Library News - State Government

“Operating budget,” "capital budget," "bonding bill." What do those phrases mean and how do they fit into the overall state budget process?

In January of the first year of a biennial legislative session, the governor is required to submit a budget message and a proposed budget to the Legislature (Minnesota Statutes 16A.11).  Much of the work in the first year of a session revolves around creating an "operating budget" that will fund state government for the next two fiscal years. But that statute also requires the governor to submit a "capital" budget in January of the second year of the biennial session. However, a bonding bill was not passed during the 2024 legislation session and Governor Walz has proposed a  $887 million "infrastructure plan" for the 2025 legislative session, in addition to the FY 2024-25 Operating Budget.

Minnesota's capital budget finances the acquisition, construction, and maintenance of public lands, state buildings, and infrastructure such as highways. Minnesota’s Constitution (Article 11, section 5) details the specific types of projects that may be considered. The projects can be financed with direct appropriations or through borrowing mechanisms such as state bonds. A recent House Research Information Brief, Capital Investment and State Bonding, sheds light on this somewhat complex issue.

The Legislative Library has many original budget documents as well as information and data about the state's current and historical budgets. Our State Budget guide highlights some of those materials, including:

• Minnesota Governor's Proposed Capital Budget
• Minnesota Governor's Proposed Biennial Operating Budget
• Major Appropriation and Finance Bills and Laws, 1995-present
• Major Capital Investment and Bonding Bills and Laws, 1963-present

In 2023, the Legislature created many new state agencies, boards, task forces, working groups, and commissions, which the Library tracks in our Agency Database. Many of these groups are required to submit a report to the Legislature. This month’s issue of Just In will feature reports from some of these new groups: 

The PFAS Manufacturers Fee Work Group’s goal was to review options for collecting a fee from manufacturers of PFAS in the state. Their recent report, Fee Collection Options for PFAS manufacturers in Minnesota (February 2024), reviews environmental fee structures currently in place, and outlines ways fees might be assessed for PFAS manufacturers. 

Working groups do not always come to consensus, and when that happens a group might issue both a primary report and a minority report, reflecting those differences of opinion. The Clean Transportation Fuel Standard Working Group, tasked with studying and addressing issues related to a clean transportation fuel standard, issued two reports in February:  

• Clean Transportation Standard Work Group: Report to the Legislature (February 2024)  
• A Low Carbon Fuel Standard is Not a Climate Solution: Minority Report on the Clean Transportation Standard Work Group Report to the Legislature (February 2024)

The Task Force on Psychedelic Medicine published their first of two required reports this month, Psychedelic Medicine Task Force: Legislative Report (February 2024). This report provides an overview of the initial work performed by the task force, and describes their plan for the next year. Their second report is due in January 2025.

If you are searching for a specific report or waiting for a mandated report, let us know. We can set up an alert to send you the report as soon as it arrives. Please contact us with questions or for research assistance at: library@lrl.mn.gov or 651-296-8338.

In 1973, Minnesota state government libraries, including the Legislative Reference Library, collaborated to form the Capitol Area Library Consortium (CALCO). Minitex is publishing a brief series on CALCO libraries to celebrate this milestone, and the Legislative Reference Library was honored to be the first library profiled!

For the past 50 years, CALCO libraries have benefited from partnership with other like-minded libraries, have readily shared ideas, and have brainstormed solutions to unique problems faced in special libraries. Earlier this year, Governor Walz recognized this group of libraries with a proclamation.

In September, CALCO marked its 50th anniversary with an open house gathering of current and former state government library staff. We shared memories, recounted stories, played CALCO trivia, and enjoyed CALCO-themed cupcakes! 

People often ask the library about salaries of Minnesota legislators. Currently, legislator salaries are set at $48,250, but that will soon change. The latest issue of the Report of the Legislative Salary Council, new this month in the Library, sets legislators’ salaries at $52,750 beginning July 1, 2023. 

Prior to 2016, the Minnesota Constitution provided that legislators’ compensation was prescribed by law. A constitutional amendment regarding how legislators’ salaries are set was adopted by the voters in the 2016 election, which also happens to be our most recent constitutional amendment. The Legislative Salary Council’s first prescribed salary for legislators went into effect July 1, 2017. More details about legislator compensation are noted in the FAQ and our chart of Compensation of Minnesota Legislators, 1858 - present. 

