It is brought to by the Public Television stations of minnesota , with support of aarp minnesota. Is focused on making sure the older voters know where the candidates stand on issues that matter. [indiscernible] minnesota, 70 workings teachers together to prepare our students. Minnesota, a union of 43,000 workers who advocate for excellent and public services, dignity in the workplace, and prosperity for all working families. From the mayo civic center, the 2014 gubernatorial debate. Good evening. 2014he first debate of the campaign for minnesota governor. Of thee managing editor postbulletin in rochester. Organized bynt was the coalition of greater Minnesota Cities, the rochester area of greater wisconsin. Thank you to our public tv sponsors. We are joined my by the three major candidates. , jeff johnson, and hannah nicollet. Thank you for being here. You can applaud. [applause] here are the ground rules. Each candidate will have 90 seconds to respond. We have highly skilled timekeepers. I have the discretion to allow a 32nd rebuttal or i can ask you a followup. 30second rebuttal. To wrap it up, each has two minutes to make a statement. We have a lot of work to do in one hour. The questions were dreamed up by the debate sponsors. They one of the topics in advance. Again, we have only one hour. We would appreciate it if you hold your applause to the end. Candidates have a of friends or tonight, as you know. Can help yourou candidate is by holding your applause to the end. Are we ready to go . First question, economy and tax pending issues. One of the governors first task is to submit a budget. There is an estimated surplus of 306 million. Considering this budget estimate, what changes would you make . Commissioner jeff johnson, you go first. Thank you. I want to thank you and the hosts for putting this together. Here is where you can see a fundamental difference to where we put our priorities when it comes to the economy in minnesota. In particular, i have been told that every state surrounds us and has billboards trying to attract business. Unfortunately, their billboards are working. Learned from the bureau of labor statistics last week that over the past year, minnesota has had the worst job growth rate in the midwest. Seenso have underemployment in minnesota, 53 . That means half the people in the state are actually overqualified and underpaid. Directly relates to our taxing and regulatory policies in the state. I have a strong belief that the tax system should be low and simple. Any economist will tell you that is what you need to do. I expect you will see big changes, rather than the first, because we have only a few weeks to make changes. If we have a lower tax system a fair tax system, we will start to encourage the growth of good jobs. Thank you. Ago,ree and a half years there was a projected 6. 2 Million Dollar deficit. Billion dollar deficit. At a surplusoking 603nd 3 million million. We have eliminated most of the rates from the state governments, so we have a sound fiscal platform. For novembersts i dont see raising anyones taxes. We should make taxes less aggressive in minnesota. Governmentost of that is the best barometer of spending. One of the lowest it has been recorded. We have spending under control. We have new investments in education, Higher Education, Early Childhood, kindergarten. We have strong, robust employment growth area one under 60,000 new jobs. Area. Wth we have 160,000 new jobs. That the statistics with regard to private sector job growth that is concerning for our future. We have grown at. 8 over the past year. We need private sector job growth. That is what creates wealth. Those are services that people want. The first thing i would like to do is get rid of the corporate tax. In minnesota, it is the third highest in the nation. They are going to ireland, where they have only 12 and a half percent. 12. 5 . If weld compete better did not have such i taxes. Would be thing to go i would expect that you could then grow revenue. When you make it cheaper to have a business in your state, businesses come near. That is the first thing i would do. I would also a dress or burdensome regulations. Our burdensome regulations. You have to go through nine different state and local agencies that often conflict with one another. You did a great job of observing the time. Local government aid or aga. Local government aid helps people pay for basic services. While the other has been helpful in reducing taxbased disparities. A revenueities have increase due to a state law. Would you make lg a a Budget Priority and restore the ages cities at 2002 funding levels. I made local government aid a priority to providing the kind of services that people depend upon. Protection, social services, street crime, and the like. Createse of minnesota and sets up the terms by which they operate. The rate has been established. One is the property tax. The other is local government aid. When you cut local government , as Minnesota Cities have choice butere is no for property taxes to be increased and services cut. In 2014 and 2014, we increased government aid. The result was one of the lowest increases in the nation. Also, the local governments have the wherewithal to make investments to upgrade their operations, facilities, equipment, and machinery. Local government aid will depend forecast,get, revenue but local government aid will be a strong priority of mine. Priority. Ve it is a it is an issue of unfunded mandate. The state requires cities to provide services that they dont pay for. That has been a problem. They dont have the funds to pay for the services that they are required to provide. Way that i see it, any service that the state requires a city to provide you cant require something of anyone that you can expect to pay for yourself. I believe that if the state is requiring it, than they should be willing to pick up the tab for it. We consider it a mandatory service, whether it is child protective services, under the