000 per year) as proposed by Governor Dayton. This is very welcome news, given that the higher ed budget was cut by 14.1% overall.
School Budget Restriction: On Thursday the House Education Finance Committee heard a bill requiring school districts to devote at least 70% of their general fund budgets to direct classroom instruction as defined in the UFARS accounting system. The UFARS system classifies school media centers as instructional support rather than direct instruction. Different versions of this bill have been introduced in the past. In some versions school media centers have been included in the definition of the classroom and in other versions it school media centers have not been included. The bill was laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill (I have been told privately that it will not be included).
Omnibus K-12 Education Bills: The House omnibus K-12 bill will be made available online either late Friday evening or on Saturday. The bill will be taken up in committee on Monday. The Senate K-12 bill will be released at a hearing on Monday afternoon. It will not be made available in advance.
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March 14 (con't.)
Today Rep. Pat Garafalo, chair of the House Education Finance Committee, introduced a bill requiring school districts to spend at least 70% of their general fund on direct classroom expenditures.
We have seen several different versions of this bill introduced over the last several years. Sometimes the definition of the classroom includes school media centers and sometimes it does not. I just got off the phone with Tom Melcher. I read him the language of this bill and he believes that it would not include school media centers in the definition of direct classroom expenditures.
Before I send out an alert I would like your help in crafting a few talking points that MLA and MEMO members can use in contacting their legislators. We have previously argued that school media specialists teach essential information literacy skills. I'm wondering if we can provide some data to back this up, along the lines of "In schools with strong school media programs, reading scores are xx% higher." Can you help me out with that kind of info or other talking points?
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March 14
House Property Tax Division Report: Here are some additional details about the proposal released on Saturday in the House Property Tax Division:
Cities of the First Class: Although Rochester meets the definition of a city of the first class, it is not included in the phase-out of local government aid (LGA) in the bill. For purposes of this bill, cities of the first class are Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth.
Hennepin County Library: The bill includes the provision from Rep. Ann Lenczewski's bill, HF 502, removing the 1.5% annual increase in the portion of the proceeds from the sales tax levied for the Twins' ballpark that can be used to extend library hours in Hennepin County.
Cooperation, Consolidation, Innovation Grants: The bill establishes a new grant program for local governments that are participating "with at least one other local government in planning for or implementing consolidation of services, functions or governance." The maximum grant amount is $100,000 per local government. $4 million per year is appropriated for these grants.
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March 13
March 10
Senate Budget Targets: A few minutes ago Senate Republican leaders held a press conference to announce their budget targets. as promised, they are proposing to solve the state's budget deficit solely through cuts. Here are highlights of the targets:
Governor's Workforce Development Council Bill: Our bill to add a public library representative to the Governor's Workforce Development Council was introduced last week in the House. HF 844 is authored by Rep. Carol McFarlane (R- White Bear Lake), Rep. Bob Gunther (R - Fairmont) and Rep. Tim Mahoney (DFL - St. Paul). It was referred to the House Jobs and Economic Development Committee, chaired by Rep. Gunther.
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February 27
Legacy Hearing on Library Day: This Tuesday, March 1 is Library Legislative Day. I hope to see all of you at the Capitol. That afternoon at 2:30pm the House Legacy Funding Division will hold a hearing where various groups are scheduled to give brief pitches for why they should receive Legacy amendment funding over the next two years. Mark Ranum and I will be making the pitch for continued funding for the Regional Public Library Systems. We are near the top of the agenda. Please come and show your support! The hearing will take place in Room 5 of the State Office Building.
State Economic Forecast: The updated state economic forecast will be released Monday at 11:30am. It is widely expected that the projected state budget deficit will be a bit smaller than the $6.2 billion that was projected in December, perhaps in the $5.7- 5.8 billion range. While this is good news, it still leave Governor Dayton and the Legislature with a major budget challenge.
Budget Targets: Soon after the economic forecast is released, each legislative committee with jurisdiction over a portion of the state budget will be assigned a budget target by legislative leaders. House committee chairs were privately assigned preliminary budget targets last Thursday. Most are being told to cut their budgets by 15%. The targets will be adjusted after the forecast is released, and they will be made public in a couple of weeks when the Ways and Means Committee passes a budget resolution. The deadline for budget bills to be passed out of committee is Friday, March 25.
