The 2012 legislative session begins this week. After last session, in which we had a government shutdown and focused on divisive constitutional amendments, it’s more important than ever we focus on the issues that matter most to Minnesotans. That’s why our top priority should be creating jobs and strengthening Minnesota’s middle class.
Last week, DFL legislators joined Gov. Mark Dayton in introducing a jobs plan to get Minnesota back to work. Our plan includes common-sense policies and proven initiatives designed to create jobs, support Minnesota’s small businesses, and keep Minnesota economically competitive into the future.
To help businesses grow and create jobs, we propose creating a New Jobs Tax Credit that would provide businesses $3,000 tax credits for every unemployed Minnesotan, veteran or recent graduate they hire in 2012 and $1,500 credits for each new hire through June 2013.
We also focus on ways to enhance Minnesota’s world-class, highly trained workforce. Our jobs plan would provide $2,000 opportunity grants to thousands of Minnesotans, providing a foundation for new, long-term careers in high-demand fields. In other states that offer similar grants, those who complete retraining have a significantly higher chance of getting rehired and also earning a higher wage.
The DFL jobs plan enhances proven initiatives that have helped attract new businesses to our state while helping existing Minnesota companies grow and expand. We propose putting an additional $10 million into the Minnesota Investment Fund, which has a long and successful track record. Last year, the fund helped SAGE Electrochromics, a high-tech glass manufacturer in Faribault, embark on a $100 million expansion that will create 160 jobs for a state investment of $500,000.
In addition to a relentless focus on jobs, DFL legislators will continue our fight to reverse the middle-class property tax increases that resulted from the Republican budget of last summer. The Republican’s elimination of the market-value homestead credit translated directly into residential and small business property tax increases across Minnesota, including substantial hikes of 7 percent or more in Duluth.
Our DFL focus on the middle class is not just election-year rhetoric. We fundamentally believe the single most-important way to revive our economy and set the stage for long-term prosperity is with a strong and vibrant middle class and with a state where middle-class families have basic economic security, realistic chances to get ahead, and enough money in their pockets to enjoy the great quality of life Minnesota has to offer.
That is why we are so disappointed the Republican majority has continued to pursue policies that squeeze the middle class in order to protect the very richest Minnesotans and special interests.
Leaders in both parties say jobs and the economy are the top priority. But actions speak louder than words. If the Republican majority is serious about jobs, I hope it will work with us on our common-sense jobs plan and on our effort to relieve the
middle-class squeeze it worsened through its policy decisions last year. I would hope Republicans set aside divisive constitutional amendments that have nothing to do with creating jobs. We have enough on our plate this session. Getting distracted by constitutional amendments is not a good use of our time while we are on the public dime.
Let’s put what is most important first this session — and work quickly to pass a jobs plan that will get Minnesota working again.
Rep. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, represents Minnesota House District 63A and is the House Minority Leader. He wrote this exclusively for the News Tribune.
Democrats in the Legislature are proud to stand with the Governor today united in our desire to make jobs the top priority in the 2012 legislative session. With 170,000 Minnesotans out of work and middle class families struggling to make ends meet – it’s the priority Minnesotans should expect and demand of us.
There are signs our economy is headed in the right direction, but that’s no excuse to sit on the sidelines. We owe it to Minnesotans to focus on the issues that really matter to them– and the best way we can do that is put jobs first.
This jobs plan is collection of good ideas to do a great thing – create jobs for Minnesotans eager to work hard, support their family, and live the American Dream. For the small business poised to start hiring but needs an extra boost, this will plan create jobs. For the worker striving for a new career, this plan will help them get retrained. And for the Main Street business struggling to compete with online competitors, this plan will level the playing field.
We can do this. But it requires us to do far more than simply talk a good game. As you might recall, last year Speaker Zellers called for a “laser focus” on jobs, but instead the Majority focused on constitutional amendments and other priorities. If we are going to work together and get something done on jobs we can’t have a “de ja vu” session where we say one thing and do another.
It’s time to put politics aside and work together to pass a meaningful jobs bill for Minnesota. Jobs are what Minnesotans care about, and it’s what we should care about.
Let’s all work together, and get Minnesotans back to work.
Most Minnesotans would agree that we still have a long way to go on the road to economic recovery. The same is true when it comes to addressing our state’s budget issues. But if you listen to Republican legislators lately, you are hearing a different story.
