As Monday’s midnight deadline looms, the Republican-controlled Minnesota Legislature has passed several budget bills — believing Governor Mark Dayton will sign them — while Dayton and GOP leaders continue trying to reach a deal on big items like human services and E-12 education spending.
A three-plus-billion-dollar higher education funding bill would give a 54-million-dollar increase to the U-of-M and a 106-million-dollar bump to state colleges and universities — significantly less than they asked for. D-F-L Representative Gene Pelowksi from Winona says it’s a clever bill, with no limit on tuition increases at four-year state universities next year, but a freeze the year after. Pelowski told Republicans, “Alright, you froze it in the election year. But there’s still a tuition increase the year before, and that rolls forward.” Republican Representative Bud Nornes from Fergus Falls responded, “We’ve had a freeze in tuition for the last four years. This will be almost six years in a row, and how you can equate that to increases in tuition, again, baffles my small town math.” At two-year state schools, tuition increases would be limited to one percent next year and frozen the year after. But the University of Minnesota is not subject to any tuition caps imposed by the legislature. Senate Republicans’ higher education point person, Paynesville Senator Michelle Fischbach says she expects the governor will sign the bill. “And it’s a great bill, too,” she adds. “I would be very surprised if he didn’t sign this bill.”
The House and Senate have also passed a budget bill funding agricultural programs and Elbow Lake Republican Senator Torrey Westrom is optimistic the governor will sign the measure. “We’re pretty sure the vote should tip him over the edge if hasn’t committed yet,” he says.
An environment bill the legislature passed Sunday night would increase hunting and fishing license fees. Alexandria Republican Senator Bill Ingebrigtsen says sportpeople are willing to pay their way. He says,”When you raise a fishing license for instance three dollars, it’s still a great value. You’re gonna spend more than that on the way out to the fishing hole, if you will, on snacks and whatnot.”
The bill would also increase the state park daily permit fee from 5 dollars to 7, and the annual fee from 25-dollars to 35. And it would give some farmers a little extra time to comply with the state’s new buffer law, designed to reduce runoff into rivers and lakes. Ingebrigtsen says Governor Mark Dayton was adamant about not changing the compliance date, but “actually he gave about a seven-month grace period for those that have a plan and show that they’re actually moving in that direction.”
Democratic Senator John Marty from Roseville voted “no” on the environment bill, which he says rolls back long-standing protections, for example in mining cases. Marty says, “Unless you own property right there,… even if your drinking water supply is affected by it,… you don’t have any right to petition anymore. That’s a huge step back.”
Here’s an interview with Sen. Torrey Westrom on the agriculture bill:
And an interview with Sen. Michelle Fischbach on the higher education bill: