As the legislature gears up for session that begins February 4, the Minnesota AFL-CIO and Minnesota Building Trades have worked together to send a letter to leadership of the Senate's Capital Investment Committee and House's Capital Investment Finance Division for a strong bonding bill of at least one billion dollars.
Here's text of the letter sent:
As you well know, times are tough for Minnesota workers.
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development estimates that 224,000 Minnesotans have lost their jobs since the start of the recession. In addition, the Office of Minnesota Management and Budget estimates that 90,000 more were forced to take part-time work because of hourly cutbacks or the inability to find full-time employment after layoffs.
We’ve seen the effect that job loss has had on the state budget. Unemployed workers aren’t earning a paycheck and therefore aren’t paying taxes. The state government loses revenue. At the same time, however, the government is paying out benefits to those unemployed workers. Using information from a study by Lawrence Summers, Director of the White House National Economic Council, the estimated cost to taxpayers every time a Minnesotan loses his or her job is about $10,000 – and that’s a conservative number.
Economists believe that only vigorous job growth will help turn the tide of the most significant jobs crisis since the Great Depression. A strong bonding bill would create more than 10,000 much-needed, good-paying jobs for Minnesotans and at the same time improve the state’s infrastructure.
That is why the Minnesota AFL-CIO and the Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council urges you to support an early and robust bonding bill of at least one billion dollars.
We need your help. In these difficult economic times, it is important that you do not hesitate. We ask you to take bold, decisive action to create jobs to help our economy recover as quickly as possible.
Sincerely,
Shar Knutson, President Harry Melander, President
Minnesota AFL-CIO Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council
cc: Representative Margaret Anderson Kelliher, Speaker of the House
Representative Tony Sertich, Majority Leader