Gov. Mark Dayton's budget cuts the Legislature's budget by 5 percent -- but says that is only a suggestion.
The Governor respects the separation of powers and the desire of constitutional officers and officials in the
legislative and judicial branches to present their budget requests independently to the legislature without specific
recommendations from the Governor. However, since the Governor is required by law to submit a balanced
budget to the legislature, it is necessary to identify funding for those offices as part of preparing a complete
balanced budget.
The Governor suggests that the Legislature receive a 5% reduction to help balance the budget. While the
Governor recommends a total amount for the decrease, he respects the legislature's authority in deciding whether
to adopt the reduction and in determining how to distribute it among its divisions. For the purposes of producing a
complete budget presentation, however, the expenditure reduction was distributed proportionally across the
divisions of the Legislature.
The move would save the state about $3 million a year.
Dayton also proposed to cut his own office budget by 5 percent. That would save the state $168,000 oer year.
