Legislative Update

The Legislature's May 21 adjournment date is one week from today.

Since the last update the Governor has vetoed the omnibus higher education funding bill (which includes funding for Minitex). Although the Legislature spent $40 million less than the Governor had originally proposed for higher education, the bill passed by the Legislature contained a higher proportion of permanent funding and a smaller proportion of one-time funding than the Governor had proposed. Governor Pawlenty has indicated he will not to sign any more budget bills until there is an overall agreement on spending targets for each budget area.

Here is the status of the major budget bills:

Completed and Signed · Omnibus Public Safety Bill · Omnibus Environment and Natural Resources Bill · Omnibus Agriculture and Veterans Affairs Bill.

Vetoed · Omnibus Higher Education Bill · Omnibus Health and Human Services Bill · Omnibus State Government Bill · Omnibus Jobs and Economic Development Bill.

To Be Completed (in conference committee) · Omnibus Tax Bill · Omnibus E-12 Education Finance Bill

Completed but not yet passed on the House and Senate Floors · Omnibus Transportation Finance Bill.

The E-12 Education Conference Committee has not met since April 28. Rep. Mindy Greiling (DFL - Roseville) has indicated that she will not call another meeting of the conference committee until they have been assigned a spending target by legislative leaders. Once they get a target, negotiations are expected to go swiftly.

If you have not yet contacted the conferees and your own legislator to urge support for library funding, please do so immediately.