HF 3149 - On The Floor Now
I got an email from an acquaintance on Capital Hill that said that the Omnibus Tax Bill is being debated on the floor now. They never did fix the increase of taxes in Committee as was originally thought. To review...according the the Commissioner of the Department of Revenue this bill will raise taxes for 69% of all Minnesotans.
I will be live blogging.....
3:29 - the House is debating an amendment (I'll have to look it up) and while "answering" a question from Rep. Garafalo continued to state that this bill...sans changes...is still "revenue neutral. My source said that he will try to get information to me as he gets it as well.
3:32 - Rep. Lenczewski gave a valiant defense of the beleaguered taxpayer - how they are struggling to make ends meet. This from someone who voted for sales tax and gas tax increases.
3:34 - Did she just call the Department of Revenue Commissioner a liar? She just said that she totally DISCOUNTED the Commissioners testimony because she didn't believe his numbers!
One thing I didn't get a chance to blog on due to personal time eating up my blogging time was the fact that this bill authorized sales tax increases in the following cities (without benefit of referendum as our state constitution requires): Mankato, Cook County, City of Clearwater, North Mankato and Winona and is authorizing a Mortgage and Deed Tax for St. Louis, Dakota and Anoka Counties. Rep. Simpson has an amendment on the floor that would remove those provisions. It also keeps JOBZ which Rep. Lenczewski's bill is killing. Most of the speakers have been rural legislators who are begging to keep their jobs. The amendment failed mostly on party lines.
While this was going on I got an interesting email from my source. His email said that the majority did not tell the minority about the changes (the Lenczewski Amendment) until AFTER they got out of their caucus meetings...even though the majority leadership knew GOING INTO CAUCUS that the Amendment was coming. Many members of the minority were upset about this...
One thing I am noticing about this debate is that it really is a debate that pits the outstate legislators against the Hennepin/Ramsey County leadership. It is a troubling dynamic...
Laugh line of the night. Rep. Simpson has another amendment on the floor to save JOBZ. Rep. Lenczewski, in urging a no vote said "we all pay more taxes when others don't pay their fair share". This coming from the party whose presumed Senatorial candidate has had 2 months worth of tax woes????? The Amendment was defeated 63-69.
Rep. Garafolo has an Amendment on the floor removing a provision that will remove rural towns out of the transportation taxing authority (a provision that was added by Rep. Shelly Madore). Rather than raising this tax on cities that are in the transit service areas (remember this is an transit tax that is is ADDITION to the Transportation Bill) this will raise taxes on the farmers and rural residents that don't ride metro transit at all!
OK - they are still debating HF 3149 and I got interrupted by a couple of calls. One amendment that was put forward (by Rep. Howes) was an amendment for a STATE gas tax holiday. Needless to say this one went down in flames.
Rep Erhardt has an amendment on the floor that would give property tax relief in 2008. He will pay for this by reversing the June tax accelerator payments. He mentioned that the Lenczewski bill had RENTERS tax relief for 2008 but nothing for property owners. Rep. Lenczewski in her opposition for the amendment said that this will take money away from Minneapolis and St. Paul and give it to everyone else. I think I mentioned this before but I am stunned at how much tonights debate has been an outstate vs. Twin Cities debate and the Cities are making out like bandits! The Erhardt Amendment failed.
Rep. Erickson has an amendment up to excempt Social Security income from income taxes. Rep. Lenczewski got up in opposition and said that this will "cost the STATE $250 million". SHE THINKS IT IS HER MONEY BEFORE YOU EARN IT PEOPLE!!!!!
I don't know if it is on my end or the Capitals end, but I am having streaming issues so I am going to shut it down for the final couple of amendments so that I can have an uninterrupted stream for the final vote on the bill.
Well I got my streaming issues fixed and we are STILL working on amendments. There are 32 proposed amendments on the docket right now. There are three that have yet to be voted on and the House is under call (lacking a quorum). I may not last until the floor debate folks. If I don't make it, I will do a postmortem on the final floor debate in the morning.
I will be live blogging.....
3:29 - the House is debating an amendment (I'll have to look it up) and while "answering" a question from Rep. Garafalo continued to state that this bill...sans changes...is still "revenue neutral. My source said that he will try to get information to me as he gets it as well.
3:32 - Rep. Lenczewski gave a valiant defense of the beleaguered taxpayer - how they are struggling to make ends meet. This from someone who voted for sales tax and gas tax increases.
3:34 - Did she just call the Department of Revenue Commissioner a liar? She just said that she totally DISCOUNTED the Commissioners testimony because she didn't believe his numbers!
