By a vote of 4-3, the California Supreme Court overturned the state’s ban on same-sex marriages. The law forbidding municipalities from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples was the product of citizens’ initiative in referendum. That means the voters, not the legislators enacted the bill through a statewide ballot measure. It was adopted by a wide margin, too.

 

The court decided that there is a fundamental constitutional right to same-sex marriage, and that creating civil unions as an alternative for same-sex couples amounted to a violation of equal protection, even though California’s current civil unions are 100% equivalent in rights and privileges to marriage.

 

Perhaps the states should never have gotten into the marriage business in the first place. Now, the very definition of words is subject to legislative and judicial process. The states are involved, however. Neck-deep. The people of California decided the issue for themselves only to have their traditional definitions overthrown by four activist judges on the California Supreme Court.

 

This leaves the people of California one final recourse: Amend the Constitution to explicitly define marriage. The day may come when the definitions of other words may have to be codified in the state and national constitutions. What a sad state our society has reached when we need laws to tell us what words mean.

 

The effort to amend California’s constitution is well under way. Over a million Californians have signed a petition to get the amendment on the ballot for this coming November. If the ballot measure that outlawed same-sex marriage back in 2000 (Propisition 22) is any indication, the amendment’s prospects look good.

Perhaps it’s time to take a look at Minnesota’s constitution with an eye on clarifying some definitions.

Take Action: Sign the Marriage Protection Petition. 

All aboard the big gay bus, students. It’s time to go to Gender Deidentification Class.

A curriculum called “Welcoming Schools,” is being promoted as an anti-bullying program and has been adopted in some metro school districts. The curriculum was developed by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest gay and lesbian organization and it has less to do with bullying in the sense that parents will remember it and far more to do with dismantling gender roles and promoting homosexuality to grade-schoolers.

Students enrolled in Kindergarten through third grade will study words like “gay and lesbian” subsequent grades will be taught words like “dyke,” and “bisexual.”

HRC states the mission of the “anti-bullying” program is “creating LGBT-inclusive elementary schools that support and include all children.” LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender. Bisexual and transgender grade-schoolers?

At the center of HRC’s curriculum is the Welcoming Schools guide which, according to their website, offers teaching tools, resources and lessons on family diversity and gender stereotyping. “Pressure to conform to traditional gender roles can limit students' social and academic development,” states HRC’s promotional material.

Children in kindergarten through second grade will participate in excersizes that require them to close their eyes, imagine that they are the opposite sex, and decide what things they would or would not still like and what new things they might like if they were a different gender. Teachers are encouraged to stop addressing students as either boys or girls. Suggested course books for this age-group include Oliver Button is a Sissy (about a boy who likes to play dress-up and tap-dances), a Fire Engine for Ruthie (about a girl who wants a firetruck instead of dolls by the author of The Boy Who Cried Fabulous), Sissy Duckling (a story about a male duckling who prefers dress-up and baking to baseball and likes to wear pink and flower prints) and The Different Dragon (a bedtime story about the imagined adventures of a child with two moms).

Older kids will be treated to King and King (a book about a prince who proposes to and marries another prince), and a rigged excersize wherein students are given a set of pictures of kids and adults and told to arrange them into seven familes. The trick is, it’s impossible to arrange all the photos into traditional familes. Because of the pictures provided, some of the familes will have to wind up with two adults of the same gender.

Students will be evaluated on their views after lessons. Part of that evaluation is fill-in the blank exercise, “I used to think… But now I know…” Indoctrination complete.

Katherine Kersten has an excellent article on Welcoming Schools at Star Tribune.

Click the following button to listen to Bob Davis' interview with Katherine Kersten on KSTP AM1500:  

TAKE ACTION:  Click here to tell school administrators not to indoctrinate children. 

Take Action: Sign the Immigration Enforcement Petition and instantly contact your legislators about this issue.

