Politics & Government

Sen. Lillie: Budget Ball is Now in Dayton's Court

As omnibus bills head to conference committee, the senator representing Woodbury says he's curious to about the governor's response to the legislation.

While his fellow lawmakers at the Capitol report that this Legislature is further along in the budget process than any in recent memory, Sen. Ted Lillie says the state is still a few steps away from closing the budget deficit.

The Minnesota Senate recently passed 10 of its omnibus spending bills, which will now go to conference committee as the differences between the House and Senate versions are hammered out before the legislation is sent to the governor’s desk.

Lillie, a Republican who represents Woodbury, said he’s curious to see how the governor will respond to the spending bills. Gov. Mark Dayton has not revisited his February budget proposal, Lillie said.

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Lillie voted for all the omnibus bills, which he said would go a long way toward balancing the state budget without increasing taxes.

“We just applied the same values to government that we use at home and we do in business—if you don’t have money, you don’t spend it,” said Lillie, who will serve on the jobs and economic growth and transportation conference committees.

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Being a month ahead of schedule on the bills means there should be plenty of time to work through any issues with the legislation, Lillie said. House and Senate leaders will work to find “commonality” between the two versions over the coming weeks and “get the best parts of both,” he said.

“This is where the hard work comes in again,” Lillie said.

The total budget keeps most spending flat, he said, and includes slight increases in education and health and human services spending. Lillie was careful to note that the state hasn’t proposed cuts to the budget—which is projected to swell from around $30 billion to $34.2 billion—but government will not grow as much as previously anticipated.

Meanwhile, Lillie was in downtown Stillwater with Dayton recently to look at the temporary sandbag levee along the St. Croix River. The historic Stillwater Lift Bridge has been closed because of the high water, which creates some additional traffic along Interstate 94, but also gives folks in Stillwater a chance to see what things would be like if a new bridge was built, he said.

“It seemed more like a river town,” Lillie said, noting the reduced traffic congestion downtown.

Lillie is also working on a piece of legislation regarding workers compensation issues, which could take bill form sometime this week, he said.

On a final note, in speaking with federal officials, Lillie said he learned that the potential for a shutdown of the federal government wouldn’t impact Minnesota much—as long as it wasn’t a prolonged shutdown. If it became an extended shutdown, there could be issues with payments to vendors and cash flow, he said.


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