Library Maintenance of Effort: In addition to the bills that I listed in my last update that either repeal or suspend library MOE, add another to the list -- HF 398, introduced by Rep. Ann Lenczewski (DFL - Bloomington). This bill repeals ALL maintenance of effort requirements. It will be heard in the House Property Tax Division on Wednesday March 2 at 8:15am. Also on the agenda is HF 514, a bill I have previously mentioned that suspends all MOE and matching requirements for counties in years when levy limits are in effect.
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February 23, 2011
---------------------------------------------------------------------February 15, 2011
Governor's Budget: Today Governor Dayton released his budget proposal. It contains mostly good news for libraries. Here are the details:
Republican leaders blasted the Governor's budget immediately and reiterated their commitment to balancing the budget solely through budget cuts.
Public Library MOE: This morning Mark Ranum and I met with Senator John Carlson (R - Bemidji), author of SF 159, the bill that repeals library maintenance of effort, local government pay equity and a number of other local government mandates. Senator Carlson told us that he was not going to pursue the bill. While this is welcome news, another senator may well decide to introduce an MOE repeal bill. In the meantime the House companion bill that was previously introduced by Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R - Mazeppa) is still a concern.
More Mandate Reduction Legislation: Yesterday Rep. Drazkowski introduced another mandate reduction bill (HF 515) that repeals extension of access (the requirement that counties participate in their regional library system). The bill also repeals every provision in chapter 134 (the statute governing libraries) that references library MOE at all. The bill also repeals the requirement that county law library fees collected from plaintiffs and defendants in civil suits be allocated to support the law library. Libraries are not the only focus of the bill -- it repeals a very lengthy list of statutes.
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February 9, 2011
MOE Repeal: SF 159, a bill to repeal a multitude of mandates on local governments, including public library maintenance of effort (MOE) and local government pay equity, has been scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Local Government and Elections Committee on Monday, February 21 (yes, the Legislature works on Presidents' Day). The hearing will take place in Room 112 Capitol at 1pm. Rep. John Carlson (R - Bemidji) is the chief author of SF 159. Please contact the members committee, especially if they represent you, and urge them to oppose repealing library MOE.
Here is a list of committee members. Go here to get contact info.
Chair: Ray Vandeveer
Vice Chair: Roger C. Chamberlain
Ranking Minority Member: Katie Sieben
Member: Ellen R. Anderson
John M. Harrington
Benjamin A. Kruse
Warren Limmer
Tony Lourey
Carla J. Nelson
John C. Pederson
Roger J. Reinert
Claire A. Robling
Kathy Sheran
Pam Wolf
Phase One Budget Bill: HF 130, the bill that cuts nearly $1 billion from the state budget largely by making the Pawlenty unallotments permanent, was agreed upon in a conference committee meeting on Monday evening that lasted 33 minutes. The conference committee report is being debated on the House floor as I write this. It is scheduled to be taken up on the Senate floor tomorrow. Governor Dayton has not said he will veto the bill, but it is widely expected that he will do so. Note: Rep. Patti Fritz (DFL - Faribault) just spoke against the bill and in citing the harm done by LGA cuts she mentioned cuts in library hours.
Legacy: We had a rough go in the House Legacy Funding Division last week. Mark Ranum gave a wonderful presentation on how regional public libraries have spent the funds that were allocated from the Arts and Cultural Heritage funds. However, during the question period two influential members of the committee, Rep. Denny McNamara (R - Hastings) and Rep. Joyce Peppin (R - Rogers), were highly critical of the fee paid to author Neil Gaiman as part of MELSA's Club Book series. In response I have set up meetings with both McNamara and Peppin and with the chair of the Legacy Division, Rep. Dean Urdahl (R - Grove City). Chris Olson also sent a letter to members of the committee with answers to specific questions they had raised about the Gaiman fee. This is all the more reason for local libraries to inform legislators about the terrific Legacy funded programs that took place in their communities.
