Gov. Tim Walz pushes for public safety and more in revised budget

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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Local law enforcement agencies across Minnesota could get a too-long-delayed infusion of state funds that is desperately needed to hire more and better police officers and sheriff's deputies, to update equipment and to implement crime intervention strategies.

That money, $550 million, would come via Gov. Tim Walz's revised budget. It's a significant and welcome increase over last year's proposal of $300 million, which was rejected by Senate Republicans. The GOP no longer controls the Senate, and Walz now says that he is more determined than ever to get the public safety funding that local officials have been pleading for.

"We're going to do more, not less," Walz told an editorial writer. "Minnesotans have a right to expect a high level of public safety, and we are going to meet that."

The needless delay has already cost this state, with more crime, more victims, fewer community resources and fewer police to deal with it all. The Legislature, now controlled by Walz's DFL, should not hesitate to pass that piece of his budget. Both sides should acknowledge that doing public safety the right way — building from the community up rather than the top down — will take a meaningful investment of funds.

Crime numbers are starting to improve, Walz said, "but getting this money closer to home, to the people who know what is needed, could provide an even more dramatic difference. I've talked to locals, and they have really solid plans on how to be creative about new hires, about intervention strategies that will make their communities safer. We need to move these funds to where they are needed and quickly."

The same, he said, goes for the infrastructure bill that Senate Republicans managed to scuttle in this session because bonding bills require a 60% supermajority. They attempted to use that bill as leverage for their proposal to return the bulk of the state's projected surplus for tax cuts.

Notably, House Republicans, under Minority Leader Lisa Demuth's leadership, worked with DFLers to help shape and pass a bonding bill. The Senate GOP would do well to follow that example rather than attempting once again to block legislation that funds road and bridge repairs, water treatment and needed projects in communities across the state, including many in predominantly Republican districts.

Walz predicted the bonding bill would pass in May. "Communities all over Minnesota need money to fix potholes after a brutal winter and make other infrastructure improvements," he said. "After two years without a bonding bill, cities are screaming for that money, and you are going to start seeing pressure applied."

Again, Senate Republicans have common ground with Walz if they are willing to accept it. He has proposed $5.4 billion in rebates, tax credits and other cuts aimed at what he said could result in a 25% drop in childhood poverty. The rebates, ironically, were rejected by Republicans last year as a "gimmick" but now are embraced as part of their plan. The obstacle here, in fact, may be Democrats, who have been noticeably cooler to the rebate proposal.

Walz said his approach differs from the Republican's $13 billion tax cut proposal in that "we are going to take a balanced approach. We are not going to commit one-time money to ongoing expenses." Republicans want to eliminate the state tax on Social Security.

Certainly, some tax cuts have their place. Rebates aimed at working-class Minnesotans to help lessen the impact of inflation make sense. So do tax credits that lower childhood poverty. A lower tax burden can be welcome, but not when it comes at the expense of those things that require collective effort or when it steals from the future by jeopardizing the state's fiscal stability.

This legislative session is more than halfway done, and so far, the DFL trifecta has not squandered its opportunity to make change. Now, however, some of the biggest challenges remain.

Gun control proposals supported by most Minnesotans remain on the docket. The Department of Human Services is, by Walz's own admission, "too big" and requires streamlining.

A much-revised plan to legalize cannabis lies ahead, as does a complex and controversial DFL plan to enact paid family and medical leave and earned sick time for those Minnesotans who lack those benefits.

Walz said he hopes that by the end of this session, "Minnesota will be much more the Minnesota we've seen in the past: on the front end of protecting citizens, investing in education, workforce, protecting personal freedoms and leading on things like environment and climate change."

He said what Minnesotans don't want to see is "the politics of gridlock." The next two months will determine if the two parties can find compromise that will ensure that's not the case.