Pawlenty vows to ‘aggressively’ protect unallotment power

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty fired a warning shot over the Legislature’s bow Friday afternoon, promising to “aggressively” protect the governor’s unallotment authority.

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller and House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher — both DFLers — Pawlenty promised to veto any legislation that would repeal unallotment.

“The Minnesota Constitution wisely requires that the state’s budget be balanced,” the governor wrote. “More than 70 years ago, the legislative and executive branches agreed to provide the governor unallotment authority to help ensure that this constitutional obligation is met.

“It is my understanding that some DFL legislators may attempt to repeal or otherwise limit unallotment authority this session. This past legislative session clearly demonstrated the value and necessity of this longstanding budget-balancing tool.

“To be clear, I will veto any bill presented to me that attempts to repeal, limit or in any way reduce executive branch authority to balance the state’s budget through executive action, unless such legislation has been previously agreed to by me.

“My predecessors, who represented both parties, have exercised the unallotment authority, and it is my intent to aggressively protect this ability on behalf of future governors and the people of Minnesota.”

A bill that would limit the governor’s unallotment power is expected to be introduced next week.

Pawlenty used his unallotment authority last summer to balance the budget by slicing $2.7 billion from it. A lawsuit challenging his authority to unallot money from two state programs will be heard next month by the Minnesota Supreme Court.