State of the State: Governor Dayton delivered his first State of the State address today. In it he renewed his pledge to increase funding for education every year he serves. There were few specifics other than a pledge to fund all day kindergarten. He called for bi-partisan solutions to problems and generally used an upbeat tone. You can listen to the speech here: http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/media/media_video_popup.php?type=cap&id=361
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February 1, 2011
Bonding: Yesterday Governor Dayton announced his bonding proposal. To my disappointment, it does not include any funding for Library Accessibility and Improvement Grants. At his press conference Dayton stressed repeatedly that the projects that he was recommending were all shovel ready and would therefore create jobs almost immediately. I suspect that Library Accessibility and Improvement Grants were not included because these grants are awarded via a competitive process that takes place after funding is approved by the Legislature. The time lag in getting projects going worked against us. This provides further impetus for reforming the process for selecting library projects so that it occurs before the legislative session rather than after.
The Governor's proposal does include funding for two higher ed library projects -- one at Minnesota state University at Moorhead and another at the Brooklyn Park campus of Hennepin Technical College. Both were approved by the 2010 Legislature but were vetoed by Governor Pawlenty.
Dayton specified $531 million worth of projects but says he wants a bill totalling $1 billion. He will leave it up to legislators to decide how to spend the remaining $429 million. Republican legislators are saying they oppose a large bonding bill.
Legacy Funding: The House Legacy Funding Division has been hearing presentations from organizations that received funding form the Legacy Amendment over the past two years about what they did with the money. On Wednesday, February 2 Mark Ranum will make a presentation on behalf of the Regional Public Libraries. The hearing will take place at 2:30pm in Room 5 of the State Office Building.
School District Wage Freeze: SF 56, a bill freezing the wages of all school district employees for the next two years, passed out of the Senate Education Committee and will be heard today in the Senate Finance Committee. The bill is authored by Senator Dave Thompson (R - Lakeville). It does not yet have a House companion.
State of the State: Governor Dayton will give his first State of the State address on Wednesday, February 9.
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January 19, 2011
March 18
This has been an extremely busy week at the Legislature. Hearing agendas have been very full and omnibus budget bills are starting to be brought out in anticipation of the March 25 deadline for passing them out of committee. Already a number of hearings have lasted late into the evening, and there will be many more late hearings next week.
Maintenance of Effort: As I reported a few days ago, the House Property Tax Division report suspends library maintenance of effort (along with all other MOE requirements) for the next two years. I testified against the provision in the Property Tax Division on Wednesday evening and in the full House Tax Committee today. The version that passed the Property Tax Division on Wednesday evening suspended MOE requirements for counties only. Today in the full House Tax Committee the bill was amended to suspend library MOE for cities as well. The League of Cities testified to having mixed feelings about the suspension -- they are supportive of libraries and yet fear that if library MOE is suspended only for counties, it will put a great deal of pressure on cities to keep their libraries going.
Yesterday Rep. Tom Rukavina (DFL - Virginia) introduced HF 1136, a bill that would reduce a city or county's library MOE by the amount saved due to staff retirements "and other reduced operating costs." My understanding is that this bill was motivated by the retirement of the library director in Buhl.
Aid to Cities and Counties: The cuts in aid to cities and counties proposed last Saturday in the initial version of the House Property Tax Division bill have been reworked to lessen the aid cuts to metro area suburbs. The phase-out in aid to Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth and the reductions for cities in Greater Minnesota and for counties have not changed.
Minitex/MnLINK Funding: The House Higher Education Committee released its omnibus budget bill yesterday. It reduces Minitex funding by 5% ($301,000 per year) as proposed by Governor Dayton. This is very welcome news, given that the higher ed budget was cut by 14.1% overall.
School Budget Restriction: On Thursday the House Education Finance Committee heard a bill requiring school districts to devote at least 70% of their general fund budgets to direct classroom instruction as defined in the UFARS accounting system. The UFARS system classifies school media centers as instructional support rather than direct instruction. Different versions of this bill have been introduced in the past. In some versions school media centers have been included in the definition of the classroom and in other versions it school media centers have not been included. The bill was laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill (I have been told privately that it will not be included).
Omnibus K-12 Education Bills: The House omnibus K-12 bill will be made available online either late Friday evening or on Saturday. The bill will be taken up in committee on Monday. The Senate K-12 bill will be released at a hearing on Monday afternoon. It will not be made available in advance.