Constitutional Responsibilities of state government. We provide for safety, as a constitutional responsibility. If false under that. Thank you. There was an increase in local government aid last year. There was also the largest portion that we have ever seen of local government a going to minneapolis. That is a direct expense of communities in greater minnesota. That has been a common theme in this administration. Greater minnesota has become an afterthought in the state. Whether you are looking at where we send our transportation dollars. With you looking at k12 Education Funding formulas. Whether you are looking at some of the regulations that are killing our farmers, loggers, and minors. There is a varied metro centric philosophy at the capital. Original intent of lga, to provide for communities that have a low property taxes to have money for basic services, roads, bridges, police, fire, sewer, and water. I think we have moved far away from that. We are directing a now to cities that dont need that help. What you promise to increase local government aid . I will not make a promise to it i will promise to do everything i can to direct the money that is party in local government aid to communities that need it. That is not happening right now. This is a greater minnesota oriented debate. I give your chance to respond. Year, 38 ofast that winter greater minnesota, 28 of metro, and the rest to statewide projects. Rochestert rates in are 3. 3 . You look at Development Projects bill , the bonding the focus has been on greater minnesota and needs here. That is why they are expanding. Ok. Question number three. Rates thatsurance are widely. Minnesotasoutheastern faced the steepest rates and fewer choices. The geographical disparity has been linked in part to access to hospital and clinic systems. Here is the question. As governor, i would you help make sure rates and plan options are equitable and all corners of the state . Hannah nicollet it is your turn. Thank you. It will be difficult we have the largest enrollee. They have the lowest rate. There have been all kinds of administrative problems, the whole rollout. We will probably have to fix it. As long as there is a federal mandate that requires that we have federal Health Insurance here in the state. I dont see is handing over federal control. ,f we have a federal exchange then we lose federal subsidies. That is another subject which is how much we receive back from federal government already. 90 billion in year. We only received 45 million back. Point, i am not willing if we dont have it, we dont receive the subsidies that, alongside the having our own exchange. So we need to fix it, regardless. We need to implement it. You dont reinvent the will. Wheel. Software and administrative handling of an exchange and we tailor to minnesota and implemented here. That would be my suggestion. Thank you. We have the best insurance system in the country and minnesota. We dont anymore. Governor, you desperately wanted to be the first state in the country to implement obamacare in minnesota. You got everything you wanted. It has been a disaster. It is hurting thousands of people. 140,000 plus have been forced off their health care. Many of the monster doctors. Some of them lost their hospitals. They are about to spike next year. We have the highest deductible in the country. We have parents with babies who cant get their babies on insurance for months because of this. You had a press Conference Today and said you dont lose any sleep and we should celebrate it. Hundreds of thousands of minnesotans have lost sleep over it. What do we do about it . A section 1332 waiver under the Affordable Health care act, a state innovation waiver. Of the thingsome we had before that worked better back. We can get that until 2017. Thatl fire every vendor of board and staff because of their incompetence. I will take away their ability for public input, and i will work hard to remove berries from the private sector to compete. We used to be the best in the country. We are not anymore. Because of that, thousands of people are being hurt. I think we had a governor who will do something about it. Thank you. The announcement today was that for the second year in a row minnesota has the lowest rates of any help exchange in the country. We have succeeded in keeping insurance costs relatively low. There is a 4. 5 average increase. We brought the raid of people of people rate uninsured down to 40 . We have the lowest of any state in the nation. Hundreds of thousands of people have access to health care tha t they did not have before because of preexisting conditions. The number of other ways in which the Affordable Care act has opened doors for people to have quality care. 140,000 people with Health Care Plans that were not compliant and were required to become so. The insurers had to adjust those plans to offer them Something Better than what they had before. That is one of the purposes of the Affordable Health care act. Assurere people people that they will have coverage for their needs. Half of the bankruptcies in this country are caused by health care costs. Most of those people have insurance. Thank you. We are looking up for straight up yes or no answers. The states Building Code was updated to mandate indoor spring for systems, which will at to the cost of new homes. Do you support the new mandate . Absolutely not. Is that consumers should be up to choose. Yes, i support it. People who have not had the experience of going into a burning building and having to risked their lives to put out those fires are in no position firefighters the of the state believe is necessary for their protection and of People Living in those residences. I dont. I believe it is the work of lobbyists to make sure every luxury available is mandated to be put into Building Codes. It is only affordable to the wealthy. If you are at a lower income, this can make a difference. Every 5,000 you had on to the price of the house, you eliminate 35,000 