Check out this part of Sen. Tarryl Clark’s latest e-letter:

Tax Bill Sent to Governor

New deductions could be available for Minnesota taxpayers this year
The Legislature worked together to pass a tax bill this week that could mean new deductions for some Minnesota taxpayers filing their 2007 taxes.
The bill is a rehashing of last year’s tax bill that was vetoed by the Governor after session adjourned. I supported this bill because it contains the more non-contentious items that gained agreement from the Governor and House Republicans.

Provisions that caused conflict among the House, Senate, and Governor were removed in order to process the bill in a timely and cooperative manner.

If these were so contentious, why were they included in last year’s tax bill? Better yet, why were they removed from this bill? I suspect that this is the reason why:

Accountability Initiatives Introduced for Open and Honest Government

I joined Sen. Rest, Rep. Simon and other legislators at a Capitol press conference on Wednesday when we released our initiatives for budget reform, openness and accountability. The wideranging proposals being introduced are all a part of a larger movement to ensure that government is open and honest. There are five core principles to guide the budgeting process. These principles state that Minnesota government should:

• Deliver straight talk and open books
• Use honest accounting and realistic budgeting
• Cut bureaucracy and reward innovation
• Be required to deliver results
• Set clear priorities and plan for the long run

Many members of the Legislature have authored the proposals that correspond to those principles. Those proposals included: requiring inflation in the budget forecast, expanding access to budget information, protecting state employees from discipline for providing information they believe to be true and accurate to improve public service, and several other initiatives, including revitalizing Minnesota Milestones. I’m working with other lawmakers on this bi-partisan initiative and will have more information on it in our next issue.

Larry Schumacher asked some rather interesting questions, questions that he didn’t get real good answers to:

From that list, it should be apparent that the “reforms” proposed all seem to fall on the executive branch of the government (currently occupied by Gov. Tim Pawlenty).

So I asked what reforms and increased accoutability would legislators face as a result of these proposals.

“Well, the Legislature would receive better information, and that would lead to us being accountable for making better decisions,” Rest said.

What about legislative compensation reform, a subject of some controversy and at least one lawsuit currently before the courts that alleges lawmakers’ per diems amount to a back-door pay raise that circumvents the state Constitution?

“There’s lots of areas we could’ve gotten into,” said Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park (who, BTW, was the only legislator I found who takes no per diem or other rembursements). “We’ll leave that to another time and another group to work on.”

There’s a number of reforms that don’t appear to be in this bill that should be. Anyone who watched last year’s House session knows that there’s need for a Fair Notice provision in the rules. Last year, 500-1,000 page omnibus spending bills were coming out of conference committee & were voted on almost immediately.

As I said in this post, Tony Sertich made sure that Dean Simpson’s amendment didn’t pass.

FAIR NOTICE ON BUDGET BILLS: Under current rules, the majority is required to announce by 5:00 on the preceding day when major finance bills will be considered by the full House. Under the DFL’s proposed rules, that would be cut to two-hour’s notice on the day of the bill hearing. Rep. Dean Simpson (R-New York Mills) asked the House to expand that to six hours’ notice so that citizens with an interest in the bill could be outside the House chamber to provide expertise and guidance to Representatives on the House Floor. The DFL killed the A-32 amendment with a procedural motion by a 79-50 vote.

When I see the DFL letting these things become law, then I’ll believe that they’re serious reformers. I’m not holding my breath on that.

Technorati: Tarryl Clark, Ann Rest, Reforms, Tax Bill, Inflation, Transparency, Accountability, DFL