This week at the Capitol finally feels like it should in early May at the Capitol: conference committees began meeting, new funding cuts came forward, and twists and turns are keeping everyone on their toes.
The Health and Human Services Omnibus Budget Bill was finally sent to conference committee yesterday, and conferees began reviewing the side-by-sides. They pledged to get their bill done by Sunday evening, meaning those Saturday evening plans and Mother’s Day celebrations will likely take a back seat to the legislative process. If your Representative or Senator is serving on the HHS conference committee, look for an action alert today. Conferees include: HOUSE: Huntley, Thissen, Clark, Abeler, Hosch, Murphy, E.; SENATE: Berglin, Sheran, Lourey, Prettner Solon, Dille, Lynch.
Your calls and emails made a big difference this week, as the Omnibus Early Childhood Policy bill passed the House and Senate early in the week and was approved by the conference committee today. We expect the final bill to be approved by both bodies and hopefully signed by the Governor in the next few days. Check out the Ready 4 K home page and the Omnibus Bill Tracker for more details.
Early in the week, we learned that the Senate had proposed a $1.3 million cut to Head Start to help minimize a proposed cut to the school districts of Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth. We were of course shocked that the Senate would play politics with low-income families, and again, your calls and emails to the Senate are helping to put a stop to the proposal. It’s not wrapped up yet, but we feel somewhat confident that, at least for now, the cut to Head Start is not on the table.
The big news of the week was that the Supreme Court ruled that Govenor Pawlenty’s unallotments last year exceeded the authority granted by the state’s unallotment statute. The Minnesota Budget Project sums it up nicely by saying, “It is still unclear whether the Governor’s other $2.7 billion in unallotments are immediately impacted. If the other unallotment actions aren’t reversed by this ruling, it at least opens the door for affected parties to bring forward additional lawsuits to overturn other unallotment actions. There is already a lawsuit pending regarding the Governor’s unallotment of the Renters’ Credit. So, we’ll have to wait and see what the budget implications will be.” Read their full article on the decision here.
Ready 4 K and our allied organizations will be holed up in a stuffy hearing room all weekend, and likely into next week, fighting for young children. Feel free to call, email or stop by with any questions. And of course, follow our activity on Twitter.
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