Lawmakers want more info on agencies, but they won't pay for it

Minnesota government officials have a lot of homework to do in the coming months.

The budget bills passed last month were full of requirements for state agencies to research dozens of topics and report back to the Legislature by the end of the year.

During the legislative session, Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis raised concerns about the transportation bill and its potential workload for the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Dibble tried unsuccessfully to remove nine required and unfunded studies from the bill.

"This is going to take directly from our road construction effort. MnDOT has to pay for these with trunk highway funds," he said. "They estimate these nine studies that are required of them will cost several hundred thousand dollars."

The final version of the bill includes required reports on transportation-related sales tax revenue, project selection, project costs, dedicated funds, toll roads and turnbacks.

Sen. Scott Newman, R-Hutchinson, the chair of the Senate transportation committee, defended the requirements. Newman said the reports will help him and other legislators make important decisions.

"What we're looking for is information, and I simply don't know why I would ever be critical of a request for updated, accurate information."

It's not just the transportation bill. All the big spending bills include research assignments. The Appleton prison, a biomass plant in Benson and fetal tissue research are just some of the topics.

The state government budget bill calls for about a dozen reports on topics including county audits performed by the state auditor, cosmetologist inspections, veterans' homes finances and a different way to calculate agency budgets.

Rep. Sarah Anderson, R-Plymouth, who chairs the House state government finance committee, said too many departments in DFL Gov. Mark Dayton's administration were responding slowly to requests for information.

"We asked every way possible under the sun to get certain data from them, and it was just really challenging to get that data," she said.

At the Department of Revenue, Commissioner Cynthia Bauerly is analyzing her latest assignments from the Legislature. They include reports on beginning farmer tax credits, income tax reciprocity with Wisconsin, renter property tax refunds and small winery credits. It's extra work for a department that Bauerly says is already stretched thin.

"We're going to take the resources that we received and put them to the best use for making sure that we have all the services on the ground that we can," she said. "We know that there are still more demands from our customers and that we may not be able to meet all their expectations."

The tax reciprocity study stands out because lawmakers paid for that one with a $300,000 appropriation.

Another provision that stands out in another budget bill is a "mandated report holiday" for the Department of Employment and Economic Development, or DEED.

Most reports will be optional for two years. Rep. Pat Garofalo, R-Farmington said not all reports are useful.

Garofalo said DEED enjoys more bipartisan trust than some other state agencies. He said the holiday will allow the department to focus on jobs and the economy rather than paying for reports.

"This is just a way clear the cobwebs out and see what information the Legislature still needs and what information the Legislature can simply ask for when they need it."