State Representative David Bly, MN District 25B

On Tuesday, June 23, Suzannah and Bob Ciernia are hosting a fundraiser/campaign event on my behalf at their home from 6:30 to 8:00 PM for my campaign supporters. Ciernia’s live at 41 Fareway Drive in Northfield, just off 7th Street. Hope you can make it.

On Thursday, June 25 the Minnesota High Tech Association is putting together an event that will focus on opportunities for companies as a result of the economic stimulus legislation. Economic Stimulus Package - Federal & State Technology Opportunities: How to Get Your Fair Share? will provide the most current analysis of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and its likely impact on state and federal government technology budgets. It’s going to be a great chance to better understand the federal stimulus package, government procurement processes and regulations, opportunities at the state and local level, and how to position an organization for success.

You may register by sending an email to Peter Lindstrom at plindstrom@mhta.org or calling 952-230-4551.

Thursday, June 25, 2009
8:00 Registration; 8:30 - 11:30 a.m. Program
ADC Auditorium, 13625 Technology Drive, Eden Prairie
Sponsors: ADC Telecommunications; GSP Consulting, Twin Cities Business

MHTA ARRA Event June 25th, 2009
8:00-8:30 Registration, Networking and Light Refreshments
8:30-8:45 Welcome
8:45-11:00 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Key Programs and opportunities

Workforce: Department of Labor High Priority Occupations and Green Jobs

Before we adjourned on Monday, the 2009 Legislative Session sent Governor Pawlenty another balanced budget. The bill was the result of painstaking work, significant compromise and months of public input. If the governor signs the bill, the $6.4 billion
budget shortfall will be addressed. The details are as follows:

nearly $2 billion in budget cuts
$1.8 billion in federal recovery funds
Delaying $1.8 billion in school payments (shift)
Raising $1 billion in new, ongoing revenue with:
      Tax on credit card companies that charge excessive interest
      5-cent tax on liquor, and 3-cent tax on beer
      A new income tax bracket for those making $250,000 and above
      Tax compliance

The bill also includes business tax credits for capital equipment, and
an Angel Investment tax credit for high-tech entrepreneurs.

If Governor Pawlenty does not sign the bill into law, he has indicated he will begin the unallotment process starting July 1. Unallotment is a rarely used tool meant only for times of emergency when the state is facing an unanticipated deficit. The process has only been used 4 times in the state’s history - twice by Governor Pawlenty.

If unallotment is used to balance the remaining $2.7 billion budget gap, the governor would be forced to make additional deep cuts to hospitals, nursing homes, schools, higher education, and other areas of the state budget. That will result in 1) reduced services for the elderly, disabled, and students; 2) more jobs lost; and 3) increased property taxes.

Please contact Governor Pawlenty and ask him to sign the fair and balanced budget by phone (651) 296-3391 or e-mail tim.pawlenty@state.mn.us.
You can track which bills have been signed or vetoed on Governor
Pawlenty’s website.

As always, feel free to contact me with your questions and concerns.

We are at the home stretch in the 2009 legislative session and with two days left, the end result is still very much up in the air.

By Wednesday of this week, the Legislature finalized and sent to the Governor all major budget bills to stabilize our budget. In putting our budget together, we spent months listening to Minnesotans about their budget priorities in order to balance the budget with Minnesota values. The bills we sent to the Governor cut spending in nearly every budget area, held school funding flat, protected jobs, and prevented closure of hospitals and nursing homes by raising reasonable revenue.

After these bills had been sent, the Governor called a press conference on Thursday in which he indicated he will sign most of the bills, but will line-item veto provisions he does not like. He will then implement his own budget through a process known as unallotment - he will choose what areas of the budget will be protected, and what ones will be cut.

To provide some context, in the last 30 years, governors have used their power to unallot only four times, and two of those times were by Governor Pawlenty. If chooses the go-it-alone strategy of unallotment, it will be 10 times larger than any other unallotment in state history.

