New Legislation -Budget and Wine with Groceries
Budget Compromise and Wine with groceries decided Page 1 of2
steve stahmer
. From: O'Rourke, Jennifer [JORourke@LMNC.ORG]
Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2002 10:00 AM
To: General legislative
Subject: [legislative] Budget Compromise and Wine with groceries decided
Busy Wednesday
Budget Compromise and Wine with groceries decided
The House/Senate conference committee on the budget compromise reached an agreement around 9:00
p.m. last evening. The $2 billion budget balancing deal will be on the House and Senate floors today.
For cities, the agreement preserves current year funding for LGA along with the current law annual
appropriation inflator for LGA as well as the funding for the market value homestead credit
reimbursement. The agreement is not all positive-it eliminates the TIF grant funding.
Because the compromise is now a conference committee report, the bill cannot be amended on the floor.
The HOllse and Senate can either approve the bill or send it back to conference committee. This will
likely assure quick action today and virtually guarantee that the bill will be transmitted to the governor
by the end of this week.
The governor has raised concerns about the proposal, however as of this morning, he has stopped short
. of committing to a veto. House Democrats have also indicated that they are not generally satisfied with
the contents of the proposal, especially the cuts in education and human services. The House will likely
approve the conference committee report today on nearly a straight party line vote. However, if the
governor does veto the plan, there are indications that sufficient House Democrats would change their
position and vote to ovelTide the veto.
There are two remaining concerns about the state budget deficit. First, the updated state budget forecast
will be unveiled next week. If that forecast indicates that the current biennial forecasted deficit is even
larger that $2 billion, the legislature will have to take action to eliminate that additional deficit. GiYen
that th~ current pl~n uses alm()1;t all available statereser:v.{l_s, furt~r budg~t-balancing ~JJls could be_.Qn
the agenda~il1c1uding cuts to LGA or the l11ark~t value homesl~ad credit reimbursement.
Secont!, the 2004-05 projected deficit of more than $2.5 billion is still an issue that the governor has
demanded be addressed 1his year. Although technically the legislature need only balance the current
biennial budget, the fact that a large share of the 2002-03 solution is accomplished through one-time
uses of reserves means that the out year deficit is potentially a significant problem. The compromise on
the floor today enacts more than $720 million in permanent 2004-05 spending reductions but also
eliminates "inflation estimates" from the 2004-05 plaIming estimates. Together, these two actions only
cover about $1.8 billion of the $2.5 billion structural deficit-and the saving due to the elimination of the
inflation estimates are very soft savings, at best.
Cross your fingers.
. Wine Stays in Liquor Stores
2/21/2002
. Budget Compromisc and Willc with groceries decided Page 2 of2
HF 1205, the "Wine with Dinner" bill, was defeated last evening in the House Commerce committee on
. a 7-15 vote. Debate on the bill went on for two hours, as representatives heard from both sides of the
bill. LMC Board member and Plymouth city council member Judy Johnson testified against the bill
citing the LMC's policy on Youth Access. Lakeville liquor store manager, Brenda Visnovec also
testified against the bill.
With a room filled with grocery store employees wearing "Wine With Dinnerl1 pins, House members
voted the bill down. Many of the House members had heard from their local constituents on the matter,
and we thank all you who took the time to contact your legislators.
We do not expect the Senate to address the issue in this legislative session.
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2/21/2002