Governor's Unallotment Power Goes Before the Minnesota Supreme Court

March 16, 2010
State Capitol - By Marty Owings

A lawsuit filed by three low-income people is challenging the Governor's power to unallot. The suit was filed last year after Governor Pawlenty used his unallotment authority to balance the budget, cutting among other programs, funding for a state nutrition program used by the poor.

The case basically boils down to how much power a Governor has to balance the budget in times of fiscal crisis. The unallotment power was established to allow a Governor to unallot or basically remove spending from the state budget during "fiscal" emergencies. That's the simple explanation.

Attorneys arguing against the Governor's unallotment say that the Governor is essentially ignoring the original Legislative intent of the unallotment statutes. They argue that the authority to unallot does not provide the Governor "Legislative" powers and that Pawlenty over-stepped his authority.

The Governor's attorneys argue that the statute does give the Governor the authority to unallot in order to balance the budget during a fiscal crisis. Pawlenty's lawyers argue that the anticipated deficit in the budget allowed him to remove funding through the unallotment process in order to balance the budget. They also say this is a political dispute which is being turned into a legal one, essentially saying that voters should decide the issue, not the the Court.

The first day of hearings brought tough questions from the Court. At one point, Cheif Justice Eric Magnuson asked Pawlenty's Lawyers, "In the guise of controlling spending to modify to the point of eliminating legislative judgments? How is that not a violation of separation of powers?"

It should be noted that four of the seven justices are Pawlenty appointees including Chief Justice Eric Magnuson. Magnuson and Pawlenty were law partners at the firm of Rider Bennet. In addition, Magnuson announced last week that he is stepping down, which allows Pawlenty to appoint another Chief Justice before leaving office. Pawlenty also appointed Justices G. Barry Anderson, Lori Gildea and Chris Dietzen.

Here is video of the hearing, courtesy of http://TheUptake.org