February 9, 2010 - Legislative Report #4

Legislators introduced 329 bills the first day of the 2010 House session (bill numbers 2408 to 2737) on February 4, 2010. With a projected $1.3 billion dollar budget shortfall in the current biennium and $7.9 billion shortfall in 2012-2013, citizens would expect that bills introduced this session would deal with budget issues. An incredible 99.1% of the bills introduced on the first day of session are unrelated to correcting the budget problems. I could only locate three bills that decreased state spending, including bill number 2640 introduced by Tom Rukavina DFL 05-A. In fact, 72% of the bills actually propose to increase state spending.

I am dismayed as I consider the implications of this legislative report. The findings imply that our elected leadership has no clue as to the economic status of our state economy, nor the means from Minnesotans to provide revenue to state government. Elected leadership has no clue as to the revolt brewing on Main Street over government growth, taxation or intrusion into
Minnesotans' lives. Elected leaders have no clue with regard to the responsibility of constitutional compliance they have been entrusted with.

The United States government has set a path of economic expansion, debt and spending that now eliminates Americans' ability to provide matching revenue. The federal trend is only increasing the expectation of citizens to provide unlimited revenue for a gorging federal appetite. With the current federal/state relationship, Minnesota government at all levels must increasingly compete for revenue. The loser in all this government consumption is you - - the reader of my report, the citizen.

Solution: "We the People" must elect real representatives who are willing to restrict government to constitutional limits and understand government's role in America by facilitating the best opportunities of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.