Paul Thissen: Innovation in Action

Jobs Are the Priority in 2012

Star Tribune January 23, 2012

by Paul Thissen and Tom Bakk

Despite welcome signs that our state’s economy is beginning to stabilize after a long and painful recession, Minnesota still faces a serious jobs deficit.

Our most recent economic report shows that more than 175,000 Minnesotans are out of work and looking for jobs. Other Minnesotans are either underemployed or have simply given up looking for work in this difficult economy.

This legislative session, jobs should be our top priority. We need to think strategically and work together to get Minnesotans back to work. And we should do it right away.

That is why we joined Gov. Mark Dayton to introduce a jobs plan to get Minnesota working again.

It will help businesses grow and will retain good jobs in Minnesota by focusing on the things that have proven to work: providing small businesses with new incentives to create jobs, giving workers the training they need to get jobs in high-demand industries, and making smart, targeted investments in the state’s infrastructure.

Included in our jobs plan are several initiatives we hope will receive swift, bipartisan support in the Legislature.

To help businesses grow and create jobs, we’re proposing the creation of a New Jobs Tax Credit that would provide a business with a $3,000 tax credit for each unemployed Minnesotan, veteran or recent graduate hired in 2012 and a $1,500 credit for each new hire through June 2013.

Given the budget challenges facing our state, we believe it’s critical that any incentives given to businesses right now be directly tied to job creation. Several Republicans have said they would like to pass across-the-board corporate tax cuts this session, despite the fact that Minnesota faces a long-term budget deficit approaching $4 billion.

We can’t afford corporate tax breaks that will just drop to the bottom line of huge corporations headquartered in other states or overseas. That’s why our proposed New Jobs Tax Credit is targeted at businesses that are putting Minnesotans back to work in good-paying jobs.

Our plan also focuses on attracting new businesses to our state and helping existing Minnesota companies grow and expand. We propose putting an additional $10 million into the Minnesota Investment Fund (MIF), which has a long and successful track record.

Last year, the MIF helped Agco expand in Jackson, which added 100 jobs in farm equipment manufacturing. Minnesota won the relocation of operations from France and beat out a competing facility in Georgia to do so. We need more success stories like this one.

While lending a helping hand to our employers is important, we also believe Minnesota cannot remain competitive without a world-class, highly trained workforce. That’s why 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 at getting rehired and also earn a higher wage.

Finally, our plan calls for passage of strategic infrastructure investments like roads, bridges, wastewater treatment facilities and schools throughout the state. These investments provide the foundation for broad, long-term economic prosperity.

In addition, they allow private-sector employers to put tens of thousands of Minnesotans back to work. Better yet, if we act quickly, we can get shovels in the ground and paychecks in the mailbox as soon as this summer.

Our jobs plan includes good ideas to create jobs — but they aren’t the only good ones. We welcome other ideas and a productive dialogue on job creation. The important thing is that we get something done.

What we shouldn’t do is say jobs are the priority but then focus on something else. We already tried that last year. The Republican majorities proclaimed a “laser focus” on jobs, but instead focused on divisive constitutional amendments. For the sake of what most Minnesotans want and expect of their legislators, we hope the same won’t play out again this session.

Jobs should be our priority — not constitutional amendments. Let’s work together, bring our good ideas to the table, and act quickly to pass a meaningful jobs bill that will get Minnesota working again.

_________

Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, is minority leader of the Minnesota Senate. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, is minority leader of the Minnesota House.

January Constituent Update

Dear Friends:

I hope the New Year is treating you well. The 2012 legislative session is rapidly approaching. We convene on January 24.

Doing all we can to get people back to work and into long-term careers is my top priority this legislative session. With 175,000 Minnesotans out of work and middle class families struggling to make ends meet – job creation is the priority Minnesotans should expect and demand of us. Of course, government cannot and should not do this alone, but we must be solid partners with the private sector to get this work done.

To that end, Democrats in the Legislature and Governor Dayton unveiled a package of proposals designed to get Minnesota back to work. You can find a copy of he Jobs Ideas here. This jobs plan is a 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 plan will 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.

I am hopeful that we will work productively and bipartisanly on job creation this legislative session. I am similarly hopeful that this session will not see a continuation of last year’s priorities which I opposed such as divisive social issues and constitutional amendments that seek to disenfranchise voters, impede tax fairness, and undermine collective bargaining.

