House Speaker Kurt Daudt
(R-Crown)
Governor Mark Dayton as promised has vetoed five major state budget bills the Republican-controlled legislature passed earlier this week. Dayton says the E-12 education bill virtually ensures significant teacher and staff layoffs and eliminates voluntary pre-K as an option for families. He says it’s “reckless and foolish” to cut half a billion dollars from the state’s human services budget when there’s a surplus and the state faces uncertainty about future federal funding. He says the environment bill puts at risk the state’s core values for a clean and healthy environment. He says the agriculture bill strips the state Ag Department of pesticide enforcement authority, and he criticizes Republicans’ cuts to state agencies’ operating budgets.
House Speaker Kurt Daudt says he’s disappointed Governor Dayton vetoed the bills. “We’ve got really good tax relief,” he says. “We’ve got really good education funding and other provisions that we know are consistent with what it will take to get some agreement on a state budget.” The tax cut bill is not yet on Dayton’s desk but it’s expected he’ll veto that also.
Daudt says there should be budget negotiations this weekend but the governor has not been as engaged as they’d like. Dayton responds he’s been available but Republicans pulled out of negotiations and passed their bills instead. The governor says, when he receives all the GOP budget bills and vetoes them, he’ll resume talks with legislative leaders. The deadline for the legislature to adjourn is one week from Monday.