My proposal reinstating the Minnesota Milestones goals and indicators in budget preparation is moving forward and has passed the Senate floor. Minnesota Milestones have been in place for nearly 20 years, providing a way to measure the state’s progress toward citizen-identified social, economic, educational, environmental and civic engagement goals.

Initiated in 1991 under Gov. Arne Carlson’s administration, the Milestones were inspired by the “belief that a shared visions, clear goals, and measurement of results would lead to a better future Minnesota.” The Milestones’ goals were determined through meetings held across the state asking people what they wanted the state to look like in 30 years. Below is the broad vision resulting from those discussions:

• Minnesota will be a community of people who respect and care for one another.
• Our economic activity will create wealth and provide a good standard of living for all our people.
• Our citizens will be good thinkers, creative, always learning, with the skills to compete internationally.
• Our government will be responsive, effective, and close to the people.

To track progress toward this vision, 70 indicators were identified to measure 19 goals. For instance, to measure progress on the goal, “Minnesota will have sustainable, strong economic growth,” data was collected on the growth of the gross state product, employment of working-age people, and the energy efficiency of the economy.

Although state law requires some performance measures be included in the budget documents, and many state agencies track program performance (sometimes as a requirement of the federal funds they receive), Minnesota is no longer considered an innovator is using broad goals and performance measures in its budget and has fallen behind other states such as Oregon and Washington.

My proposal re-instates Milestones but proposes to do so through collaboration with the private and academic sectors. Through partnerships with community efforts such as Compass and the University of Minnesota and other higher education institutions, the proposal intends to avoid unnecessary duplicative efforts and encourage coordination with the private sector, where much of the work towards achieving the Milestone vision must occur, and with academia, where resources and expertise to track and measure these issues already exists.

To enhance the use of Milestones in the legislative process, the bill establishes a subcommittee of the Joint Legislative Commission on Planning and Fiscal Policy on government accountability. Its duties will include reviewing recommendations from a work group about legislative use of Milestones in planning and budgeting, as well as other government accountability improvements.

To increase legislative use of Milestones in the near-term, the Department of Finance is required to link budget change items in the next biennial budget document to Milestone indicators and goals. The Subcommittee will review the format the Department proposes to use to communicate that information.

Finally, the Sesquicentennial Commission is asking to provide information gathered as part of its statewide celebratory activities to help evaluate the current relevance of the Milestone goals.