What makes the Governor’s proposal most concerning is that he has not told the public where he would make deep cuts. If the final budget resembles his original budget proposal from March, hospitals would be cut deeply, property taxes would rise significantly, and thousands of Minnesotans will likely lose their job.

On Thursday night, the Governor began implementing his strategy, making painful cuts to health care through a $380 million line-item veto of General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC), eliminating health care coverage for over 30,000 of Minnesotans earning $8,000 a year or less. In testimony yesterday, DHS Commissioner Ludeman describes those served in GAMC as chronically mentally and/or physically ill, homeless and poor. The veto will result in the loss of over $200 million from Minnseota hospitals, which will cause job losses and severe cuts in services. In our area, Northfield Hospital and Long Term Care Center will take a significant hit.

I don’t believe it’s in the best interest of Minnesota to see our state budget resolved behind closed doors without public input. In the final days of session, I will keep working to reach consensus on a budget solution that Minnesotans can support. That means stabilizing our budget, maintaining a commitment to our schools, preserving our hospitals, and retaining jobs.

As always, please contact me with your questions, concerns and input in these critical final days. I also encourage you to contact the Governor (651-296-3391) to provide him with your input on his plan to balance the budget behind closed doors.

The 2008 Veterans Career Fair was the largest single-day fair of its kind in the nation. It featured more than 100 Minnesota businesses and more than 1,300 veterans. This year’s event again is making every effort to reach out to our veterans, their spouses and businesses. The event is a unique opportunity to bring together businesses who are hiring and veterans seeking job opportunities.

This year, the 2009 Veterans Career Fair is being held Wednesday, May 27 from 10 a.m.–3 p.m. at the Earle Brown Heritage Center, 6155 Earle Brown Drive, Brooklyn Center, MN. Professional workshops will also be conducted at 11:30 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. Click for directions.

Detailed employer information and a brochure for jobseekers is available here.

Take advantage of this unique opportunity to help our veterans connect with businesses eager to recruit them into their workforce. This event is produced by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, Veterans Programs. Please call 763-785-6461 if you have any questions.

Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development
www.positivelyminnesota.com
800-657-3858; TTY 800-657-3973

I supported a bill which was passed on April 29th accepting and directing $196.75 million from the federal stimulus program. The bill identified the following goals: (1) stimulus funding be allocated to activities that best achieve job creation and retention; (2) improved energy efficiency and increased renewable energy production; (3) coordinate and leverage other funding sources; and (4) distribute funds geographically across the state.

Energy efficiency projects are to include weatherization for rental units, especially low-income units, energy efficiency projects in state and local government buildings and school district buildings, the training of energy professionals, and programs to increase energy efficiency in the residential sector.

The bill also establishes a grant program for renewable energy projects in commercial and industrial buildings as well as in public buildings.

For more information, see the Research Summary at or the bill itself.

I received the following from Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher today:

Many of you are aware that by mid-week approximately 100 confirmed human cases of the influenza A(H1N1) virus infections have been identified in the United States. One case has now been identified in Cold Springs, MN. This situation is highly fluid as details from many locations are emerging.

The fact that it seems to have sustained human-to-human spread is
concerning. The World Health Organization, the Center for Disease
Control and the State are monitoring this situation very closely and
have increased disease surveillance with local partners. Although the
overall severity of the disease appears to be less in the United States
than Mexico, there was a fatality resulting from it in Texas. The fact
that the virus is unpredictable and may mutate requires vigilance and a quick response. The State has been preparing for such an event for some time.

