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Pawlenty: Don't touch my budget-cutting power
The governor warns lawmakers not to curtail his authority to balance the budget but DFL leader says courts may settle issue.
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In a preemptive warning to lawmakers, Gov. Tim Pawlenty threatened on Friday to veto any attempt to limit his ability to balance the budget himself.
"To be clear, I will veto any bill presented to me that attempts to repeal, limit, or in any way reduce executive branch authority to balance the state's budget through executive action, unless such legislation has been previously agreed to by me," the governor wrote Friday in a four-paragraph letter to lawmakers.
Next Tuesday, Senate Finance chairman Richard Cohen, DFL-St. Paul, and House Finance chairman Lyndon Carlson, DFL-Crystal, plan to propose a bill to do just that.
That won't be the only challenge to the governor's budget-cutting authority, known as unallotment. Buried in a proposal to overhaul General Assistance Medical Care is language that would prevent a governor from unilaterally cutting its funding in the future.
DFL lawmakers were upset last summer when Pawlenty sliced $2.7 billion from the budget after the legislative session adjourned. Recipients of a small nutrition program eliminated by the cuts filed a lawsuit, saying the governor overstepped his authority.
In late December, Ramsey County District Court Chief Judge Kathleen Gearin agreed and ordered the money restored, potentially undoing all the governor's cuts.
Pawlenty appealed and the Minnesota Supreme Court is scheduled to take up the matter next month.
Earlier Friday, Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis, said he believed that the legislation would only refine the unallotment law and wouldn't have any bearing on the money Pawlenty cut last summer.
Pogemiller said the legislation might not be necessary if the state's highest court rules against Pawlenty.
Baird Helgeson • 651-222-1288
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Current state office holders
Governor: Tim Pawlenty
One of only a few prominent Republicans to win a competitive re-election contest in the Democratic sweep of 2006, Tim Pawlenty is widely seen as politically shrewd and naturally likable.
- Lt. Governor: Carol Molnau
- Secretary of State: Mark Ritchie
- Attorney General: Lori Swanson
- State Auditor: Rebecca Otto
Minnesota's political giants: Learn more about the men and women who have shaped Minnesota's political history.
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