Governor Pawlenty vetoed HF3391, the so-called Health Care 'Reform' bill yesterday. “The goal was to make fundamental changes in how we deliver and provide care in order to lower costs and improve quality, and to use some of the savings to expand access. Unfortunately, many months later, this bill fails to achieve those goals,” he said in his veto letter to Speaker of the House Margaret Kelliher.

 

The governor cited cost, subsidies to families earning above the median income ($81,477), “auto-pilot” increases in health care sending and provisions to crowd out private coverage, among other problems as reasons for his veto.

Read the governor's veto letter here. 

For comparison, Japanese corporations are taxed 39.5%, German corporations pay 38.9% and Canadian corporations pay 36.1%. 

Just looking at state income taxes, most US states collect higher corporate rates than their peers abroad, but a national comparison of state corporate tax rates sets Minnesota 6^th highest in the country at 9.8%.

A study produced by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) titled “Rich States, Poor States” ranked Minnesota 35^th in national economic outlook and estimates an average of 5,242 residents migrate out of the state each year. The trend of negative population growth has been steady since 2002. By contrast, neighboring South Dakota, which has no state corporate income tax, is ranked 3^rd in the nation in economic outlook and has seen steady population growth for the last five years.

Businesses are leaving Minnesota too. Northwest is one of the state’s largest employers. With the pending Northwest-Delta merger, state legislators asked Delta officials what kind of deal they could swing to keep the headquarters in Minnesota. Delta officials told legislators that nothing could keep the headquarters here. Perhaps that is because Georgia (where Delta is headquartered) has the 8^th best economic outlook, nationally and has a top corporate income tax rate of 6% as opposed to Minnesota’s 9.8%.

Despite the obvious negative impact high taxes have on Minnesota’s economy, and the state’s already high tax burden, the legislature has been on a tear to raise taxes. The recent override of the governor’s transportation tax veto raised the gas tax when fuel prices are already at an all time high and will snag $6.6 billion dollars in new tax revenue over the next ten years. The omnibus tax bill just passed by the House will raise property taxes for 69% of Minnesota homeowners and slash corporate tax breaks. Sales taxes have been boosted for most metro-area counties, new “wheelage” and vehicle excise taxes have been imposed already, and another sales tax increase will be on the ballot to fund “the arts and outdoors” this November. All this and more from just this one legislative session. Hang onto your wallets. The legislature is still in St. Paul for two more weeks.

Take action against high taxes: Sign the Tax Cut Petition now and send a message to your elected officials.

Read more about the ALEC study at Finance and Commerce.

Twila Brase and Rep. Tom Emmer (R - Delano) explain SF3138 in a CCHC press conference on May 1.	Senator Betsy Wergin (R - Princeton) offering an informed consent amendment to SF3138, which was defeated.

Unbeknownst to most parents, the Minnesota Department of Health has been surreptitiously collecting, warehousing and experimenting with the DNA of newborns since 1997. 

Minnesota’s genetic privacy law (MN Statute 144.125) requires the informed consent of parents before health officials can collect, store or disseminate the genetic material. It specifies that an individual’s genetic specimen may only be used for purposes for which the individual has given consent, may only be stored for an amount of time authorized by the individual and may not be disseminated without the affirmative consent of the individual. 

The Minnesota Department of Health ignored the law though and continued its practice of collecting, storing and researching newborn DNA with an assumption of implied consent, and without parental notification.

Prompted by a 2007 lawsuit advanced by Citizen's Council on Health Care, administrative law judge Barbara Neilson ordered a stop to MDH’s practice of collecting newborn DNA without parental notification and consent. The judge’s ruling required that parents of newborns be given a Tennessen notice, which is required for most data collection by government agencies. It would fully inform parents of state government's involvement in the testing program, the parent's right to refuse government collection of DNA, how the material would be used and who could access it if parents permitted their child to be tested for possible genetic conditions.

The judge also required explicit opt-in parental consent for the retention of newborn blood and DNA, and for dissemination of blood and genetic information to genetic researchers.

Countering MDH's ten-year-old executive decision to retain and disseminate newborn blood without parental knowledge or consent, Judge Neilsen concluded that Minnesota law does not authorize such retention and dissemination, and that such activities specifically violate the genetic privacy law. 

