Tag Archives: budget

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

MN Library Legislation: House Legacy Conferees Named — Please Contact!

**This legislative update was originally  written by Elaine Keefe, lobbyist for MLA/MEMO, slight modifications by Patricia Post** (Received on Thursday, May 16, 2013 11:08 AM)

The House conferees for the Legacy bill were appointed on Thursday , May 16th. 

Legacy Funding Background:  The House Legacy bill passed on the floor on Friday (10th). The Senate Legacy bill was unveiled in the Senate Legacy Subcommittee on Thursday (9th).  It includes $300,000 per year for the Minnesota Digital Library (the amount requested) and $1 million per year for regional public libraries.  This is a huge reduction from the $3 million per year currently allocated to regional public libraries.  Senator Dick Cohen, chair of both the Senate Finance Committee and the Legacy Subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee, has historically opposed Legacy funding for libraries. His position has been that only those who advocated for the constitutional amendment should share in the funds generated.  Other recipients can be viewed as interlopers, including libraries.  Senator Cohen’s goal has been that 50% of the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund is to be allocated to the State Arts Board.  Currently about 43% is allocated to the State Arts Board.  The Senate bill includes a provision requiring that in the future 50% of the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund shall be allocated to the State Arts Board.  The initial version of the Senate Legacy bill distributed the funds to regional public libraries under the RLBSS formula, as has been done the past two biennia.  I subsequently spoke with Senator Cohen and he agreed to amend the bill to change the formula in accordance with the MLA/MEMO platform and to require that the funds be distributed in 10 equal payments.  That amendment was adopted on Friday (10th) and the bill was passed out of the subcommittee.

Please contact the Conferees and urge them to support the House position on Legacy funding for regional public libraries.

The House maintains the current funding level of $3 million per year, whereas the Senate reduces it to $1 million per year.

Rep. Phyllis Kahn
651-296-4257
rep.phyllis.kahn@house.mn
Rep. Leon Lillie
651-296-1188
rep.leon.lillie@house.mn
Rep. Mike Freiberg
651-296-4176
rep.mike.freiberg@house.mn
Rep. David Bly
651-296-0171
1-800-920-5882
rep.david.bly@house.mn
Rep. Anna Wills
651-296-4306
rep.anna.wills@house.mn

Elaine Keefe

Capitol Hill Associates
525 Park Street, Suite 310
St. Paul, MN 55103
office 651-293-0229
fax 651-293-1709
cell 612-590-1244
elaine@capitolhillassoc.com

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

MNLib Legislative Update: Call to Action!

**This legislative update was originally received in two emails written by Elaine Keefe, lobbyist for MLA/MEMO, slight modifications by Patricia Post** (Received on Sunday, May 12th at 11:57 p.m. & Monday, May 13th at 9:55 a.m.)

It’s crunch time.  The Legislature must adjourn on May 20 — one week from Monday!

Budget Deal:  Sunday the Governor and legislative leaders announced that they have agreed on a budget deal. The deal includes significant increases for E-12 education ($475 million) and higher education ($250 million) and a smaller cut in health & human services than legislators had proposed (a $50 million cut rather than $150 million). The school funding shift will be repaid. To pay for all of this and cover the $627 million deficit, income taxes will be increased on couples with taxable income of $250,000 and on individuals with taxable income of $150,000. Sales taxes will be expanded to some business services but not to consumer services or clothing. The cigarette tax will be increased. Details will be worked out by the various budget conference committees.

E-12 Education:  The conference committee met for the first time on Thursday (9th).  They adopted several identical provisions, including two items important to MLA/MEMO.

  1. The change in terminology from “grant” to “aid” for RLBSS and Multi-type funding
  2. Clarification that total operating capital funds can be used for computer hardware, software and annual licensing fees

Higher Education:  The conference committee will meet for the first time on Monday (13th). The funding increase for Minitex/MnINK that is included in the Senate higher ed bill but not in the House bill has a better chance now that the agreed-upon target ($250 million) is closer to the Senate target ($260 million) than the House target ($150 million).  Our Senate author, Senator Kent Eken (DFL – Twin Valley) is on the conference committee and told me he intends to fight hard for the increase included in the Senate bill.  If you haven’t yet contacted the conferees to urge them to support the increase in the Senate bill, please do so.

Legacy:  The House Legacy bill passed on the floor on Friday. The Senate Legacy bill was unveiled in the Senate Legacy Subcommittee on Thursday.  It includes $300,000 per year for the Minnesota Digital Library (the amount requested) and $1 million per year for regional public libraries.  This is a huge reduction from the $3 million per year currently allocated to regional public libraries.  Senator Dick Cohen, chair of both the Senate Finance Committee and the Legacy Subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee, has historically opposed Legacy funding for libraries. His position has been that only those who advocated for the constitutional amendment should share in the funds generated.  Other recipients can be viewed as interlopers, including libraries.  Senator Cohen’s goal has been that 50% of the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund is to be allocated to the State Arts Board.  Currently about 43% is allocated to the State Arts Board.  The Senate bill includes a provision requiring that in the future 50% of the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund shall be allocated to the State Arts Board.  The initial version of the Senate Legacy bill distributed the funds to regional public libraries under the RLBSS formula, as has been done the past two biennia.  I subsequently spoke with Senator Cohen and he agreed to amend the bill to change the formula in accordance with the MLAMEMO platform and to require that the funds be distributed in 10 equal payments.  That amendment was adopted on Friday and the bill was passed out of the subcomittee. It will be heard in the full Senate Finance Committee on Monday, May 13.