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March 14 (con't.)
Today Rep. Pat Garafalo, chair of the House Education Finance Committee, introduced a bill requiring school districts to spend at least 70% of their general fund on direct classroom expenditures.
We have seen several different versions of this bill introduced over the last several years. Sometimes the definition of the classroom includes school media centers and sometimes it does not. I just got off the phone with Tom Melcher. I read him the language of this bill and he believes that it would not include school media centers in the definition of direct classroom expenditures.
Before I send out an alert I would like your help in crafting a few talking points that MLA and MEMO members can use in contacting their legislators. We have previously argued that school media specialists teach essential information literacy skills. I'm wondering if we can provide some data to back this up, along the lines of "In schools with strong school media programs, reading scores are xx% higher." Can you help me out with that kind of info or other talking points?
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March 14
House Property Tax Division Report: Here are some additional details about the proposal released on Saturday in the House Property Tax Division:
Cities of the First Class: Although Rochester meets the definition of a city of the first class, it is not included in the phase-out of local government aid (LGA) in the bill. For purposes of this bill, cities of the first class are Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth.
Hennepin County Library: The bill includes the provision from Rep. Ann Lenczewski's bill, HF 502, removing the 1.5% annual increase in the portion of the proceeds from the sales tax levied for the Twins' ballpark that can be used to extend library hours in Hennepin County.
Cooperation, Consolidation, Innovation Grants: The bill establishes a new grant program for local governments that are participating "with at least one other local government in planning for or implementing consolidation of services, functions or governance." The maximum grant amount is $100,000 per local government. $4 million per year is appropriated for these grants.
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March 13
House Budget Targets: In the report I sent Friday about Senate budget targets I noted that the House leadership planned to release their targets later that day. As I predicted, those targets are very similar to the Senate targets. Here is a link to a chart comparing House and Senate targets, courtesy of the Minnesota Budget Project: http://minnesotabudgetproject.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/house-and-senate-targets1.pdf The House Ways and Means Committee will meet on Monday morning to adopt the budget targets.
House Property Tax Division Report: Late Friday evening the spreadsheet for the House Property Tax Division's omnibus bill was released. The bill language was released yesterday (Saturday) at a hearing where committee staff described the bill, but no discussion took place. The committee will take testimony and consider amendments to the bill on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. The bill will then be forwarded to the full House Tax Committee for inclusion in the omnibus tax bill. Key provisions of the property tax division report affecting libraries include:
House Property Tax Division Report: Late Friday evening the spreadsheet for the House Property Tax Division's omnibus bill was released. The bill language was released yesterday (Saturday) at a hearing where committee staff described the bill, but no discussion took place. The committee will take testimony and consider amendments to the bill on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. The bill will then be forwarded to the full House Tax Committee for inclusion in the omnibus tax bill. Key provisions of the property tax division report affecting libraries include:
- Aid to Cities: Aid to all cities in the metro area and cities of the first class outside the metro (I believe these are Rochester and Duluth) would be phased out. Aid to metro area suburbs would be reduced by 50% in 2011 and eliminated in 2012. Aid to cities of the first class would be reduced by 25% in 2011, by 50% in 2012, by 75% in 2013 and eliminated in 2014. Aid to cities outside the metro would remain at the previously certified levels for 2011 and would be reduced by the amount in HF 130 (the first cuts bill vetoed by Governor Dayton) in 2012 and beyond.
- Aid to Counties: Aid to counties is reduced by a total of $36.5 million per year, a reduction of 18.5%.
- Market Value Credit: Market value credit (MVC) is reduced in 2011 by $48 million for cities and by $56 million for counties. It is eliminated in 2012. The eliminated MVC (a total of $261 million) is converted to a reduction in tax capacity.
- Levy Limits: In 2012, levies for cities and counties receiving state aid cannot exceed the greater of 1) the amount levied in 2011 or 2) 102% of the amount levied for 2010. A city or county may be exempted from levy limits if it chooses to forego state aid payments.
- Maintenance of Effort: All local funding requirements, including library MOE, would be prohibited from increasing in 2012 over the amount required in 2011.