After losing an appeal of the judgment, then Commissioner of Health Dianne Mandernach convinced the  legislature to pass a bill (SF3138) exempting all elements of the MDH’s newborn testing program from informed consent provisions of the genetic privacy law.

While the bill does strengthen language requiring that parents be informed of genetic testing and storage, it simultaneously weakens the privacy law through tricky language that will have the effect of removing a requirement for written consent.

To date, the state has collected and claimed ownership of the DNA of 780,000 children born in Minnesota, without ever obtaining permission to do so, or even informing parents that it was taking place. Undeterred by legal judgment, MDH retains its warehouse of unlawfully collected DNA and has convinced the legislature to sanction 10 years of illegal practices and allow the continued harvest of newborn blood samples without explicit parental permission. 

Read CCHC President Twila Brase's piece, Genetic Information Deserves Protection in the Star Tribune.

Parents who wish to have their children's blood samples destroyed can complete a Directive to Destroy Newborn Blood Samples and submit this form to the Minnesota Department of Health.

Action Alert: Tell Governor Pawlenty to protect our genetic privacy.

The popular notion of energy independence for the United States continues to gain ground in hearts and minds, yet nearly every legislative action being taken on energy policy moves us further from that objective.

Reacting to high gas prices, President Bush finally came out swinging at legislative actions that got us where we are today, calling for Congress to remove roadblocks to expanding domestic energy production and to drop plans to increase taxes on energy.

Nuclear power is inexpensive, clean and efficient, yet due to actions by the federal and state governments, a new nuclear power plant has not been constructed in the US in over 30 years. The US has been called the Saudi Arabia of coal, because of the tremendous abundance of the fuel present within our borders, yet states are enacting moratoriums on the construction of new clean coal-fired plants. A 2,000 acre plot of land in the 19 million acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) holds the potential to increase domestic oil production by 20%. That’s the equivalent of 27 million gallons of gasoline and diesel per day, and would rival Saudi Arabia’s exports, but Congress has forbidden drilling for oil in ANWR. Increased domestic oil-drilling and construction of new oil refineries would undoubtedly drive gas prices down, but thanks to irrational policies, we’re paying $3.50 a gallon or more at the pump and the price is expected to continue rising.

Bio-fuels not only spectacularly fail to move us closer to energy independence; they simultaneously threaten our food supply and exponentially increase prices. Even if every acre of farmland in the US was converted to bio-fuel production, we would not achieve energy independence through bio-fuels and we would produce no food. Because of intense lobbying by big agricultural interests looking for short-term payoffs, a significant portion of national and state energy policies rely on these fuel sources even though it is becoming increasingly apparent that bio-fuels don’t live up to their promise.

The move away from coal-fired power generation in favor of wind and solar power is a major contributor to escalating energy costs. Xcel Energy estimates that Minnesota’s renewable energy mandates will lead to an average household electric bill increase of $300 to $400 per year.

Further exacerbating the cost problem is an increasing reliance on natural gas to generate electricity because of its perceived environmental benefits. Use of natural gas to fire Minnesota power plants has increased nearly 7-fold since 1997. Xcel Energy’s two new gas-fired power plants will increase natural gas consumption even more dramatically in the next year. The two new plants, which will generate about 1,000 megawatts between them, will consume more natural gas than is now used to heat every home in Minneapolis and St. Paul combined.

The trend pits electricity production against heating in competition for the same resource, driving up the cost of both. Natural gas price increases have already had a significant impact on Minnesota families and businesses. Center Point Energy reported 208,000 gas bill delinquencies in 2007 and Minnesota’s Home Energy Assistance expenditures rose 33% between 2005 and 2007.

Although the US has increased domestic output of natural gas in recent years, we import 16% of our natural gas supply. Increasing reliance on natural gas will mean more imports, and therefore less energy independence.

MN House debate on the Hackbarth amendment to lift the nuclear power plant moratorium.