A number of you have contacted me this morning to ask what you can do to respond to the disappointing amount of funding for regional public libraries in the Senate Legacy bill.

  • Please contact your senators to express concern about this reduction.  Ask them to raise the issue with Senator Cohen. 
  • We are not going to change Senator Cohen’s mind.  However, if it’s clear that his Senate colleagues are unhappy about the level of funding for libraries it will be more likely that the Senate conferees will agree to the House appropriation when the bill gets to conference committee.
  • When the conference committee is named later this week, I will send out their contact information and ask you to contact them.

Elaine Keefe
Capitol Hill Associates
525 Park Street, Suite 310
St. Paul, MN 55103
office 651-293-0229
fax 651-293-1709
cell 612-590-1244
elaine@capitolhillassoc.com

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Minnesota Budget-Bite Sized!

logo-mcn-budget-programThe Minnesota Budget Project, an initiative of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits (MCN), recently released a snapshot of Governor Dayton’s budget proposal specific to education. This information is broken down into various areas of specialization/interests such Special Ed., MnSCU, Early Childhood Ed., E-12,  Higher Ed., etc. This format makes it a quick, must read to help you stay connected. Click here for more information.

Two additional articles that were mention included  Health Care Reform and Tax Reform.

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

CMLE is Looking for Fundraising Stories

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dollarsCMLE staff are anxious to interview both school media specialists and librarians alike! We are looking for stories about how you have successfully raised funds to support your library or media center. For instance, we know that Mackin and Follett offer an online fundraising alternative to the usual book fair that many of you have been engaging in for quite some time now. Book fairs can serve tangible needs too like team building with your PTA/PTO, but the media center often gets little or none of the proceeds. With the online fundraising options, the media center often gets 100% of the raised dollars, and this option makes it very easy to solicit donations from any location. For instance, if Grandpa and Grandma are snowbirds when you are fundraising, they can still engage in the health and care of their grandchild’s school media center by making their donation online. In the case of Mackin, I also remember that their donation can even be reflected in the bookplate of the book! If you have a story to share (none too big or too small), either leave a comment below, or send email to cmle@stcloudstate.edu with Subject Line: Fundraising Story. Thank you in advance for sharing your story with your colleagues in Central Minnesota!

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

State Economic Forecast

According to Elaine Keefe, our  MLA/MEMO Library Lobbyist….

“The state economic forecast was released today, and it contained both good news and bad news. The good news is that for the current fiscal year the state is projected to have a $1.33 billion surplus. Under current law that surplus will be used to pay down the education funding shift. The amount the state owes to schools and libraries will be reduced from $2.4 billion to $1.1 billion. The bad news is that the state still faces a $1.1 billion deficit for the next biennium (FY 2014-15). That’s the period that the Legislature will be adopting a budget for in the upcoming legislative session. Forecast documents are posted on  the MN Management and Budget (MMB) website at  http://www.mmb.state.mn.us/fu-current-fore-nov ” The Forecast at a Glance doc  is a short one pager, but if you want specific detail about the School Shift Buyback, take a look at the nitty gritty detail in the 15 pg. Forecast Summary document.

Another helpful general  “take” on the MN budget situation arrived in my inbox yesterday through the MN Budget Project’s,  Budget News and Tools Newsletter.

Economic Forecast Finds No End to Budget DeficitsBudget

“The November Economic Forecast from Minnesota Management and Budget shows Minnesota remains mired in a vicious cycle of budget deficits. The forecast predicts a $1.3 billion positive balance for the current budget cycle, which will go to pay back a portion of the school funding shift. However, there is a $1.1 billion deficit for the FY 2014-15 biennium. When taking the impact of inflation into account, the forecast shows a $2.0 billion deficit in FY 2014-15 and $2.1 billion in FY 2016-17. According to a news release we issued, the continuing budget deficits show that Minnesota needs to move beyond gimmicks and short-term fixes and support the state’s priorities for the long term.

A Minnesota Budget Bites blog post analyzes some of the main issues and concludes:

  • Minnesota needs to reform our outdated tax system so that it raises enough revenues to support our needs, and does so fairly;
  • The Legislature should act to cover more Minnesotans under Medicaid, qualifying us for more federal funds and allowing more than 140,000 low-income Minnesotans to gain access to affordable health care;
  • Congress and the President should end the uncertainty over the federal “fiscal cliff” by taking a balanced and responsible approach to deficit reduction that includes raising revenues and that will support economic growth in the short term and fiscal stability in the long term.

So, I am quietly, carefully optimistic about this forecast (could be worse) and look forward to seeing the Governor’s budget soon. Having said that, it appears the  “federal fiscal cliff” is our biggest concern at the moment, and if not settled, could raise our budget deficit to a much higher level. The bottom line according to MMB is: ” If gridlock leads to us falling over the fiscal cliff, the nation would likely sink into a recession in early 2013. And,  Minnesota’s budget deficit for FY 2014-15 would increase by $1.7 billion, to a total of $2.8 billion!”