In this issue:
- Scandals snowball
- Republicans propose income tax cut
- State surplus balloons to $1.5 billion
- Is AFL-CIO running the show in the House?
- Clean Energy First Act will increase electricity costs
- Sketchy ''activist'' groups prey on conservative donors
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State government is so poorly run, even major scandals seem commonplace.
Last year, we recapped six years worth of IT failures, data breaches, mismanagement, and corruption in the Thinking Minnesota magazine feature story, "The Masquerade of Good Government."
Now we''ve added three new scandals from Feb and March alone:
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Scandal #54: An audit of Minnesota prisons found leadership was not taking safety seriously enough, leading to a dangerous environment for staff and prisoners. The audit also found a workplace culture fraught with staff bullying, retaliation, and sexual harassment.
Scandal #55: DHS disclosed as much as $28.9 million in Medicaid overpayments to health care providers because 47,000 duplicate accounts were created in the system. This is the latest in a series of issues with the state''s Medical Assistance eligibility software system (METS).
Scandal #56: Minnesota''s Secretary of State was unprepared for web traffic on Super Tuesday (despite plenty of warning, as IT issues also arose with the website during the 2019 municipal elections). When the online pollfinder crashed, the supposedly non-partisan website was changed to redirect voters to an organization that endorsed Democrat Elizabeth Warren. SOS Steve Simon later canceled a planned appearance in the Senate, seemingly to avoid questions about the fiasco.
To be the first to know about new scandals, follow @mnthinktank on Twitter, and bookmark our Scandal Tracker.
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Republicans propose $1,000,000,000 tax cut
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The GOP tax plan includes an income tax rate cut at the lowest tier, so every income tax payer will benefit. Read our analysis of the entire bill, and watch the press conference here.
- Income tax cut ??
- K-12 education tax credit ??
- Social Security tax cut ??
- Business equipment tax cut ??
- Charitable gaming tax cut ??
- Housing programs ?
- No estate tax repeal ?
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The $1.5 billion surplus question
The latest budget forecast from Minnesota''s Department of Management and Budget predicts a $1.5 billion surplus, $181 million higher than forecasted in November. But it includes this caveat:
"The economic outlook is stable but a slowdown remains in the forecast. The small budgetary improvement continues into the next biennium and the structural balance is improved, but budget challenges remain."
So what should the state do with this money? Before they go on a spending spree, lawmakers should bear these things in mind.
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Is big labor running the show in the House?
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The official announcement for Thursday''s House floor schedule came not from Speaker Hortman's office, but from a tweet by the Minnesota AFL-CIO.
The tweet revealed labor-backed Mandatory Paid Leave bills will be considered on the House floor Thursday night. The controversial bills failed to get through the GOP-controlled Senate last year, but big labor hasn''t given up yet.
The timing of their tweet raises a bigger question: Who's running the show, labor unions or elected officials?
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Clean Energy First Act will increase electricity costs
A key piece of legislation that appears to be fast-tracked in both the House and Senate is likely to increase electricity costs for both residential consumers and businesses.
The House bill, clearly inspired by AOC''s Green New Deal, received zero votes from Republicans as it passed out of the energy committee this week. The Senate bill is more practical because it legalizes new nuclear power and large hydro, the most reliable, efficient sources of non-emitting electricity available.
Unfortunately, both bills pave the way for more unreliable, expensive forms of energy like wind turbines and solar installations, the key reason electricity prices in Minnesota continue to skyrocket.
Here we outline the good and bad parts of the Senate bill, and provide suggestions to make it better. As for the House bill... it''s beyond saving.
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Sketchy ''activist'' groups prey on conservative donors
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A network of advocacy organizations that claims to lobby for pro-gun and pro-life issues in St. Paul is accused of scamming Minnesotans out of their money.
MNScammersExposed.com is branded as a joint effort between the MN GOP, House GOP, and Senate GOP. The official GOP groups call the network a "fundraising scheme with little to no influence on actual public policy" and link to examples (1, 2, 3) of the same scam in neighboring states.
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