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The GOP's budget cutting continues

Relatively small programs inspire big DFL outrage.

March 30, 2011 at 8:11PM

Another day, another budget bill containing spending cuts.

On Wednesday, it was the $1 billion omnibus bill that pays for the state's public safety functions, approved by the House Ways and Means Committee and sent on to the chamber's floor.

Two relatively small line items -- funding the state's Department of Human Rights and battered women's shelters across Minnesota -- were targeted for substantial cuts angrily denounced by DFL members of the committee.

The human rights budget will be slashed by 65 percent, which Rep. Bobby Joe Champion, DFL-Minneapolis, said would cripple the department's ability to enforce the state's anti-discrimination laws. In a state long known for its "progressive" positions on civil rights, "what sort of message does that send to our broader society?" he asked Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Good Thunder, the bill's sponsor.

"Actually, I don't think it's going to diminish their mission," Cornish replied, saying that the department's appropriation devoted to enforcement will remain intact.

To Champion's accusation that the bill will "gouge" the department, Cornish said "we didn't gouge them, we reduced their budget. They've kind of lost their primary mission."

The exchange got heated, with both Champion and Cornish accusing each other of "butchering what I said."

Champion's complaint echoed Gov. Mark Dayton last week, when he called the Republican legislative leadership's budget bills "draconian" and "cruel" -- and specifically singled out the human rights budget cut.

Dayton has recommended that the department receive $6.6 million during the next two-year budget cycle; the House bill would cut that to $2.3 million.

On its website, the Department of Human Rights describes itself as "a neutral state agency that investigates charges of illegal discrimination, ensures that businesses seeking state contracts are in compliance with equal opportunity requirements, and strives to eliminate discrimination by educating Minnesotans about their rights and responsibilities under the Minnesota Human Rights Act." The battered women's shelter program, administered by the state's Office of Justice Programs, would be cut by 11 percent during the next two years; the overall office budget would receive $56 million under the House bill, $15 million less than proposed by Dayton. "Women in our community will suffer," said Rep. Kathy Brynert, DFL-Mankato, calling it "a very serious cut." Cornish said other states are cutting -- or even eliminating -- their funding for battered women's shelters. "I don't think any more bad things will happen" because of the cuts." Rep. Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, noted that Minnesota was the first state to establish such shelters and called it "really offensive to say we should look to other states."