Another new report this month is the Recommendations of the Minnesota State Compensation Council. This report, as indicated by the title, is not prescriptive but instead contains recommendations for compensation levels for the governor, other constitutional officers, judges, and several other officials. The Legislature can establish a new salary for the governor through an appropriation, or by passing a law that provides for a specific salary, or by providing for a percentage change in the salary. Under current law, if the Legislature does nothing, the salary does not change.

To see a chart of how these recommendations have related to the governor’s salary over time, see the library’s new Minnesota Governor’s Salary, 1983-Present page. Since their beginning in 1983, the Compensation Council has made recommendations nearly every odd-numbered year, but they did not meet in 2003, 2011, or in 2015. 

Contact us with questions, for research assistance, or to borrow these books and reports or any of the materials on this month's list: library@lrl.mn.gov or 651-296-8338.

Winning the lottery is an irresistible dream—despite its unlikeliness—for the 33 million Americans who try their luck each week. The modern era of state-operated lotteries began in 1964 in New Hampshire. In the last fifty-nine years, all but five states have established lotteries.   

For a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America by Jonathan D. Cohen (Oxford University Press, 2022) is a comprehensive study of American lotteries. Cohen asserts that just as individuals pin their hopes and dreams on winning an enormous jackpot, policymakers gamble on lotteries, too, to generate a new source of revenue for sagging budgets without raising taxes. 

Minnesota was the 33rd state to establish a lottery. Minnesotans approved a constitutional amendment to allow a state-run lottery in 1988 with a 58 percent majority. The Minnesota State Lottery began selling tickets a year and a half later. 

The most recent Minnesota Lottery Annual Report states that Minnesota Lottery winners took home $470 million in prizes in fiscal year 2022 and generated $172.6 million for the state. The funds go toward programs dedicated to the protection and preservation of Minnesota’s environmental and natural resources and to responsible gambling programs. The Lottery annual reports provide basic financial figures for each year since it was established. 

Contact us with questions, for research assistance, or to borrow these books and reports: library@lrl.mn.gov or 651-296-8338. 

The Legislative Reference Library is pleased to have Star Tribune photographer Glen Stubbe's engaging photographs of the Senate and the Capitol on display in the Library's Senate location.  Come see them soon--or stop by during a reception for Glen's exhibit on Thursday, January 19 from 9:30-11.  Cookies will be served!

Glen's Star Tribune colleague, Briana Bierschbach, wrote words of introduction to Glen's exhibit: 

At the Minnesota Capitol, the state Senate is the stately upper chamber, where senators and reporters must follow a dress code and decorum tends to prevail over fiery passions. But it can also be a place of warmth, where political rivals share a prayer, freshly baked bars and pat on the back after a grueling debate.

As a staff photographer for the Star Tribune, Glen Stubbe is often in the room where it happens, capturing both the debates that shape state policy and the little moments that show the humanity of the institution. He taps into a deep understanding of his source material and relationships developed over many years to capture moments others don't.

These images pull back the curtain on government in a way no words could ever convey.

-Briana Bierschbach, Politics and Government Reporter at the Star Tribune

Since 1935, the Minnesota Legislature has mandated the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), to collect statistics on crime data from Minnesota law enforcement agencies. The 1934 Biennial Report of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension reported statistics on the crimes we are familiar with today, but also included “Adultery,” “Circulating false rumors about banks,” and “Defrauding an inn keeper.” Interestingly, there were 32 bank robberies in 1933 for a total loss of $125,383.40, with $4,773.19 recovered. The next year, 1934, only reported seven bank robberies, for a total loss of $13,327.23. A Minneapolis Tribune column from December 1934 attributes the decline in bank robberies to the persistent efforts of both federal and local police officers to break up "bandit gangs."

To this day, the BCA continues to publish crime statistics under the title Uniform Crime Report. While it no longer reports on crimes of “Adultery,” “Circulating false rumors about banks,” and “Defrauding an inn keeper,” it is rich with statistics on crimes of violence, property crimes, and firearms discharge and uses of force. Crime statistics fluctuate over years, but the 2021 Uniform Crime Report lists that there were 33 bank robberies that year, only beating out 1934 by one robbery.

