NC Minnesota News

With the COVID-19 pandemic causing Minnesota to lose revenue, many cuts will have to be made to the budget, many of which are disproportionately affecting Senate District 11.

"Since 2019, WINDOW Victim Advocacy, the Challenge Incarceration Program (CIP) at Willow River and, most recently, the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) at Moose Lake Prison have lost their funding or been threatened with shutdowns, with little in the way of satisfactory explanation," Sen. Jason Rarick said in a press release from the Minnesota Senate Republican Caucus. "The defunding of these programs has little impact on the overall budget, is an ill-conceived focus on one part of the state, and may have political implications."

These three programs don't account for a significant amount of the budget and don't make much of a difference when being cut, which brought Rarick to question the motive of defunding these organizations. 

"It is extremely unusual for state agencies to allow one outstate area (which are smaller and more financially insignificant) to take the heaviest hits during budget cuts. It is entirely possible to spread the burden more evenly," Rarick said in the press release. "Many factors contribute to deciding program cuts, but it is unlikely that the governor-appointed commissioners would cut three needed programs from a single area without some political motive, especially in an election year."

These programs, which wouldn't take up a large portion of the budget, are extremely important organizations for the area. 

"Our communities are already hurting after the events of this year. If there are better reasons for their actions than what I surmised, the agencies need to make them public. If not, they need to reevaluate their priorities and plans while deciding where to make budget cuts – perhaps switching focus to their bloated bureaucracy," Rarick said in the press release.