As the legislative session winds down, we asked Carver County legislators to update us on how things are going. Here are the responses from state Sen.

Julianne Ortman:  1) Is the session progressing as you’d like:  After elections I was very optimistic that we would have good bills, proposing property tax relief and good funding levels for education.  We started with a good budget surplus that allows for some great possibilities. It became apparent soon after the beginning of the session that the promises from some elected candidates was just rhetoric. We have seen countless proposals to increase taxes in the Senate:  to raise the gas tax by about 20 cents per gallon (10 cents plus automatic indexing and a surcharge proposed for debt service on highway bonding proposals); to raise the metro area sales tax to pay for transit; to raise the statewide sales tax to pay for outdoor heritage, clean water, and arts funding; to increase income taxes by adding the highest income tax bracket in the nation; to increase business property taxes; and to increase taxes on our largest corporations when they conduct operations overseas.   I continue to strive to serve as the voice of opposition to these proposals; these increases will harm our economy, our families, and our long-term financial health.   The “promise” to provide property tax relief has turned into a very small attempt to increase aid to local governments – which may never actually translate into reduced property taxes.  The Governor will surely veto these increased taxes; I am optimistic that eventually we will pass a more reasonable Budget for 2008 – 2009 on behalf of the residents and businesses in Minnesota. 2) Tax outlook. Will you be holding firm on no tax increases along with theGovernor? I do not see a need for increased taxes.  We are working with a $ 2.1 billion surplus; if we used that entire surplus we could still increase our budget by 9.3% and never raise taxes.  I think it is time to offer some real property tax relief, especially for our most vulnerable; retired citizens living on fixed incomes, and for tax credits for those investing in education at all-day kindergarten, K-12, community college, university, vo-tech schools, and beyond.  That would be my priority for using that surplus. Howeve, looking at the bills that are being progressed and passed out of the senate I don’t think we can expect any sort of real tax breaks.  3) Smoking in restaurants. Where are we at with this and what’s your position? 

It does appear that the smoking ban will pass this session; it has passed both the House and the Senate.  The Governor has already promised his support.  I did not vote for the bill because it seemed to be too much too fast; there will be economic consequences to thousands of small businesses across the State, which translates into fewer jobs and lower wages.   

As a former member of the Carver County Board, I support the continued authority of our local government entities to properly manage this issue.  They have a better opportunity to conduct hearings, talk about local economic impact and to respond to the wishes of individuals which vary greatly on this issue. Cities and counties were adopting smoking without the state mandating them and that was great to see.  It is premature for the State to adopt such broad state-wide policies because we don’t have as clear a view as the disparate impacts to different types of businesses and communities. 4) Highway funding: Any chance money can be secured for Highway 5 upgrade. I have been working with several representatives from MNDOT and from local communities to make some measurable progress toward funding this critical infrastructure.  It is unlikely we will obtain major funding this year, but we are working very hard to fund the necessary study of the Highway 5 corridor to at least finance the next critical step.   Carver County is growing very fast and we need to make sure we have the infrastructure to support this growth, but we have to keep in mind the huge allocation of funds for the 212 project.  Our area has dropped back in the list of needs because we have so recently accomplished a major funding goal.  5) Bills you’re hoping to get action on in the last month: I just want to make sure we are setting the right priorities, meaning passing the most appropriate bills first then taking up the “extra” issues.  This is a budget year and we need to make sure we get those bills done first, with language that can be agreed upon by both legislative bodies and the Governor — and on time. 6) Will you finish on time? No one wants to hear the words “Special session.”  As it stands, there are some major bills that the governor has said he will veto.  I hope in conference committee those issues will be ironed out the first time through.  The governor has been very straight forward about what he will veto.  I hope the majority leaders and conference committee members are listening.