Legacy Funds: On Wednesday Rep. Dean Urdahl (R - Grove City), chair of the House Legacy Funding Division, announced that the original deadline of March 21 for the Division to complete work on its funding bills (there will be two -- one for the three environment funds and one for the arts and cultural heritage fund) has been postponed. He did not indicate whether a new deadline had been set. The Senate Environment Committee does not plan to begin working on its Legacy funding bills until after March 25. If you have not yet contacted your legislator asking him/her to support appropriating Legacy funds for regional public libraries and the Minnesota Digital Library, now is the time.
Pay Equity: The Senate Local Government Committee will hold an informational hearing on the local government pay equity law on March 23. The agenda includes a presentation by Faith Zwemke, state pay equity coordinator, and testimony from local units of government.
Pay Equity: The Senate Local Government Committee will hold an informational hearing on the local government pay equity law on March 23. The agenda includes a presentation by Faith Zwemke, state pay equity coordinator, and testimony from local units of government.
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March 10
Senate Budget Targets: A few minutes ago Senate Republican leaders held a press conference to announce their budget targets. as promised, they are proposing to solve the state's budget deficit solely through cuts. Here are highlights of the targets:
- E-12 Education is reduced by 1.75% from the forecasted amount and increased by 2.5% over the amount spent in the current biennium. The forecasted amount includes increased funding due to projected increase in the number of pupils. The education payment shift will continue at the current level.
- Higher Education is reduced by 16% from amount spent in the current biennium.
- Tax aids and credits (this category includes aid to cities and counties) are reduced by 9.6% from the amount spent in the current biennium.
- The largest reduction on a percentage basis is proposed in the area of State Government, where a reduction of 53.3% from the amount spent in the current biennium is proposed. While this category includes most state agencies, it does not include the Department of Education, which is included in the E-12 Education budget.
Governor's Workforce Development Council Bill: Our bill to add a public library representative to the Governor's Workforce Development Council was introduced last week in the House. HF 844 is authored by Rep. Carol McFarlane (R- White Bear Lake), Rep. Bob Gunther (R - Fairmont) and Rep. Tim Mahoney (DFL - St. Paul). It was referred to the House Jobs and Economic Development Committee, chaired by Rep. Gunther.
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February 27
Legacy Hearing on Library Day: This Tuesday, March 1 is Library Legislative Day. I hope to see all of you at the Capitol. That afternoon at 2:30pm the House Legacy Funding Division will hold a hearing where various groups are scheduled to give brief pitches for why they should receive Legacy amendment funding over the next two years. Mark Ranum and I will be making the pitch for continued funding for the Regional Public Library Systems. We are near the top of the agenda. Please come and show your support! The hearing will take place in Room 5 of the State Office Building.
State Economic Forecast: The updated state economic forecast will be released Monday at 11:30am. It is widely expected that the projected state budget deficit will be a bit smaller than the $6.2 billion that was projected in December, perhaps in the $5.7- 5.8 billion range. While this is good news, it still leave Governor Dayton and the Legislature with a major budget challenge.
Budget Targets: Soon after the economic forecast is released, each legislative committee with jurisdiction over a portion of the state budget will be assigned a budget target by legislative leaders. House committee chairs were privately assigned preliminary budget targets last Thursday. Most are being told to cut their budgets by 15%. The targets will be adjusted after the forecast is released, and they will be made public in a couple of weeks when the Ways and Means Committee passes a budget resolution. The deadline for budget bills to be passed out of committee is Friday, March 25.
Library Maintenance of Effort: In addition to the bills that I listed in my last update that either repeal or suspend library MOE, add another to the list -- HF 398, introduced by Rep. Ann Lenczewski (DFL - Bloomington). This bill repeals ALL maintenance of effort requirements. It will be heard in the House Property Tax Division on Wednesday March 2 at 8:15am. Also on the agenda is HF 514, a bill I have previously mentioned that suspends all MOE and matching requirements for counties in years when levy limits are in effect.
