Daily Digest: Dayton pitches 11th hour school plan

Good morning, and happy Wednesday. Here's the Digest.

1. Dayton proposes emergency school spending. Gov. Mark Dayton made a late plea Tuesday that Minnesota lawmakers provide an increase in school funding to head off layoffs and program cuts. As districts set budgets for next year, dozens report they’ll cut teachers or staff, raise class sizes, close buildings and trim extracurricular activities. Dayton said spending the legislative session’s final three weeks debating tax cuts without helping schools would be “terribly wrong.” “And you look at the amount of tax cuts in the House bill for somebody making $40,000 is $6,” Dayton said. “Would you rather have your $6 or would you rather have that money collectively going to our schools to improve quality of education and stave off the kind of drastic cuts some are going to be forced to make? It’s a question of priorities.” Dayton is seeking $138 million in emergency aid. That translates to $126 more for each child in public school. The DFL governor said it would help schools limp through until a new state budget is adopted next year. “It is a Band-Aid, but it is more of a tourniquet and you can save limbs and even lives by advancing those temporary measures,” he said. Republicans argue one-time education funding fixes have a way of becoming permanent spending increases. And House Education Committee Chair Jenifer Loon, R-Eden Prairie, said Dayton’s approach applies a broad-based solution to a narrower problem. “I think we need to look on this on a case-by-case basis,” Loon said. “I don’t sense an urgency or an emergency situation.” (MPR News)

2. Senate Republicans release tax plan. Republicans in the Minnesota Senate are proposing a cut in state income taxes and a mechanism for automatic future cuts. GOP lawmakers say the tax conformity measure they rolled out Tuesday would protect all but 2,500 Minnesotans from tax increases, following last year’s massive overhaul of the federal tax code. Sen. Roger Chamberlain, R-Lino Lakes, the chair of the Senate tax committee, said his bill would protect 99.8 percent of state tax filers. He said an estimated 2.1 million would see tax cuts of up to $150, and 470,000 would see no change up or down. Chamberlain said the bill represents a first step. “We need reform, we need tax relief for this state, we need economic growth,” Chamberlain said. “There is no doubt about it.” The Senate bill reduces the first income tax tier from 5.35 percent to 5.1 percent. The benefit would be felt through all income levels. Deductions for charitable donations, mortgage interest and property taxes would remain, as would the state standard deduction of $13,000. The state personal and dependent exemption would also be preserved. The plan also establishes triggers that would automatically reduce the income tax rate and corporate rate when there’s an adequate budget surplus. (MPR News)

3. House approves tougher penalties for some protests. Protesters who block freeways and people who intentionally help those who damage pipelines or other utilities could face new legal penalties starting this summer under a bill passed Tuesday night by the Minnesota House. Opponents called the measures an attack on the First Amendment, while supporters said they will protect property and public safety. "It's a way for the Legislature to say, 'This type of behavior is not OK,' " Rep. Nick Zerwas, R-Elk River, said of his proposal to increase the penalty for people who interfere with freeway traffic or block airport roads. Such behavior is currently illegal, Zerwas said, so his proposal is not impinging on free speech. The measure raises the punishment from a misdemeanor to a gross misdemeanor, which is punishable by a maximum fine of $3,000 or up to a year in jail. "What we're doing is obviously chilling speech. That is the intent of the bill," said Ben Feist, the ACLU of Minnesota's legislative director. The other protest-related measure from Rep. Dennis Smith, R-Maple Grove, comes as people are organizing against oil pipelines like the proposed Enbridge Line 3 replacement in northern Minnesota. His proposal says a person or entity that intentionally "aids, advises, hires, counsels, or conspires" with someone who damaged — or trespassed with the goal of damaging — a pipeline, facility or utility may be held criminally liable. (Star Tribune)

4. Four road projects get $400 million in funding. State officials on Tuesday awarded more than $400 million to four highway projects, including the overhaul of a regional interchange once called one of the worst bottlenecks in the country. The four projects were picked by Corridors of Commerce, a Minnesota Department of Transportation program that gives out legislative funding for highway improvements. About 50 percent of the funds go toward the metro area, while the rest goes to greater Minnesota, according to MnDOT. About $204 million was budgeted for two projects upgrading the Interstate 494/Interstate 35W interchange that straddles Richfield and Bloomington. The butterfly loop, which carries about 275,000 vehicles a day, has one of the worst crash-frequencies and traffic congestions in the state, according to MnDOT. And the Federal Highway Administration once dubbed it one of the worst highway bottlenecks in the nation. Another $134 million would go to building an eastbound carpool lane along I-494 from France Avenue to Highway 77, and a westbound carpool lane from Highway 77 to I-35W. The project could cut down a total of 2,900 hours of delays a day and $2 million in annual crash costs, MnDOT officials said. Outside of the metro, $157 million was awarded to convert Highway 169 near Elk River into a freeway, removing four traffic signals and building four interchanges. Another $56 million was awarded to expand Interstate 94 from four to six lanes between St. Michael and Albertville northwest of Minneapolis. Some rural lawmakers questioned why no projects outside the Twin Cities were funded. (Star Tribune)

5. Minnesota joins suit over fuel efficiency standards. Minnesota Tuesday joined a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency over its plan to pull back on tighter rules for vehicle greenhouse gas emissions. The suit's plaintiffs include 17 states and the District of Columbia. They allege the EPA violated the Clean Air Act and didn't follow the agency's own clean-car rules. "We can see no justification, nor any documented need, to set these protections back," Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Commissioner John Linc Stine said. California is leading the lawsuit, which is rooted in public health and environmental concerns.The new emissions standards would affect model year 2022-2025 vehicles. Former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy signed off on the standards in January 2017, about a week before President Obama left office. The MPCA says vehicle manufacturers were on track to meet these new emission standards, and that doing so would save drivers money and reduce as much carbon pollution as 134 coal power plants make in a year. Current EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced last month that the agency would hold off on enacting the standards and further examine them. (MPR News)

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