people that could support that for that house. A shot at give you responding to the governors comments. I dont think any loving, no , should begreat dictating our policy. What it comes down to is that because of this new mandate, which most of the legislature did not like, we are increasing the cost of new homes and pricing people out of being able to buy them. The state just created a 20 million fund for infrastructure. The Broadband Task force recommended an additional 200 million for the next two years for the instant the infrastructure grant front. Do you support it . Thatf my priorities is part of the cost. It is estimated between 800 million and 3 million to complete Broadband Access for minnesota. It is a step in the right direction. Access tort broadband rural areas. I think that is a hindrance to being able to do business in role errors. Rural areas. As far as how it is being allocated, my concern is right now we are at 99 of people being connected. That is what the state has determined to be acceptable. 25 earningng about up to power on upload speeds. Ould probably rather see what we have problems with is that the government has been competing with private business. We have times where they came in and installed cable, and then started having a price war with the Cable Companies that were arty there. I would rather have us focus our resources on areas that are not connected at all. 200 million is a lot of money. It is highly important. We are also on the cusp of new technology. We are looking at satellite. I would be hesitant to go further ahead, but public buildings we want to make e that schools are about schools are hooked up. To make sure that all areas that are not covered are covered. Would you support the task force and the recommendations . Provided that it is allocated to areas that are not already connected. Know if i would support that exact number. I dont know where i end up. I can tell you that broadband technique connectivity will be a verdigris did we want to be competitive, every area in the state has to be connected. Hannah that iwith am not a big fan of private government entering the private market. I would be supportive if we could use the money to enhance the public sector. High speedrt the Passenger Rail . That is an issue that a lot of people around here care about. I am more concerned we have the rail i mostly concerned about is that we have farmers with grain sitting on rails and not able to move. It is a crisis situation. I would like to see that address. We also have a rhodes crisis. We are looking at 79 billion we have a thousand bridges. We keep dropping billions on people rail. Even though i have nothing against it, my concern is that we are not focusing on our needs. We are focusing on her once. Wants. Sing on our having good roads and bridges is essential to your economy. That is why i would focus the effort there right now. I believe that we can easily find the 79 billion we need. It cost every minnesotan money. Concerned those should be secondary, roads and bridges, we address those first. Show me the costbenefit analysis. Fan of raileen a projects in general. They have been inefficient use of transportation dollars. I have told been told that this one will pay for it self. I am skeptical. My ears are open. If somebody can prove that to me, i will consider it. I agree with commissioner johnson. You also have to look in conjunction with the center here ,n rochester, which i supported and the state of minnesota has back. As a result, this area will be transformed. The private sector of employment may double over the next 30 years. It has had a phenomenal impact on our state. One area has the opportunity to become a magnet for those types of jobs and opportunities. This line would certainly enhance that connection. A few more lightning round questions. The most recent proposed amendment to the tax constitution was highly controversial. Should this dress will be raised, to ensure more consensus . No, i dont think it should. I think it is proven to have worked in the past. No. That was americans eyes. [laughter] verywas mary concise. No. My greatgrandfather would if wever in his grave would sell anything on sundays. We should restore it, if people want to buy. More of our population has a day of faith not on sundays. Yes, any legal product should be able to be sold on any day. Sunday is a religious holiday for christian. Sundown, the sabbath for jewish people. Why did we pick sunday . It seems unfair. Regardless, any legal product should be able to be sold any day of the week. If your Business Owner and you want to close on sunday, more power to you. I would not support that. I am also against the fact that 60 of minnesotas one. Why should they not have it . Yes. This is frustrating to me. Everybody says lets do it. The last two years, there has been a big push, and now we cant get it done. Well get it done when im governor. We will go back to longform questions, you will have 90 seconds to answer. This is about the Medical Center. Approach for a Publicprivate Partnership calling for specific investment to occur before approved state funding is released. It is a combination of efforts that will drive Regional Economic growth for much of the state. It is suggested the plan could be a model for targeted Development Efforts in other parts of the state. Do you agree with how it was structured as a way to promote Regional Development . Would you support similar partnerships elsewhere . Do you have some in mind . Ms. Nicollet, followed by omission or johnson and governor dayton. I believe the plan is put in place. It has already been promised. So we should keep our promises. The larger issue with regard to the Medical Center and the problem with the multiplier is that our attorney general and our Governors Office are not in communication right now. I do not know if you have seen we have been working as a team on. All five of us, state office are working on issues together. We put our hands together