Our Statewide goals regarding this situation are to:
· Protect the health and safety of the state workforce
· Maximize workforce availability to maintain government services
· Minimize influenza spread and reduce the impact on public
health

We have a very dedicated workforce at the Minnesota House of
Representatives and we are at a particularly busy part of the session.
However, we all need to be vigilant about the seriousness of this flu
situation so that if we have symptoms we don’t inadvertently expose
others and cause it to spread. If you have any of the following
symptoms you should stay home, see a physician and advise your manager:

· Fever
· Flu-like symptoms, including headache, cough, difficulty
breathing, sore throat, body aches, chills, or fatigue

In addition the Center for Disease Control has an excellent website .

We will keep you informed as this situation develops.

Over the past week, the Minnesota House has debated and passed most of the major budget bills that will help close our record budget shortfall and position Minnesota for short and long term economic recovery.

Altogether, our budget framework cuts spending by $1.6 billion in order to close our record $6.4 billion deficit, more than $100 million more in cuts than the Governor’s has proposed. However, the cuts in the House plan are more balanced to preserve jobs, health care, and education.

Our budget plan also recognizes that in these trying economic times, we mustn’t have businesses as usual. In every budget bill, we have
included innovative reforms and enhanced oversight to improve the
quality and efficiency of government.

All of the budget proposals, including the Governor’s, use new
revenue to balance the budget because Minnesotans expect basic programs and services like hospitals, clinics and nursing homes. The House plan includes the biggest tax reforms in 20 years, making our tax system fairer by closing corporate tax loopholes and rescinding tax breaks that disproportionately benefit upper income Minnesotans. On a vote of 130-2, the House bipartisanly rejected the Governor’s proposal to borrow $1.6 billion over the next twenty years to pay $1 billion of our current budget deficit.

I have included in the Snapshot below a summary of the major budget bills we have passed so far this session. Over the next several weeks, the House and Senate will meet in conference committees to reconcile differences between House and Senate bills. I will be serving on the House Higher Education Finance conference committee.

If you have questions about any of the major budget bills, please
contact me. I look forward to working toward a budget solution that will see our community and state through these trying times.

CAPITAL INVESTMENT/BONDING

A basic bread and butter jobs bills that focuses on paintbrush
ready projects around the state.

AGRICULTURE AND VETERANS FINANCE

Increases Veterans’ Affairs and Veterans’ Homes. Makes
strategic cuts to agriculture that saves jobs, preserves critical
programs and invests in biofuels and green jobs.

HIGHER EDUCATION FINANCE

Caps tuition increases, targets scholarships for middle-class
students and provides child-care grants to help parents attend college.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY FINANCE

Funding for outdoors and environmental priorities. Retains jobs, improves accountability at agencies like the DNR and PCA and takes steps to keep toxic chemicals out of children’s products.

EARLY CHILDHOOD FINANCE

Makes critical investments in Minnesota’s future workforce by
closing the achievement gap, increasing child-care quality and ensuring all children are ready for kindergarten.

K-12 EDUCATION FINANCE

Provides steady funding for our schools, reduces mandates to
help districts save money and paves the way for significant funding
reform with the New Minnesota Miracle.

STATE GOVERNMENT FINANCE

Provides adequate funding to avoid damaging layoffs in a
difficult economy.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FINANCE

This is a jobs bill that also assists the unemployed and
retrains workers for skills that are in demand and provides critical
funding for affordable housing.

PUBLIC SAFETY FINANCE

The House does the best job of funding Minnesota’s courts and
preserving public safety. It prevents cuts to correctional officers
that could jeopardize safety.

TRANSPORTATION FINANCE

Maintains local road and bridge funding. Fully funds Greater
Minnesota and metro transit at a time when ridership levels are at
record levels.

TAXES

Most significant reform in 20 years. Increases fairness by replacing subsidies that benefit the wealthy and creates new 4th tier. Gives businesses competitive advantages, including R&D credit and tax
cuts for small businesses and farmers.

HEALTH CARE

Targeted spending cuts to help close the budget shortfall while
preserving adequate funding for rural hospitals, nursing homes and
health care for middle class Minnesotans. Continues down path of
long term health care reform to bring down cost of health care for Minnesota families.