Session ends with a compromise on the budget

Minnesota has proven that a divided government can still come together to get work done for its constituents. Having finished our special session with a completed state budget for the next two years, the Minnesota Legislature has adjourned until Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020. The nature of compromise is that everyone doesn't get everything they want, and that was certainly the case this session. While I believe many of these bills could have been better, the compromise legislation we produced still builds a better Minnesota in many ways, and I'm proud that bills I authored and helped create contributed to that.

As chair of the Labor Committee and a member of the Jobs and Economic Development Division, I was largely focused on our Jobs and Energy budget bill, which is a good bill that delivers the resources that working Minnesotans deserve. Our wage theft provisions are some of the strongest in the nation, ensuring that Minnesotans are given an hour's pay for an hour's work. With 39,000 Minnesotans impacted by wage theft in some form every year, we made sure that employers that use wage theft as a business strategy are no longer getting a free pass in Minnesota.

I was proud to author the Helmets to Hardhats program that was also included in the Jobs and Energy budget. This program would help to recruit, retain, and support our service members and place them in apprenticeships in the construction trades.

Our state budget also reaffirms the House DFL's commitment to solid funding for education with an increase of 2 percent on the per-pupil formula each of the next two years, which will help to deliver the world-class education that students across Minnesota deserve. We're also including protection of 4,000 voluntary prekindergarten slots and investing $90 million to address the federal government's failure to properly fund special education. Strengthening our education system was a high priority of ours, and something we fought especially hard for.

Middle-class families will also see lower taxes with an increase in the Working Family Tax credit and an income tax cut. It's the first of its kind in 20 years.

With increases in Local Government Aid and County Program Aid, and a fix to the Taconite Municipal Aid distribution formula, local governments will be able to better deliver critical services without increasing property taxes.

A lack of reliable, high-speed broadband internet service remains a significant barrier for many of Minnesota's communities, making it difficult for students to learn and for small businesses to compete. The House DFL successfully fought for a $40 million investment in the state's border-to-border broadband program, delivering rural communities access to the internet speeds they deserve.

Other provisions I was proud to have worked on include updates to our workers' compensation laws, updated permits for beaver dam removal, and clarifications in the pension process for our firefighters.

To contact District 11A State Rep. Mike Sundin, email [email protected] or call 651-296-4308.