Most important, I’d like to hear from you. What are your priorities for the upcoming legislative session? Please take a moment to respond to our survey questions by clicking on the following link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RDYPCMC

I would also like to invite you to attend a Town Hall meeting I’m holding with Senator Ken Kelash and Representative Linda Slocum. Join us on Saturday, January 21 from 2:30 to 4:00 PM at Woodlake Lutheran Church, 7525 Oliver Ave S, Minneapolis. I hope to see you there.

While I’m eager to look forward to the year ahead, it is also important to review the accomplishments of the previous year. Governor Dayton was able to start us down the path of building a better Minnesota. See the attached document for an overview of Governor Dayton’s first year.

Other items of interest:

Minnesota was awarded a $45 million Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge grant. The grant will enable the state to implement best practices in early childhood education that will ensure Minnesota’s youngest learners enter school prepared to succeed. The grant will focus first on four communities in White Earth, Itasca County, St. Paul’s Promise Neighborhood, and Minneapolis’ Northside Achievement Zone. The Northside Achievement Zone was also awarded a five-year $28 million implementation grant from the U.S. Department of Education for its Promise Neighborhood program. http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/Welcome/News/PressRel/040135

The Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources has issued its 2012-2013 Request for Proposals for funding from Minnesota’s Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. Proposals are due April 6. Visit http://www.lccmr.leg.mn/ and click on “2012-2013 Request for Proposalâ€? to learn more.

A number of new laws went into effect January 1. Read about them here: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hinfo/0112nlrelease.pdf

Keep yourself informed about the activities of the Minnesota House of Representatives. The House provides personalized bill tracking and the nonpartisan office of House Public Information provides a variety of electronic and print news services including meeting schedules and weekly newsletters. You can subscribe here: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/leg/billsublogin.asp and here: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hinfo/subscribesw.asp#bymail

As always, please continue to be in touch with your comments, questions, and concerns. You can reach me by phone at 651-296-5375, by email at rep.paul.thissen@house.mn, or you can visit or send mail to my office, 267 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, Minnesota 55155. I appreciate hearing from you.

Paul Thissen
State Representative
Minority Leader
District 63A

Rhetoric on Surplus Doesn’t Match Reality

Published in Albert Lea Tribune

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.

We Need to Redouble Efforts to Get People Back to Work

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) released its most recent jobs report. Although the report showed the unemployed rate had dropped to 5.9%, it revealed 13,700 jobs were lost in November and over 22,900 jobs have been lost in the last three months.

The recent economic news nationally and in Minnesota has shown positive signs for our economy, but there are still nearly 200,000 Minnesotans out of work. It’s clear Minnesota faces a persistent jobs deficit that demands our attention and action. While there are signs our economy is headed in the right direction, now is not the time to sit on our hands.

We need to step up our game in seeking solutions that create jobs by strengthen strengthening the middle class and support the many bold Minnesotans who are striving to embark on new careers. Rising property taxes on middle class homeowners and small businesses has made it harder. So have unfair policies that protect wealthy special interests at the expense of the majority if Minnesotans.

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. That’s how we will rebuild our economy and create good paying jobs and new careers for hardworking Minnesotans.”

December 2011 Constitutent Update

Dear Friends:

The November economic forecast was released today. The forecast projects an $876 million surplus in our current two-year state budget. That’s good news, as long as it lasts.

But I think most of us understand that when you have some money in your savings account (like the current surplus) but you’ve maxed out your credit card, your savings account balance isn’t real. That is exactly the situation we’re in today.

Under state law, all of the resources will go to pay back the state budget reserve and cash flow account. While the short-term surplus is good news for Minnesota, it does not come close to addressing our state’s long-term deficit. It would take a total of $4.2 billion – not accounting for inflation – to balance the next budget and pay for the school shift, reckless borrowing, and the other one-time fixes from the previous budget.

You may fairly ask, How is it that the states books still aren’t balanced long-term after a nearly three-week state government shutdown? The short answer is that the Republican majority in the Legislature refused to solve our state budget deficit in the way supported by a majority of Minnesotans; namely, a balance of cuts (which everyone agrees needed to be made) and fair tax reforms that ask the richest Minnesotans and large corporations to pay the same share of their income in taxes as hard working middle class families and small businesses. Instead, the Republicans chose to borrow over $3 billion in one-time money from schools and from future state revenues to pay for ongoing expenses and to shift the burden of paying for schools and public safety to local property taxpayers.