Legislators, who by and large profess a desire to foster energy independence, are moving us farther and farther away from that vision by falling in with socialism veiled in pseudo-environmentalism, giant agricultural financial interests and irrational fears of nuclear power.

We are witnessing examples of this even within state-level policy proposals.  Debating an energy bill (SF3337) in the Minnesota House on April 23rd, Representative Tom Hackbarth (R – Cedar) introduced an amendment that would remove Minnesota’s long-standing moratorium on new nuclear power plants. Predictably, the amendment was defeated, continuing the cycle of calling for energy independence while simultaneously working against it.

It’s no real wonder that rural economies are sluggish and good paying outstate jobs can be difficult to find in Minnesota. Businesses in lower-population areas of the state are overburdened with taxes.

 

The Minnesota Taxpayer’s Association conducted a 50-state study comparing state to state property taxes and found that Minnesota’s rural commercial property is taxed at the third highest levels in the nation. A typical $25 million commercial property pays nearly $1 million in property taxes, compared with a national average of just over $500,000.

 

Smaller properties, in the $100,000 and $1 million ranges fare slightly better, ranking 9^th and 4^th highest taxed nationally. Any way you slice it, Minnesota’s rural commercial property owners are in the top ten most taxed, a dubious distinction.

Four state legislators explain flaws in health care bill

A health care 'reform' bill will be landing on Governor Pawlenty's desk within the next several days that would dramatically expand the government's role in Minnesota's health care system.  The bill creates new layers of government bureaucracy, adds thousands of people to taxpayer-subsidized health plans, grants government access to our private medical records, co-opts schools into monitoring the weight of our children and allows Katrina-style bureaucrats to decide which treatment options will be available to you and your family.

 

The bill that ultimately emerges conference committee will be an amalgam of House File 3391 and Senate File 3099 each of which were passed within their respective bodies.

 

The costs of complying with the new regulations imposed by this bill will especially threaten rural hospitals and clinics. Medical facilities in greater Minnesota may be forced to cut back services or close down entirely.

  

Excerpts from the House floor debate

Governor Pawlenty has been eager to improve access and affordability of health care in Minnesota.  He has tried to work with the legislature to craft a bill that respects market demands and protects patient rights.  But the bill that has emerged from the legislative process fails to deliver on these objectives.

During the course of a marathon 10-hour floor session in the DFL-controlled House, Republican legislators introduced numerous amendments to incorporate increased competition and fiscal responsibility into the legislation.  But none of these ideas were incorporated into the bill that emerged (see video at right).

Real health care reform will only happen by getting government out of the health care business and putting the patient back in charge of making their own health care decisions.  True health care reform measures must incorporate free markets principles that will allow competition to drive down costs and improve quality.  But sadly today, Minnesota is on the cusp of taking our health care policy in exactly the opposite direction.

Action Alert: Contact Governor Pawlenty and urge him to veto the health care 'reform' bill.

 UPDATE: Read this recent editorial from the Rochester Post-Bulletin:  Latest DFL Health Plan Reckless

Minnesota legislators concerned with reducing automotive emissions of greenhouse gasses have devised a drastic plan. Evidently, state lawmakers don’t trust themselves to establish pollution standards for Minnesota, because the bill they’ve crafted abdicates that authority to the California Air Resources Board (CARB).

 

CARB is a division of the California Environmental Protection Agency and consists of 11 members appointed by California’s governor (Arnold Schwarzenegger). They set emission standards for vehicles sold in California that are twice as ambitious as federal guidelines, requiring 30% lower emissions in less than eight years.

 

Representative Hortman (DFL – Brooklyn Park) wants to permanently entrust the 11-member California panel with regulatory authority over Minnesota. The bill she introduced (HF863) directs the Minnesota’s Pollution Control Agency to adopt rules that “must be identical to and must incorporate by reference the California low emission vehicle regulations adopted by the California Air Resources Board under the California Code of Regulations, title 13.”

 

Not only does Representative Hortman intend to adopt current known California regulations, but she intends to do so in perpetuity, giving appointed California bureaucrats the power to enact unknown future regulations for the state of Minnesota.

