Government

House passes omnibus jobs, commerce and housing bill

By Mike Cook, Session Daily

On the same day the House DFL unveiled its tax package that includes a tax increase on the wealthiest Minnesotans, the full House approved an omnibus bill that its sponsor says contains a potential $346 million tax cut for businesses.

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Proposal would redistribute orchestra funds if the lockout is not settled

By Staff, The Minnesota Daily

Jonathan Magness misses his family.

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United for baloney

By Jeff Van Wychen, Minnesota 2020

The anti-tax contingent of the Minnesota business lobby—calling itself “United for Jobs”—is using bogus statistics to frighten Minnesotans into believing that the tax increases being proposed by Governor Dayton and legislative leadership will crush the state’s economy. They’re full of baloney.

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Minnesota 2020

A 'status quo' transportation budget bill in House

By Jonathan Avise, Session Daily

Amanda Duerr, a lobbyist with the Highway 14 Coalition, testifies with House Transportation Finance Committee Chairman Frank Hornstein sitting next to her during an informational hearing on the omnibus transportation finance bill April 12. (Photo by Paul Battaglia)

The most striking thing about the omnibus transportation financing package unveiled Friday before the House Transportation Finance Committee might be what isn’t in it.

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Senate tax priorities start to come into view

By Nan Madden, Minnesota Budget Bites

Some of the Minnesota Senate’s tax priorities came into clearer focus yesterday when the Senate Tax Reform Division released its draft division report, authored by the committee’s chair, Senator Ann Rest. More tax provisions will be revealed when the omnibus tax bill is released later this month.

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Minnesota Budget Bites

Water supply advisory group gets House OK to keep working

By Liz Stoever, Session Daily

The House passed a bill 78-53 Thursday to extend the sunset date for the Metropolitan Area Water Supply Advisory Committee.

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Advocates for needy say bipartisan support emerging for increased spending

By Cynthia Boyd, MinnPost

A possible amendment to the health and human services budget that has been bandied about by some members of the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee this week would raise grants to families with children for the first time in 27 years. (Courtesy of MN Senate Media Services)

Despite recent DFL leadership calls at the Legislature for $150 million in cuts in the proposed health and human services budget, there appears to be a bipartisan effort afoot to increase assistance for needy Minnesota families.

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Memorabilia tax proposed to fill stadium funding gap

By Lee Ann Schutz Wahi, Session Daily

Legislators swallowed hard as they considered a bill Wednesday that, as Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R- Mazeppa) said, is “intended to help pay for a mistake that we made.”

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Obama budget: A useful exercise in political theater?

By Joe Bodell, Minnesota Progressive Project

I’ve been watching with a mixture of disdain and wonder the release and public flagellation of President Obama’s 2013 budget proposal. Disdain mostly because a Democratic President actually just proposed cutting benefits to current Social Security recipients (along with the rest of us, when we get there) through this Chained CPI bullpucky, and wonder because of what a brutally aggressive political gambit it represents.

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Minnesota Progressive Project

Why is state health and human services spending growing so fast?

By Cynthia Boyd, MinnPost

House Speaker Paul Thissen: “It’s going to swallow up our entire budget.” (MinnPost photo by James Nord)

Getting a grasp on state budget numbers is at least as mind-boggling for most of us as trying to understand just how far Earth is from the sun -- 93 million miles, btw.

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