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May 13, 2008 10:56 pm US/Central
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Talks Resume For Session-Ending Budget Deal In MN
ST. PAUL (AP) ―
Minnesota lawmakers approved a school-finance bill Tuesday night without first reaching a negotiated budget deal with Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a sign that a hoped-for harmonious end of session was in doubt.
The education bill, which would provide all public schools $51 more per student, cleared the House on a 97-35 vote and sailed through the Senate by a 55-10 vote. But it -- and any other major bills the Legislature passes without a settlement -- could run into gubernatorial vetoes.
Also at risk was a unified solution to Minnesota's $935 million deficit, a new spoke in the Twin Cities passenger rail network and property tax relief for homeowners.
Talks among the state leaders faltered when the Pawlenty administration told lawmakers that $50 million in their budget-balancing package was out of bounds.
"There's that goalpost and the governor's moving the goalpost," said Assistant Senate Majority Leader Tarryl Clark, DFL-St. Cloud.
Administration officials said reworking payments to health providers with ample reserves would endanger existing contracts with those providers and possibily spark lawsuits. Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung said the administration had warned Democrats weeks ago that they couldn't realistically achieve the $50 million in savings they were anticipating.
By all accounts, the high-level deliberations had been moving in a positive direction until the evening breakdown.
"Are we in a crash-and-burn situation for the rest of session?" Minority Leader David Senjem, R-Rochester, asked as the Senate resumed for a night floor session. "Is there hope for a resurrection?"
Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller wasn't ready to throw in the towel, but said in a frustrated tone that "for whatever reason we're just not able to finalize this."
No votes were planned for Wednesday, which was being reserved strictly for negotiations.
Meanwhile, The Senate moved to line up a $70 million borrowing bill for the Central Corridor light rail line, which was stymied by a Pawlenty veto earlier this session.
Tuesday's talks involving legislators and the governor were held in private, but the main component was known to all: Pawlenty's push for a limit on how much local governments could raise property taxes coupled with a Democratic drive to have the state offer more assistance to those governments and homeowners.
Uncertainty revolved around the cap's effect on local governments, said Senate Taxes Committee Chairman Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook. He said lawmakers must be careful when restricting tax money to cities and counties because public safety is one of their major responsibilities.
He said Pawlenty needs to do something about the increase in property taxes since he took office in 2003 and the state needs the money that would be raised by tightening taxation of companies with foreign operations.
"If the governor really wants one, we'll get there," Bakk said of a compromise.
Pawlenty has been calling the property tax cap the "linchpin" for a session-ending deal.
Earlier Tuesday, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher suspended debate on an education spending bill after taking a call from Pawlenty at her desk above the House floor. To generate the new money for schools, the bill freezes a Pawlenty program rewarding districts that insert performance measures in teacher contracts.
Top Republicans attacked the bill and the decision to vote on it without a broader budget deal in place.
House Minority Leader Marty Seifert compared the vote on the education bill to "throwing a stick of dynamite in the cave."
House Majority Leader Tony Sertich defended the use of the Q-Comp teacher pay money, saying it makes use of a "pot of money sitting in St. Paul unused that is destined to go to a few districts and spreads it around."
Meanwhile, lawmakers approved a bill that would bar state driver's license authorities from implementing the federal Real ID regulations. It passed the Senate by a 50-16 vote and the House by a 103-30 vote, both well above the counts needed for a veto override.
The proposed prohibition faces a tough road, though. Pawlenty vetoed an earlier attempt to require conditions be met for the state to change licenses to meet federal rules. He said Tuesday he shares some concerns about Real ID but doesn't want to scrap it altogether.
"I would take a `mend it, don't end it' approach," Pawlenty said.
Many states have resisted the Real ID mandate. Eventually, it will require that every citizen carry a U.S. government-approved card to board a plane or enter a federal facility.
Supporters argue that a more secure identification card will help in homeland security and immigration control efforts.
"We have to live in a country where we have to have some security. We're not trying to violate anybody's rights," said Sen. Dick Day, R-Owatonna.
But some of his fellow Republicans fought just as hard against the ID card conversion.
Sen. Ray Vandeveer, R-Forest Lake, disputed that a more sophisticated card would head off tampering or forgery.
"There is no security more dangerous than false security and that's what this card gets us," he said.
Other critics said it will be costly to implement and that too much of people's personal information will be added to a national database.
Also Tuesday, Pawlenty announced his actions on a batch of bills the Legislature sent him last week.
He vetoed an education policy bill that would raise the high school dropout age from 16 to 18 and make hockey the official state sport. The governor said he objected to a new formula for state report cards on schools and said he wanted the elevated dropout age to be accompanied by measures to tackle truancy.
He also took down a bill aimed at changing the state's approach to health care, saying the bill expanded publicly subsidized health programs without adequate cost controls.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)