Senate Passes Tax Reductions, Health and Human Services Funding

In a marathon session lasting over thirteen hours, the Senate debated and eventually passed two of the ten major omnibus bills that will fund the state's budget in the coming two years.

The Senate tax bill, among its many provisions, would provide a .25 percent income tax cut to the second tier income bracket, protect a greater share of social security benefits and expand equipment purchase deductions for businesses and farmers. The bill would also expand the K-12 education tax credit by raising the eligibility threshold and including preschool expenses. The bill also includes tax deductions for donations made to a charitable organizations that provide scholarships to low income students desiring to attend a different private or public school.

Senate DFL efforts to provide tax reductions in the lower income bracket and to disallow tax incentives for school scholarships failed to gain Senate support.

The Health and Human Services bill attempts to curb the prolific growth in program costs. Within the bill are measures to discover and eliminate fraud in public programs; improve access to affordable child care and allow electronic monitoring of nursing home residents. The bill also allows the health care provider tax to expire and attempts to bring greater transparency to health care pricing. It also beefs up efforts to address mental health.

Several amendments offered by Senate DFL members to ensure the continued funding of the Child Care Assistance Program, the prohibition of the practice of conversion therapy and a resident bill-of-rights for assisted living residents failed to gain support.

The video highlights final speeches from Senate leaders on the tax bill. To view the entire floor session and the full debate on both bills, select the Senate Floor Sessions link above.