You’ll be pleased to know this was the most productive session in a decade. We finally got past the partisan gridlock that has marred our work in recent years and took action on transportation, education, health care reform, real property tax relief, and we finished on time and on budget! We also addressed a billion-dollar budget deficit while making new investments in key state priorities.
Real property tax relief for homeowners: Homeowners will see property tax relief under the 2008 tax bill. This includes a plan that would prevent local levies from rising more than 3.9 percent for the next three years, and total investments of $128 million in the form of Local Government Aid and County Aid to cushion the effect of a levy limit. More money would also be put into programs that provide direct, income-based relief for homeowners.
Increased funding for schools: We provide an additional $51 per student in one-time aid to school districts, which means about $44 million in total funding. We also allow districts to transfer up to $51 per student from their capital operating funds to help districts put more money into classrooms.
Put Minnesota’s transportation system back on track: The legislature enacted a bipartisan transportation package that will invest $6.6 billion in new resources into our state’s infrastructure over the next 10 years – and overrode the governor’s veto to ensure it will happen! Along with providing the stable transportation funding necessary to keep our roads and bridges safe, this investment will create an estimated 33,000 jobs per year for the next five years.
Gave voters a chance to invest in Minnesota’s outdoors and cultural heritage: The legislature passed historic legislation to give Minnesotans the choice to invest in the things they love most about their state: lakes and rivers, outdoor resources and cultural amenities. The legislation proposes an amendment to Minnesota’s constitution that will dedicate an additional 3/8ths of 1 percent of state sales tax revenue for investment in the unique qualities that characterize Minnesota’s way of life.
Passed a jobs bill that will put thousands of Minnesotans to work: The legislature, with an overwhelming bipartisan majority in both House and Senate, passed a $925 million jobs bill, funding capital projects that will create thousands of jobs in Minnesota.
Began the reform of our health care system: After a year’s worth of work and bipartisan compromise, we passed significant health care reform that will reduce costs by an estimated 15 percent and increase access to insurance for about 12,000 Minnesotans.
Tackled foreclosure issues: Continuing with my work on predatory lending last year, I authored or coauthored almost a dozen laws aimed at the foreclosure crisis. We passed a series of bills that were developed and supported by all of the stakeholders. These measures will help families facing foreclosure by helping connect them with foreclosure-prevention counselors, renters living in foreclosed properties by notifying them of their rights, and communities by shortening the redemption period for abandoned properties. We require landlords to tell tenants and prospective tenants that a property is in foreclosure and to waive any penalty for a tenant in a foreclosed property withholding the last month’s rent. We also increased the amount of financial assistance available to homeowners who have fallen behind in their mortgage payments.
Enacted several public safety initiatives: Victims of domestic abuse can request long-term orders for protection if the abuser has violated a previous order on two or more occasions. We established a working group to review and recommend changes in the court system’s treatment of drug offenders. We lowered the threshold for triggering the state’s public nuisance law to give prosecutors another tool to close problem houses. And we now require that state emergency management personnel actually are state certified in homeland security/emergency management.