5/25/2006

NEWS COLUMN

THE 2006 LEGISLATIVE SESSION - IT WAS A VERY GOOD YEAR

The 2006 Legislative Session has ended, and it was a very productive session in passing legislation that is going to make a positive difference for our state. As Frank Sinatra once sang, "It was a very good year."

The best news of all is that Minnesota is in good financial health. We approved our two-year balanced budget bill in last year's session, and by the time the 2006 session had rolled around, state finance officials found that Minnesota was out of the red and even had a small surplus that has been growing every month. The legislature approved a small supplemental budget that focused on deficiency issues, the highlight of which centered on providing funding for our sexual offender programs to ensure that more of these predators are kept off our streets. With the tougher penalties we've recently enacted, the cost of detaining violent sexual predators has been growing.

Of course, the headline grabbing items of the session inevitably centered on stadiums. The Minnesota Twins received legislative approval to construct an open-air ballpark in Minneapolis that does not rely on any state tax dollars. The University of Minnesota also received approval to construct a football stadium on campus that will be paid for partially by the state and the rest through private fundraising and some student contributions. To many legislators disappointment, including my own, the Twins stadium will not have a retractable roof, nor will it be constructed a "roof ready."

While stadiums grabbed the most publicity, our capital investment bill (construction projects) was the top priority for all lawmakers this session. The House and Senate agreed to a proposal that will invest nearly $1 billion on construction projects throughout the state. These projects include things like county/township bridges and highway dollars, water infrastructure grants, college buildings, maintenance on state buildings, wildlife preservation lands, etc. Locally, the bill contains two important projects. The bill dedicates $2.5 million to the Wind to Hydrogen to Anhydrous Ammonia Research Plant at the University of Minnesota research center in Morris, and also invests $400,000 for the expansion planning of the Law Enforcement training center at the Alexandria Technical College.

Finally, in our Taxes bill which was approved the last day of session, the legislature increased the amount of homestead value for agricultural land. Previously for farmers, if your property was taxed at $600,000 or less, your tax rate was .55%. Anything above that was hit with a 1% rate, and many farmers saw their property taxes skyrocket because of escalating land prices. The eligibility maximum will now be indexed. In other words, on property taxes payable for 2007, the maximum will jump from $600,000 to $690,000. This is a good step in the right direction to give farmers the same percentage of homestead credit they used to receive before land prices doubled in the recent years.

There were many other notable provisions approved this session that I will explain further in the coming weeks with more columns and a session wrap up. But overall, it was a very productive session, and I think Minnesotans will be pleased with our accomplishments and a very healthy budget forecast as we go into next year.