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February 23, 2011
Public Library MOE: Several bills have been introduced that repeal or suspend public library maintenance of effort (including the minimum level of local support). Some of these have been mentioned in previous updates. Here is a list:
HF 7/SF 159 Chief authors: Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R - Mazeppa) and Senator John Carlson (R - Bemidji) I mentioned this bill in a previous legislative update. It also repeals local government pay equity. Ironically, the bill also repeals the requirement that local governments publish certain notices in the newspaper and instead requires that the notices be posted on the local government's website and that a hard copy be available in every public library within the local government's borders. The bill was referred to the House Governmental Operations Committee and the Senate Local Government and Elections Committee.
HF 514 Chief author: Rep. Michael Benson (R - Rochester) This bill suspends all MOE and matching requirements for counties in years when levy limits are in effect. The bill also exempts purchases made by political subdivisions from the sales tax except for items purchased for the provision of goods or services that are generally provided by private businesses. It was referred to the House Tax Committee.
HF 515 Chief author: Rep. Debra Kiel (R - Crookston) This bill repeals a number of education mandates, including library MOE. It was referred to the House Education Reform Committee.
HF 519 Chief author: Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R - Mazeppa) This bill repeals every provision in chapter 134 (the statute governing libraries) that references library MOE at all. It also repeals the requirement that counties be members of their regional public library system and the requirement that law library fees paid by plaintiffs and defendants be used to support the county law library. The bill was referred to the House Governmental Operations Committee.
HF 481 Chief author: Rep. Linda Runbeck (R - Circle Pines) This bill prohibits any increase in any maintenance of effort or matching requirements for local governments in 2012. Library MOE would still be in effect, but no city or county's MOE could increase from the 2011 amount. The bill also prohibits any increase in property taxes in 2012. It is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday in the House Property Tax Division, which is chaired by the author.
School District Salary Freeze: SF 56, a bill I have previously reported on, freezes salaries for all school district employees from the date of enactment through June 30, 2013. The chief author of the bill is Senator Dave Thompson (R - Lakeville). The bill passed the Senate last week by a vote of 36-29. All 36 votes for the bill were cast by Republicans and all but one of the 29 votes against it were cast by DFLers. Rep. Scott Newman (R - Hutchinson) was the sole Republican to vote against the bill. The House companion, HF 381, was recently introduced by Rep. Keith Downey (R - Edina). The bill was referred to the House Education Reform Committee.
Hennepin County Library Hour Funds: HF 502, a bill introduced last Thursday by Rep. Ann Lenczewski (DFL - Bloomington), removes the 1.5% annual increase in the $2 million per year in proceeds from the Twins stadium sales tax that Hennepin County is permitted to use to extend library hours. The bill was heard today in the House Government Operations Committee and passed on a divided voice vote. Hennepin County opposed the bill. The bill next goes to the House Tax Committee.
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Governor's Budget: Today Governor Dayton released his budget proposal. It contains mostly good news for libraries. Here are the details:
- NO cuts are made to any library appropriations in the K-12 budget (RLBSS, Multi-type grants, ELM, RLTA, Telecom Equity Aid).
- The MDE agency operating budget is reduced by 5% ($991,000 per year).
- Aid to cities and counties is left intact.
- A small cut is made to Minitex of $301,000 per year.
- The MnSCU system and the University of Minnesota are both cut by 6%.
- The repayment of the education payment shift is delayed for two more years. This will reduce the deficit by $1.4 billion.
Republican leaders blasted the Governor's budget immediately and reiterated their commitment to balancing the budget solely through budget cuts.
Public Library MOE: This morning Mark Ranum and I met with Senator John Carlson (R - Bemidji), author of SF 159, the bill that repeals library maintenance of effort, local government pay equity and a number of other local government mandates. Senator Carlson told us that he was not going to pursue the bill. While this is welcome news, another senator may well decide to introduce an MOE repeal bill. In the meantime the House companion bill that was previously introduced by Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R - Mazeppa) is still a concern.
More Mandate Reduction Legislation: Yesterday Rep. Drazkowski introduced another mandate reduction bill (HF 515) that repeals extension of access (the requirement that counties participate in their regional library system). The bill also repeals every provision in chapter 134 (the statute governing libraries) that references library MOE at all. The bill also repeals the requirement that county law library fees collected from plaintiffs and defendants in civil suits be allocated to support the law library. Libraries are not the only focus of the bill -- it repeals a very lengthy list of statutes.
