Happy New Year (and here's to a new legislative session)

The 2009 legislative session will begin at noon on Jan. 6. Of course, the budget is the hot topic this year. The Minnesota state government announced Dec. 5 that we're facing a $5.3 billion deficit over the next 2.5 years. Some think the February forecast will put it at $7 billion.

Yikes. That would put about 15 percent of our total budget in the red.

The Minnesota Catholic Conference and Catholic Charities' Office for Social Justice both plan to urge support of legislation that would support job creation, especially for low-income families, who are being hit hardest by the recession.

MCC told me they plan to push legislation in other areas that don't have dollars attached, but MCC's Pete Noll reminded me that this isn't the time to stop investing in what's important, just because money is tight. Education, he said, is like a 401k — you put money in it now because it needs to pay off in the long run. If our kids aren't educated, what do we have?

The Office for Social Justice's newsletter, Seeds of Justice, is available for PDF download at OSJ's Web site. It provides a good, critical overview of the budget, with a good reminder that just a few years ago we were facing a surplus. (How fast and far that pendulum swings.) The newsletter also outlines OSJ's objectives, which include:

•  job creation
• worker justice
• raising minimum wage
• protecting funding for low-income housing
• supporting legislation that would make it easier for ex-legal offenders to find jobs
• universal health care for children 
• opposing anti-immigrant proposals

There's more. I suggest you check it out. MCC will be releasing a statement from the bishops within the next week or so. At the heart of all of OSJ and MCC's work is the protection of human dignity. People need to be treated like people. It's pretty simple, until money gets in the way.