 

The bill states that MPCA’s rules “must be amended as necessary in a timely fashion to minimize the time during which Minnesota's rules are not identical with California's regulations, as required under United States Code, title 42, section 7507. Amendments under this clause must be made under section 14.388, subdivision 1, clause (3). Any portion of California's regulations requiring a federal waiver under the Clean Air Act in order to become effective may not be enforced in Minnesota unless and until California receives the requisite federal waiver.”

 

In their rush to “save the planet,” they forgot to save Minnesota’s sovereignty. A UCLA student would have more influence over Minnesota’s vehicle regulations than any voter or politician in Minnesota would!

 

"We're talking about an 11-member panel in California, that's going to be regulating the state of Minnesota,” said Representative Tom Hackbarth (R – Cedar), “That's not the way to operate in our state. I don't think our legislature wants to give away that kind of authority."

 

Auto makers say the California emissions standards (which aren’t even in force in California, since they contradict federal regulations) would sharply increase the cost of automobiles, and limit the number of SUVs and trucks that could be sold in a state where they were implemented.

 

According to the Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association, Minnesotans buy more trucks than cars, which poses a problem with California Standards. Higher demand SUVs and trucks would have to be rationed. Ford Dealers would have to sell a certain number of Focuses before they could sell an F-150, for example. 

Congratulations to Levi Strand of Anoka, Minnesota who took the time to sign the Tax Cut Petition and was entered in a drawing sponsored by Minnesota Majority to win a brand new 4GB iPod Nano.

"That's awesome. I never win anything," said Strand.

The drawing was conducted on April 15^th by generating a random number to correspond with a record number on the petition. Over 1,200 people had signed the petition, calling on lawmakers to refrain from introducing any new tax, and instead work toward reducing and capping taxes.

Signing the petition automatically identifies and faxes one’s state senator, house representative and sends a copy to the governor.

The taxman cometh. Income taxes are due on Tuesday, April 15^th. Tax Freedom Day (the day that marks when an average worker has earned enough money to pay his taxes for the year) is April 23^rd this year on a national average, but Minnesotans have to shoulder their tax burden for a few extra days. Tax Freedom Day is April 27^th this year in Minnesota according to the Tax Foundation. They say that's the 8th latest nationally.

 

On a blustery April 12^th, thousands of Minnesotan taxpayers braved icy winds and snow to converge outside the State Capitol and demand relief from the burden of working nearly 1/3 of every year to fill the government's coffers. Talk host Jason Lewis, backed by his home radio station 100.3 KTLK, organized the Tax Cut Rally with Minnesota Majority as a premier partner. Taxpayer’s League, the Minnesota Free Markets Institute, and the Center for Parental Responsibility also had booths there.

 

The Tax Cut Petition went high-tech this year. Minnesota Majority set up a large tent with 40 laptop computers allowing attendees to sign the petition online and instantly send a fax to their state representative, senator and the governor. 904 people used the setup to send their tax-cut message to their elected officials. Hundreds more took printed copies of the petition to sign at home, opting not to wait in the unrelenting long lines for a turn at a computer (thus far, 3,300 messages have been sent via TaxCutPetition.com).

 

Minnesota Majority’s GlobalClimateScam.com bumper stickers were a hot commodity after the rally. Just as popular were the Freedom vs. Tyranny light bulb t-shirts. 1,500 People interested in purchasing the shirts took cards to place orders with.

 

This year’s speakers included KTLK personalities Chris Baker, Dan Conry and of course, Jason Lewis. Harold Shudlick gave the invocation and Jeff Davis, Twila Brase, Michelle Bachman, Barb Davis White, Marty Seifert, Phil Krinkie and John Kline roused the crowd on high-tax topics ranging from universal health care to global warming.

 

Despite the cold, wind, sleet and snow, turnout at the annual rally rivaled last year’s tax-cutting crowd, which garnered an estimated 7,000 attendees on a warm, sunny day. Regardless of the actual numbers, the Associated Press and the Star Tribune grossly underreported turnout.