This last year, the BCA launched a related interactive database, the Minnesota Crime Data Explorer. According to the BCA, this database contains more detailed information from which current crime data can be obtained at any time.  It also contains summary data about the most serious offense associated with an incident, more details on all crimes associated with an incident, as well as detailed data about victims and offenders.

Earlier this year, many believed that the first special session, called to provide the Legislature with an opportunity to reject Governor Walz's executive order establishing a peacetime emergency related to the COVID-19 outbreak, might last all summer. A 159-day special session in 1971 holds the record for the longest one. Like clockwork, four special sessions have been called this year as the peacetime emergency orders expire. These orders have not broken a record for length, but Friday's special session will break another record: the first time the state has held four in a calendar year.  

Even calling three special sessions in a year is unusual. The three special sessions called by Governor Arne Carlson in 1997 were for a variety of reasons--K-12 funding, flood relief, and funding for a baseball stadium. Those held in both 1981 and 1982 were all called in an attempt to solve the dire financial circumstances the state faced during Governor Al Quie's years in office.

As his peacetime emergency orders expire, the Governor has continued to call a special session. Once the special session convenes, it is up to the legislature to determine the length and actions taken. 2020 is a record breaking year and there may still be more special sessions yet to come!

Outbreaks of influenza (flu), poliomyelitis (polio), diphtheria, and typhoid fever have all impacted Minnesota, especially in the earlier days of statehood. Amidst the current COVID-19 pandemic, many have wondered about the state’s response to the influenza outbreak of 1918-1919.  

During that outbreak, the first case of flu was discovered in Minnesota in September 1918 and cases peaked during the fall of 1918. In The People’s Heath: A History of Public Health in Minnesota to 1948, author Philip D. Jordan chronicles how flu impacted the state.   

He describes measures taken then that echo our current circumstances in many ways. In 1918, large public gatherings in churches and theaters were prohibited for a time, and health officials strongly recommended schools close, though not all schools did. Dr. Henry Bracken, the head of the State Board of Health, ordered that flu patients could not ride trains without wearing a mask. According to Jordan, public places in Minneapolis, like saloons and soda fountains, remained closed during Armistice Day celebrations in November. 

The Legislature did not meet in 1918 because they only met in odd-numbered years in those days. In 1919, the Legislature met in regular session from January 7 to April 24. Although the Legislature passed a few bills related to public health during the 1919 session (see Laws of Minnesota 1919, chap. 38 and chap. 479), we haven’t been able to determine if those laws were passed in direct response to the flu outbreak. Likewise, there is little reported in the paper about any direct actions taken by the Legislature in 1919 to address the outbreak. In those days, it seems to have been more common for local health departments, sometimes in conjunction with the State Board of Health, to play a leading role in responding to public health issues.

These sources offer a deeper dive into how the influenza outbreak of 1918-1919 impacted Minnesota: 

• Brown, Curt. Minnesota 1918: When Flu, Fire, and War Ravaged the State. Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2018.

• “Deja vu? Public Gathering Places were Ordered Closed in 1918 During Deadly Spanish Flu Crisis.” The Bemidji Pioneer, March 20, 2020.

• Dowd, Susan. “The Spanish Influenza in St. Paul in 1918, The Year the City Found the ‘Wolf’ at Its Door.” Ramsey County History, 40(1), 19-23, Spring 2005.

• Laine, Mary. “Influenza Epidemic in Minnesota, 1918.” MNopedia, updated April 30, 2020. 

• Ott, Miles, Shelley Shaw, Richard Danila, & Ruth Lynfield. “Lessons Learned from the 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.” Public Health Reports, 122(6): 803-810, November-December 2007.

• Russ, A. B. “Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 Claimed Lives of Area Residents: State’s Spanish Flu Genesis was Wells.” The Mankato Free Press, January 13, 2018.

• “Throwback Thursday: The Spanish Flu Pandemic Hits Winona in October 1918.” The Winona Daily News, April 23, 2020.

The Library has put together a new Minnesota Issues guide to state and legislative action regarding the coronavirus disease. To address this quickly evolving situation, the Minnesota Legislature and Governor Walz have implemented a variety of measures to address the impacts of the disease on the lives of Minnesotans. The guide compiles a brief history of action, provides statutory references, and links to relevant reports and news items. We are updating our COVID-19 guide daily.