Beyond the states own books, however, is a larger problem with how the state has conducted its business over the last decade. First at Governor Pawlenty’s and now the Republican legislative majority’s insistence, the only discussion has been how much to cut, cut, cut. They’ve argued that is how you grow an economy. Well, I think we can finally conclude that their approach has not worked. Middle class families are not better off today than they were ten years ago and our economy has not thrived. The state budget may be balanced in the short term, but we’ve done serious damage to the budgets of families, small businesses, seniors and students with this squeeze-the-middle class approach.

A clear example of this middle class squeeze is property tax increases. Many of you have received Truth in Taxation statements in the mail informing you of your proposed property tax for 2012. A number of you have contacted me rightly frustrated that your taxes are increasing, in many cases despite a decrease in the value of your home.

According to a Minnesota Department of Revenue analysis: “Property tax levies are proposed to increase an average of 1.2 percent statewide if proposed local tax levies are adopted by local governments later this year. Levy increases combined with the elimination of a state-paid homestead credit during the 2011 special legislative session will increase the amount of taxes paid by Minnesota taxpayers by an estimated 4.7 percent, or $379 million.” http://bit.ly/sewv3p

A large share of these increases stem from the elimination of the Market Value Homestead Credit (MVHC), another change I opposed. With this change, Republicans eliminated a program that provides $538 million per biennium in property tax relief for 95% of Minnesota homeowners and replaced it with a program that provides $0 in property tax relief. In Hennepin County, property owners will now have to pay an additional $49 million as a result of the change. http://www.hennepin.us/understandpropertytax

Fortunately, DFL legislators have proposed to remedy future property tax increases. This fall, House DFL Representatives Ann Lenczewski and Paul Marquart announced that they will introduce a bill to undo elimination of the MVHC and restore the credit. I have signed onto this legislation and hope we will be able to persuade our Republicans colleagues that increasing property taxes on middle class Minnesotans is bad for families and bad for our state.

The Association of Metro School Districts announced that 24 of 46 school districts are projected to borrow $382 million in FY 2012 at a cost of $3 million in interest. The districts will lay off over 600 staff. The Richfield Public School District projects it will borrow $16.5 million with interest costs of $90,000 and lay off 18 staff. While the Minneapolis Public School District does not anticipate having to borrow, the district has cut nearly $5 million for FY 2012. The borrowing and staff reductions are a result of last year’s budgeting scheme that increased the K-12 shift to 60/40. The survey is available here: http://politicsinminnesota.com/files/2011/11/AMSD-Budget-Survey-2011-2012-.pdf

A few other items of interest:

The Minnesota House of Representatives is now accepting applications for the 2012 High School Page Program. The program is open to all Minnesota high school students in their junior year. Applications are due December 16. More information is available here: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/edprog/over2p.htm

Two programs are available to low-income consumers to help pay for basic residential telephone service. Lifeline, http://www.lifeline.gov, provides discounts on monthly telephone bills that range between $8 and $10 per month. The State of Minnesota provides an additional $2.50 per month discount. Link-Up provides a discount on the cost of installing telephone service. Both discounts are available for a primary residential phone and some wireless phones. For more information, contact the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission at 800-657-3782 or consumer.puc@state.mn.us

The Department of Commerce has provided a list of energy-saving tips for the winter. As the first snowfall has hit, now is a good time to make sure your home is ready for the season ahead. http://mn.gov/commerce/energy/media/newsdetail.jsp?id=207-33832

Last, if you are planning to get a flu shot but aren’t sure where to go, the Minnesota Department of Health provides a search engine to find locations near you. Go to http://t.co/7BgHr5Q6 and enter your zip code.

As always, please continue to be in touch with your comments, questions, and concerns. You can reach me by phone at 651-296-5375, by email at rep.paul.thissen@house.mn, or you can visit or send mail to my office, 267 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, Minnesota 55155. I appreciate hearing from you.

Paul Thissen
State Representative
Minority Leader
District 63A