With Minnesota's $17B surplus, could "Walz checks" get passed at the legislature?
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Minnesota's staggering $17 billion surplus has some wondering - will the governor's proposal of rebate checks still be on the table?
One "Walz check" proposal was for $1,000 to go to single people earning less than $164,000 and $2,000 for couples earning less than $273,000. Walz said that with the forecasted surplus, he will propose the checks again.
"Get money back in the form of rebates that people can be able to use as they see fit," he said.
Walz suggested that income guidelines could change, but he said he was "willing to work to see about maybe what some of those income limits were, if they wanted to see those change."
Democrats will control both houses of the legislature and the DFL legislators say their priorities include big permanent spending measures on education, health care, affordable housing, as well as possibly eliminating taxes on social security income. But incoming DFL Senate President Bobby Joe Champion told WCCO that "everything will be up for discussion" including checks to taxpayers.
"There are additional priorities and for me, childhood hunger is going to continue to be one of those priorities," said Erin Maye Quade, who is one of 14 new Democratic senators.
Quade says Walz checks are not a top priority for her but she is also open to any discussion. Of course, priorities can change quickly at the legislature, which will begin its new session the first week of January.
The DFL Senate caucus will be at a retreat this weekend trying to sort out their priorities.
House DFL leaders have indicated rebate checks are not at the top of their list.
