Legislature took care of business

By: 
Chuck Kajer, The New Prague Times

The Minnesota Legislature finished its business for 2019 last week, with a special session that wrapped up Saturday morning, with all of the necessary budget bills passed and expected to be signed by Gov. Tim Walz.

As noted on this page last week, while a special session was needed to complete the work, it was still done in a timely manner, without much of the vitriol and grandstanding that we had become used to over the last six years.

Neither side was totally happy with the agreement. The DFL did not get the gas tax they wanted to fund roads and bridges, and the Republicans relented and renewed the medical tax that was scheduled to expire at the end of the year. But everyone got something that they could live with. That’s called compromise, and it’s something that we see far too little of in government in this day and age.

In a time when both sides of the aisle try to demonize the other at the national level, it is refreshing to see common sense take over at the state level. No one wins when there is a government shutdown, and the budget that passed during the special session will keep the government operating for the next two years.

So hats off to Gov. Walz, to both the House and Senate leadership, and to our local legislators, Rep. Bob Vogel, Rep. Todd Lippert and Sen. Rich Draheim, for making this session relatively smooth. We know 2020 is an election year, and we hope that the 2020 legislative session, which starts Feb. 11, will go as smoothly.

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