One thing I didn't get a chance to blog on due to personal time eating up my blogging time was the fact that this bill authorized sales tax increases in the following cities (without benefit of referendum as our state constitution requires): Mankato, Cook County, City of Clearwater, North Mankato and Winona and is authorizing a Mortgage and Deed Tax for St. Louis, Dakota and Anoka Counties. Rep. Simpson has an amendment on the floor that would remove those provisions. It also keeps JOBZ which Rep. Lenczewski's bill is killing. Most of the speakers have been rural legislators who are begging to keep their jobs. The amendment failed mostly on party lines.
While this was going on I got an interesting email from my source. His email said that the majority did not tell the minority about the changes (the Lenczewski Amendment) until AFTER they got out of their caucus meetings...even though the majority leadership knew GOING INTO CAUCUS that the Amendment was coming. Many members of the minority were upset about this...
One thing I am noticing about this debate is that it really is a debate that pits the outstate legislators against the Hennepin/Ramsey County leadership. It is a troubling dynamic...
Laugh line of the night. Rep. Simpson has another amendment on the floor to save JOBZ. Rep. Lenczewski, in urging a no vote said "we all pay more taxes when others don't pay their fair share". This coming from the party whose presumed Senatorial candidate has had 2 months worth of tax woes????? The Amendment was defeated 63-69.
Rep. Garafolo has an Amendment on the floor removing a provision that will remove rural towns out of the transportation taxing authority (a provision that was added by Rep. Shelly Madore). Rather than raising this tax on cities that are in the transit service areas (remember this is an transit tax that is is ADDITION to the Transportation Bill) this will raise taxes on the farmers and rural residents that don't ride metro transit at all!
OK - they are still debating HF 3149 and I got interrupted by a couple of calls. One amendment that was put forward (by Rep. Howes) was an amendment for a STATE gas tax holiday. Needless to say this one went down in flames.
Rep Erhardt has an amendment on the floor that would give property tax relief in 2008. He will pay for this by reversing the June tax accelerator payments. He mentioned that the Lenczewski bill had RENTERS tax relief for 2008 but nothing for property owners. Rep. Lenczewski in her opposition for the amendment said that this will take money away from Minneapolis and St. Paul and give it to everyone else. I think I mentioned this before but I am stunned at how much tonights debate has been an outstate vs. Twin Cities debate and the Cities are making out like bandits! The Erhardt Amendment failed.
Rep. Erickson has an amendment up to excempt Social Security income from income taxes. Rep. Lenczewski got up in opposition and said that this will "cost the STATE $250 million". SHE THINKS IT IS HER MONEY BEFORE YOU EARN IT PEOPLE!!!!!
I don't know if it is on my end or the Capitals end, but I am having streaming issues so I am going to shut it down for the final couple of amendments so that I can have an uninterrupted stream for the final vote on the bill.
Well I got my streaming issues fixed and we are STILL working on amendments. There are 32 proposed amendments on the docket right now. There are three that have yet to be voted on and the House is under call (lacking a quorum). I may not last until the floor debate folks. If I don't make it, I will do a postmortem on the final floor debate in the morning.
Labels: HF 3149
posted by The Lady Logician at
3:24 PM
5 Comments:
Concerning your remark "the House is under call (lacking a quorum)."
I believe that there was only once in the history of the Minnesota House of Representatives that business was unable to be conducted due to not having a quorum established. The tactic of "Call of the House" or "Call of the Senate" members is typically for one of two reasons or both:
1. To allow time while your side prepares some action, or
2. To force all unexcused members to vote on a particular issue or question assuming that one or more members will vote in some manner to be politically harmful or helpful.
P.S. It was great to see former Chief Clerk Burdick in the gallery!
By
Anonymous, at 7:05 AM
Thanks for the clarification. I am still getting used to some of the more "arcane" legislative terms. I just assumed no quorum because there were a lot of empty seats in the chamber, the speaker stopped all business and he kept calling for the Sgt at Arms to get all missing members.
LL
By
The Lady Logician, at 8:10 AM
Say, did you see the amendment that proposed a state Constitutional Amendment to abolish property taxes? Guess who voted affirmitively? Yes, you are correct: the suburban legislator with the delinquent - as of last week - property tax bill. (See Journal of the House - 111th Day - Monday, May 5, 2008 - Page 11300.)Do you think he will try to abolish property taxes retroactively?
By
Anonymous, at 8:31 AM
Tom - time to quit playing smear games. You can no long hid behind anonymous. Do you see the little widget at the bottom of the main page? The one that says Sitemeter? It tells me who has been on my blog for how long AND it tells me what city you are from (Lakeville), who your ISP is (frontiernet.net) and what your IP address is. The last one is the crucial piece of info because if it matches up to the IP address in the emails that you have sent to me in the past (guess what...it did) then I know exactly WHO you are.
So why don't you disclose your biases against Rep. Buesgens instead of trying to slime him with rumor and innuendo. After all you want him to disclose everything....it's only fair.
LL
By
The Lady Logician, at 9:51 AM
Thanks for keeping us informed!
By
tsh, at 11:47 AM
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