 

“The Minnesota Tax Cut Coalition held its annual rally at the State Capitol on Saturday, drawing a crowd of about 1,000 people demanding that legislators stop ‘wasteful’ spending and allow Minnesotans to keep more of their paychecks.” Jean Hopfensperger of the Star Tribune wrote in an April 13^th article.

 

The Associated Press, followed by KARE-11, WCCO and other TV news outlets relying on the AP wire service reported a crowd that was under 1,000, saying “nearly 1,000 people rallied at the State Capitol against higher taxes.”

 

DFLer, Matt Entenza was quoted in the AP story claiming that Minnesota is actually ranked the 32^nd highest tax state, which isn’t even within the bounds of realistic debate. The United States Census Bureau Ranked Minnesota the 5^th highest in per-capita taxes in 2005 (the most recent year that per-capita data is available online from the Census bureau). Current data suggests that Minnesota may have momentarily dipped to number 6, but following a $6.6 billion tax-hike, Jason Lewis asserted that we’re probably back up around 4 or 5. Entenza is making up statistics from whole cloth and the media just ran with it.

 

The liberal media bias is alive and probably becoming more brazen, but thanks to alternative media like radio and the Internet, the truth still has an outlet. 

Passed by large margins in both houses of the state legislature, a whopping 114 page, $1 billion bonding bill landed on the governor’s desk last week. Today, after some extensive veto-pen editing, Governor Pawlenty signed the bill into law. The new price tag is $105 million lower than the governor’s original stated limit, and about $300 million less than the legislature sought.

 

“I find it inconceivable that legislators would fund a brass band music lending library and yet provide no funding for a much needed new nursing facility at the Minneapolis Veterans Home,” the governor wrote in a letter to House Speaker Kelliher.

 

Vetoed spending items included: 

The bonding bill as signed by the governor totals $717 million, keeping it well under the traditional 3% debt service budget limit. A good-sized chunk of the pork is gone, making the 2008 bonding bill leaner, and the smallest capital investment bill passed in years.

 

Contact the governor and tell him thanks for cutting the pork.

Click here to see the complete list of vetoed items.

Click here to see the governor's veto letter.

Illegal immigrants residing in Minnesota cost taxpayers $345 million in state revenues each year. That figure is projected to climb to over $1 billion by 2020 according to research conducted by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

 

In addition to the state-borne cost of local subsidies and expenses, Minnesotan taxpayers contribute $309 million dollars each year toward federal expenses incurred by illegal immigration.

 

With a total annual cost to Minnesota of around $654 million tax dollars, the average Minnesota household pays $284 per year to subsidize illegal aliens.

 

The price paid by the citizens of Minnesota to subsidize illegal aliens is primarily distributed across expenditures for education, emergency medical care and incarceration. There are myriad other costs associated with illegal immigration, as well. In the city of St. Paul, for example, 85% of subsidized housing is occupied by immigrants (according to author Sanford Ungar in his book, Fresh Blood). 

 

In what amounts to an acknowledgement of its culpability in exacerbating state expenses related to illegal immigration due to inaction, the federal government has established funds to assist states in defraying associated costs.

 

The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program was established to compensate states and local jurisdictions for incarceration of criminal aliens. In 2004, Minnesota received $1.78 million from the federal government under this program. This is only partial compensation, however, as Minnesota’s actual cost of incarcerating criminal aliens was about $13 million in 2004.

 

Emergency treatment of illegal immigrants was estimated to cost Minnesota taxpayers $17 million in 2004. The federal government compensated the state less than 10% of the cost with a payment of $1.4 million.

 

Illegal immigration cost Minnesota’s public school systems an estimated $146 - $276 million in 2004. This expense is borne by local property taxes as well as by the state treasury.

 

While it is true to some extent that some working illegal immigrants pay taxes, the average illegal immigrant household costs the federal government alone $2,700 per year, and the taxes contributed by the average illegal alien household equal only half that amount.

