Minnesota Special Session Ends, Cuts are Too Deep, Oakdale's Legislators Say

Insults were hurled. Accusations were made. Pleas were ignored. But in the end, the people’s business was finished.

Gov. Mark Dayton just signed into law all 12 budget bills passed in the middle of the night Wednesday by the Minnesota House and Senate. Dayton’s signatures ended the shutdown of Minnesota government—at 20 days, it is the longest continuous shutdown of any state government in United States history.

Oakdale’s legislators said they thought the cuts in the budget bills passed by the Legislature were too strong.

Rep. Nora Slawik, DFL-Maplewood, said the $26 million in cuts to childcare funding and $22 million in cuts to Children and Community Services Act grants contained in the health and human services bill will hurt low-income families.

“Cuts to Children and Community Services grants are incredibly painful for children suffering from dependency, abuse, neglect, poverty and disabilities,” she said in a news release. “We’re squeezing the life out of programs that children and families desperately rely on.”

Sen. Chuck Wiger, DFL-Maplewood, also said he thought the cuts in the health and human services bill were too deep.

Before the session ended, Wiger said he planned to vote for four of the bills—the public safety/judiciary bill, the bonding bill, the legacy bill and the pensions bill. After the session finished, Slawik said she voted for the same four bills.

One bright spot for the Oakdale area, Wiger said, is that funding for a new firefighter training center in Maplewood that would be used by the Oakdale Fire Department was included in the bonding bill passed last night.

“I was delighted that made it, because it’s been vetoed twice in the past,” Wiger said.

Another provision Wiger said he was happy with was one in the tax bill that would prevent the spouse of a disabled veteran who is deceased from having to pay property taxes on a home valued under $300,000. Wiger said he had constituents at risk of losing their homes without this provision.

Overall, Wiger said the Legislature has just delayed really addressing the state’s financial problems by using one-time fixes including a shift in school funding and bonding against future tobacco settlement monies to balance the budget.

“What you need to do is provide the revenue now and don’t keep delaying it,” he said.

Wiger said ultimately legislators will be faced with the same choice again in two years—whether to make cuts or raise taxes.  

“There probably will be a lot of discussion on the campaign trail,” he said. “Everybody’s up for election.”

Listed below are the bills and the votes that passed them:   

Special Session Bills
Senate Judiciary/Public Safety bill: 57-7
House Judiciary/Public Safety bill: 77-51

Senate Environment bill: 43-22
House Environment bill: 71-57

Senate Jobs and Economic Growth bill: 42-23
House Jobs and Economic Growth bill: 76-50

Senate Transportation bill: 38-27
House Transportation bill: 71-56

Senate Higher education bill: 35-30
House Higher education bill: 71-57

Senate Health & Human Services bill: 37-27
House Health & Human Services bill: 71-57

Senate K-12 education bill: 36-28
House K-12 education bill: 71-56

Senate State Government bill: 40-24
House State Government bill: 81-47

Senate Legacy bill: 65-0
House Legacy bill: 98-30

Senate Pension bill: 61-3
House Pension bill: 115-12

Senate Taxes bill: 37-27
House Taxes bill: 71-57

Senate Bonding bill: 53-11
House Bonding bill: 112-17