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February 9, 2011
MOE Repeal: SF 159, a bill to repeal a multitude of mandates on local governments, including public library maintenance of effort (MOE) and local government pay equity, has been scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Local Government and Elections Committee on Monday, February 21 (yes, the Legislature works on Presidents' Day). The hearing will take place in Room 112 Capitol at 1pm. Rep. John Carlson (R - Bemidji) is the chief author of SF 159. Please contact the members committee, especially if they represent you, and urge them to oppose repealing library MOE.
Here is a list of committee members. Go here to get contact info.
Chair: Ray Vandeveer
Vice Chair: Roger C. Chamberlain
Ranking Minority Member: Katie Sieben
Member: Ellen R. Anderson
John M. Harrington
Benjamin A. Kruse
Warren Limmer
Tony Lourey
Carla J. Nelson
John C. Pederson
Roger J. Reinert
Claire A. Robling
Kathy Sheran
Pam Wolf
Phase One Budget Bill: HF 130, the bill that cuts nearly $1 billion from the state budget largely by making the Pawlenty unallotments permanent, was agreed upon in a conference committee meeting on Monday evening that lasted 33 minutes. The conference committee report is being debated on the House floor as I write this. It is scheduled to be taken up on the Senate floor tomorrow. Governor Dayton has not said he will veto the bill, but it is widely expected that he will do so. Note: Rep. Patti Fritz (DFL - Faribault) just spoke against the bill and in citing the harm done by LGA cuts she mentioned cuts in library hours.
Legacy: We had a rough go in the House Legacy Funding Division last week. Mark Ranum gave a wonderful presentation on how regional public libraries have spent the funds that were allocated from the Arts and Cultural Heritage funds. However, during the question period two influential members of the committee, Rep. Denny McNamara (R - Hastings) and Rep. Joyce Peppin (R - Rogers), were highly critical of the fee paid to author Neil Gaiman as part of MELSA's Club Book series. In response I have set up meetings with both McNamara and Peppin and with the chair of the Legacy Division, Rep. Dean Urdahl (R - Grove City). Chris Olson also sent a letter to members of the committee with answers to specific questions they had raised about the Gaiman fee. This is all the more reason for local libraries to inform legislators about the terrific Legacy funded programs that took place in their communities.
State of the State: Governor Dayton delivered his first State of the State address today. In it he renewed his pledge to increase funding for education every year he serves. There were few specifics other than a pledge to fund all day kindergarten. He called for bi-partisan solutions to problems and generally used an upbeat tone. You can listen to the speech here: http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/media/media_video_popup.php?type=cap&id=361
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February 1, 2011
Bonding: Yesterday Governor Dayton announced his bonding proposal. To my disappointment, it does not include any funding for Library Accessibility and Improvement Grants. At his press conference Dayton stressed repeatedly that the projects that he was recommending were all shovel ready and would therefore create jobs almost immediately. I suspect that Library Accessibility and Improvement Grants were not included because these grants are awarded via a competitive process that takes place after funding is approved by the Legislature. The time lag in getting projects going worked against us. This provides further impetus for reforming the process for selecting library projects so that it occurs before the legislative session rather than after.
The Governor's proposal does include funding for two higher ed library projects -- one at Minnesota state University at Moorhead and another at the Brooklyn Park campus of Hennepin Technical College. Both were approved by the 2010 Legislature but were vetoed by Governor Pawlenty.
Dayton specified $531 million worth of projects but says he wants a bill totalling $1 billion. He will leave it up to legislators to decide how to spend the remaining $429 million. Republican legislators are saying they oppose a large bonding bill.
Legacy Funding: The House Legacy Funding Division has been hearing presentations from organizations that received funding form the Legacy Amendment over the past two years about what they did with the money. On Wednesday, February 2 Mark Ranum will make a presentation on behalf of the Regional Public Libraries. The hearing will take place at 2:30pm in Room 5 of the State Office Building.
School District Wage Freeze: SF 56, a bill freezing the wages of all school district employees for the next two years, passed out of the Senate Education Committee and will be heard today in the Senate Finance Committee. The bill is authored by Senator Dave Thompson (R - Lakeville). It does not yet have a House companion.