The state senate approved the health care bill (SF3099) on Thursday by a vote of 41-22, but legislators on both sides of the aisle have deep concerns about the nature of the bill. Governor Tim Pawlenty has withdrawn his support of the bill in its current form.

 

DFL Senator Sharon Erickson Ropes said the bill “puts Minnesota health care at risk,” and suggests that many legislators don’t even understand huge sections of the bill. “This is all very confusing,” she said.

 

Republican Senator David Haan is worried about privacy intrusions in the bill, like body mass index monitoring. "This kind of active intrusion in people's lives goes way beyond what's necessary," he said.

 

Senator Ray Vanderveer (R – Forest Lake) summed up the bill saying, “We want to encourage people to get health insurance by putting a tax on it and making it cost more.”

 

The governor said the current bill is unacceptable to him, but added that he thinks the bill is still “fixable.”

 

The House has yet to take up it’s version of the health care bill (HF3391) in a floor vote, but it is expected soon.

 

There are significant differences between the House’s bill and the Senate’s. If the bill is approved in the House, it will go to a conference committee between the two chambers to hammer out differences. Significant changes sometimes occur in conference committees, and completely new elements are not out of the question. 

Action Alert: Call your legislators and ask them to support a common sense health care plan.

Read more about the latest developments in articles at the Star Tribune and the Rochester Post-Bullitin.

Bonding. A government method of borrowing for large public works projects. Bonds generally mature in 30 years and require repayment with interest.

Bonding is an effective mechanism for funding big projects that benefit future generations, like building new highways. If a road lasts 30 years, stretching payment for its construction to span its useful life makes sense.

This year, nearly a billion dollars in new bonding has been proposed and is now being debated in the state legislature. In light of our current budget shortfall, and to preserve the state's bond rating, the governor wants to limit borrowing this session. Ever eager to bring home the pork, the legislature wants to see how high they can push the numbers. Several of the projects they want to fund beg evaluation of their necessity, especially considering that the current budget already spends more than available revenues.

Frank Moe (DFL – 4A) wants over $13.5 million for new state trails and Melissa Hortman (DFL – 47B) tacked on another $2.1 million for trails in Anoka County. Throw in another $2.4 million for other non-metro trails and we’re looking at almost $20 million for trails. 

Shelly Madore (DFL – 37A) wanted to borrow $5 million for a Minnesota Zoo “Master Plan.” She only got $1 million in the omnibus bonding bill for pre-design and design of the “Master Plan,” but not to worry. The Zoo will still get a nice piece of the bonding package with another $8.5 million for “asset preservation.”

Thanks to Alice Hausman (DFL - 66B), Como Zoo is set to receive $11 million for new gorilla cages and Mike Jaros (DFL – 7B) didn’t miss bringing back a piece of the zoo pie, snagging $1.2 million for polar bears at the Duluth/Superior Zoo.

Kim Norton (DFL – 29B) is looking to bring home $4 million to expand a volleyball court in Rochester (don’t you just need sand and a net?) and Scott Kranz (DFL – 51A) wants a million to fix up a soccer field in Blaine for a total of $5 million interest-bearing state dollars going to local, amateur sports facilities.

Tony Sertich (DFL – 5B) is trying to snag half-a-million for the town of Floodwood to acquire land on which to build a business park. A few questions might come to mind with this one. First, why does the state care whether Floodwood has a business park? Second, where the heck is Floodwood? And third, why is government purchasing land for what is inherently a private, commercial venture?

Minneapolis legislators are keen to bring home the bacon as well. Margaret Kelliher (DFL – 60A) seeks $3 million for predesign of renovations to Orchestra Hall. Thanks to Frank Hornstein (DFL – 60B) and Phyllis Kahn (DFL – 59B), Minneapolis gets $2 million to purchase new lighting that “preserves the natural night environment” (seems like that should be free). Another $70 million is appropriated for the Central Corridor light rail line.

The above examples only begin to scratch the surface, revealing the stockpiles of pork lurking inside the bonding bill.  See the bill for yourself to find out what other questionable spending priorities legislators want to borrow money for in a deficit year.