“On behalf of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council which represents more than 70,000 working men and women in organized labor, we’d like to thank Governor Walz for his leadership and continued efforts to bring the Legislature together to have them finish the work they did not get done during this year’s legislative session.
We have legislators leaving St. Paul so that they can go campaign while a more than $9 billion state surplus sits in limbo when it could be used to invest in Minnesotans while at the same time provide historic tax relief and that is unacceptable. There was agreement on a budgetary framework between both parties for a $1.4 billion jobs bill that would put Minnesotans to work that has now been thrown away. Our legislators did not even approve the necessary dollars needed to match federal infrastructure funds being offered, thereby leaving possibly hundreds of millions of dollars on the table that could benefit Minnesotans which is absurd and in no way benefits the citizens who elected them. They also failed to pass a dedicated auto parts sales tax that would have invested significant financial resources into our dilapidated transportation infrastructure.
Our elected representatives failed to do their jobs in almost every way, and we implore the leaders of the Minnesota House and Senate to come back to the table, continue negotiations on these critical issues and to finish the work they were sent to the Capitol to do in the first place. Our elected leaders need to stop worrying about their political campaigns and getting re-elected and they need to start worrying about the Minnesotans who are relying on them to do their jobs.”