State of the State: Governor Dayton will give his first State of the State address on Wednesday, February 9.
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January 19, 2011
Budget: Yesterday House and Senate Republican leaders announced their plan to pass a first round of budget cuts by February 10. The total amount cut is about $1 billion. Most of these cuts would be made by making permanent unallotments made by Governor Pawlenty in July 2009 and adopted on a one-time basis by the 2010 Legislature. The largest portion of these cuts came from aid to cities and counties. The cuts will also include $200 million in unspecified cuts to state agencies. The Department of Minnesota Management and Budget will be directed to work with state agencies to identify unspent funds that could be left unspent. Here is a link to a spreadsheet of those cuts: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/fiscal/files/11HF130.pdf
Yesterday Governor Dayton said that he would prefer that the budget not be adopted in a piecemeal fashion. He plans to release his budget proposal on February 15. After that he expects the Legislature to hold hearings to solicit public input before passing a budget. This seems to indicate that Governor Dayton is likely to veto this initial budget bill.
Bonding: Rep. Alice Hausman, the lead DFLer on the House Capital Investment Committee, has introduced HF 90, a comprehensive $1 billion bonding bill that includes $5 million for Library Accessibility and Improvement Grants and $25 million for Fiber Optic Infrastructure Grants. The latter is a new grant program for public schools that would be partially funded with bond proceeds and partially funded with general fund dollars. Governor Dayton plans to release his bonding proposal by the end of January. Republican legislative leaders have said that they see no need to pass a bonding bill in 2011.
Yesterday Governor Dayton said that he would prefer that the budget not be adopted in a piecemeal fashion. He plans to release his budget proposal on February 15. After that he expects the Legislature to hold hearings to solicit public input before passing a budget. This seems to indicate that Governor Dayton is likely to veto this initial budget bill.
Bonding: Rep. Alice Hausman, the lead DFLer on the House Capital Investment Committee, has introduced HF 90, a comprehensive $1 billion bonding bill that includes $5 million for Library Accessibility and Improvement Grants and $25 million for Fiber Optic Infrastructure Grants. The latter is a new grant program for public schools that would be partially funded with bond proceeds and partially funded with general fund dollars. Governor Dayton plans to release his bonding proposal by the end of January. Republican legislative leaders have said that they see no need to pass a bonding bill in 2011.
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January 10, 2011
Mandate Reduction Bill (HF 7): The 2011 legislative session began last week. Today the first group of bills were introduced. The most significant from the library point of view is a bill introduced by Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R - Mazeppa) that would eliminate a broad range of mandates on cities and counties. The bill repeals both library maintenance of effort and the minimum level of local support. It also repeals pay equity. Co-authors are: Rep. Roger Crawford (R - Mora), Rep. King Banian (R - St. Cloud), Rep. Kurt Daudt (R -Crown), Rep. Bud Nornes (R - Fergus Falls), Rep. Kelby woodard (R- Belle Plaine), Rep. Duane Quam (R - Byron), Rep. Dan Fabian (R - Roseau) and Rep. Bob Barrett (R - Shafer). All of the co-authors except for Rep. Nornes are freshmen. The bill was referred to the Government Operations and Elections Committee.
If you are represented by any of the legislators who have signed onto this bill, please contact them to explain why repealing library MOE is a bad idea. Contact information is available on the Legislature's website: http://www.leg.state.mn.us/
In addition to the usual talking points about why library MOE is important, it would be worthwhile to point out that in 2009 the Legislature made substantial changes to library MOE to provide relief to cities and counties while protecting the state's investment in regional public libraries. Those changes were supported by MLA, cities, counties and the Pawlenty administration.
If you are represented by any of the legislators who have signed onto this bill, please contact them to explain why repealing library MOE is a bad idea. Contact information is available on the Legislature's website: http://www.leg.state.mn.us/
In addition to the usual talking points about why library MOE is important, it would be worthwhile to point out that in 2009 the Legislature made substantial changes to library MOE to provide relief to cities and counties while protecting the state's investment in regional public libraries. Those changes were supported by MLA, cities, counties and the Pawlenty administration.
