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| Date: | March 30, 2011 | | Contact Name: | Peter D. Winiecki | | Contact Phone: | 651-297-8077 | | Contact Email: | peter.winiecki@senate.mn | | For Immediate Release | |
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| MINNESOTA SENATE PASSES STATE GOVERNMENT INNOVATION & VETERANS OMNIBUS BUDGET BILL |
(St. Paul) – The Minnesota Senate took an aggressive step forward in solving Minnesota’s budget deficit today by passing the State Government Innovation and Veterans omnibus budget bill. The committee’s bill meets the general fund budget target of $500 million, primarily through methods of consolidation, agency reform and budget reductions.
“The bill’s underlying theme is to right-size state government spending and find efficiencies in state government wherever possible,” said Senator Mike Parry (R-Waseca), the bill’s chief author. “We intend to implement public-private partnerships to replicate efficiencies that the private sector has been utilizing for years. These strategic reductions combined with bold reform measures are focused on getting Minnesota back on a sustainable path to economic recovery.”
The proposal makes reductions in several areas of state spending. The Legislature, the Office of the Legislative Auditor and the Legislative Coordinating Commission all see reductions of five percent. Constitutional officers see reductions in their operating budgets ranging from 15-20 percent. A wide variety of state agencies have targeted reductions from as low as five percent, up to 20 percent.
A key provision of this comprehensive package requires the executive branch to reduce the number of state agency employees by 15 percent by June 15, 2015. An appointing authority may use attrition, a hiring freeze, early retirement incentives authorized in the bill, furloughs, and layoffs to accomplish this reduction. Over the next biennium, this reduction of the state’s workforce is estimated to save over $70 million in General Fund money.
“In these times of perpetual budget deficits, government needs to take a step back and reflect upon the way it operates. Businesses and families have had to dramatically alter their budgets and adjust to cope with the realities of the recession, and state government should be no different.”
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