Across the state Republicans are trying to take credit for a short-term projected budget “surplus,” claiming that it resulted from the budget they passed after taking our state to a 20-day state shutdown. Speaker Kurt Zellers praised their “fiscal restraint.” Rep. Steve Drazkowski called it “smarter spending.” Rep. Carolyn McElfatrick said it was “prudent reform.” Rep. Mark Murdock said it was due to “fiscal responsibility.”
When you look at the facts, their self-congratulating rhetoric does not hold up. The temporary surplus — which actually turns into billions of dollars in red ink a year from now — is not the result of the GOP budget passed last summer. In fact, the majority of the temporary surplus is the result of events that occurred in 2010 — before the Republicans took over the legislature and a new budget was even passed.
The reality is the Republican budget didn’t solve problems — it only created problems for middle class families while racking up irresponsible debt.
First, the Republican budget borrowed a record amount — more than $2 billion — from Minnesota schools, effectively reducing school funding this budget cycle alone by just over $1,000 per pupil. This excessive borrowing has forced schools to take out loans to cover their own costs, which hurts students by taking valuable resources out of the classroom.
Second, Republicans engaged in Washington-style deficit spending, borrowing from the future by selling the projected dollars from the state tobacco lawsuit for one-time cash. As a result, the state will get $650 million worth of spending today at the price of $1 billion in lost future revenue. Paying $1.67 tomorrow in order to get $1 today isn’t just fiscally irresponsible; it’s a bad deal with real costs to Minnesota’s future.
Third, Republicans pushed our state’s budget problems onto middle class families and small businesses. Most notably, Republicans forced steep property tax increases by eliminating the homestead credit and slashing nearly $600 million in property tax relief. And while Republicans have attempted to smear local elected officials as “big spenders” and put the blame for property tax increases at their feet, nothing could be further from the truth.
Even Minnesotans who live in the many cities and counties that are holding the line on spending are seeing property tax increases, all because the Republicans eliminated the homestead credit — plain and simple.
The undeniable result of Republican budgeting is that property taxes are skyrocketing — in many areas by double-digits. So are college tuition rates, health care costs and fees at our schools. This squeeze on the middle class and small businesses has been particularly hard to swallow given that Republicans insisted on protecting the very wealthiest Minnesotans — those earning more than $1 million per year — from paying a single cent more.
The Republicans’ stubborn insistence on protecting the very wealthiest does nothing to move our economy forward. The recipe for Minnesota’s success and prosperity is to build a broad and prosperous middle class, where everyone plays by the same rules and has a fair opportunity to succeed. The Republican budget did the opposite, holding a select few harmless while raising taxes on the vast majority of Minnesotans.
In the end, Minnesotans will be better served if we are honest about our challenges and serious about solutions. I invite Republicans to take down their “mission accomplished” banner. We still have plenty of work to do.
Struggling with heating bills? Worried about staying warm this winter? There is help. Minnesota’s Cold Weather Rule helps homeowners and renters protect and reconnect heat during the winter months. But you need to contact your electric and/or natural gas company to make and keep an affordable payment plan. Or you can contact the Public Utilities Commission for more information at consumer.puc@state.mn.us or 651-296-0406 or 1-800-657-3782.
Paul Thissen is the minority leader in the Minnesota House. He is an attorney and has served in the legislature since 2002.
A couple of years ago, he announced his candidacy for governor. His run for governor was our gain musically because it was during this time that Representative Thissen was alone in a car for hours and hours driving all over the state, meeting folks, getting to know the furthest corners of our beautiful region and listening to classical music.
On his playlist is the wonderfully lyrical ballet “Appalachian Spring.” Though we’re far from the eastern mountains, Copland became his soundtrack for the Glacier Ridge Scenic Byway and much of Western Minnesota.
Another choice on Paul’s playlist is the first movement of Dvorak’s New World Symphony, a piece he says he stumbled upon while exploring the winding alleys of Prague and stumbling upon an orchestra playing it outdoors. The music, the location and the people listening made their imprint and this piece is a favorite.
I am most intrigued by the jagged and rough edges of Shostakovich that Paul tells me he heard played by the Emerson Quartet in concert. While music often provides relaxation, focus and a soothing escape, Paul says he loves the complex emotions evoked by this string quartet, as well as its very specific social commentary on the lives of people of that era, something he hopes our vibrant classical scene in Minnesota can also provide its people.
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Paul Thissen’s playlist:
J.S. Bach, Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ – Alfred Brendel
Antonin Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 “From The New World” – Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Fritz Reiner
Dmitri Shostakovich, String Quartet No. 3 – Emerson String Quartet
Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring – Minnesota Orchestra/Eiji Oue
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