The Minnesota legislature is meeting in St. Paul, and Republican lawmakers once again are suffering from Session Pot O' Money Syndrome, in which they eye money that's meant to be spent as a legal settlement dictates.
Last year, it was the private VW settlement, as we noted in GOP plan to steal MN's share of VW emission fraud bucks from MPCA may cost state big time.
It's deja vu all over again in Youssef Rddad's report in the Pioneer Press, MN lawmakers seek way in after being left out of how 3M settlement spent:
Republican lawmakers are questioning the structure of an $850 million settlement between the state of Minnesota and 3M Co. that leaves them out of how the money is spent.
3M agreed to pay the money last month, resolving a massive lawsuit alleging damages to natural resources and groundwater in the Twin Cities’ east metro. State agencies will use the money to improve and safeguard drinking water.
House Republicans argued Monday that the settlement was designed to prevent the Legislature from having a say in how those funds are used. State Rep. Jim Knoblach of St. Cloud said new legislation may be needed to “make sure the money goes to the people it needs to go to.”
State Rep. Sarah Anderson, R-Plymouth, said she shares other lawmakers’ concerns that the settlement money “we have left isn’t consumed by bureaucracy and it actually goes out to people in the east metro who’ve been impacted by this.”
The state initially sought $5 billion from Maplewood-based 3M, alleging that chemicals used to make Scotchgard and other products seeped into the groundwater.
The 11-page agreement between the state and 3M makes clear the “grant” from 3M won’t go to Minnesota’s general fund, but will stay in a remediation fund managed by state agencies and overseen by Hennepin County District Court.
Ben Wogsland, a spokesman for state Attorney General Lori Swanson, said the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Department of Natural Resources will set priorities for ensuring safe drinking water in the east-metro area and enhancing natural resources in the region. . . .
Representative Anderson's crocodile tears aside, it's probably a good thing that the fund-shapeshifters in the Republican Caucus can't get their little hands on this fund so committee chairs can fund their pet projects without raising fees or taxes. It's not a stretch of the imagination to envision current House Environment and Natural Resources Chair Dan Fabian using a slice of the 3M pollution funds to fund his current vision, online ATV training for 6-10 year-olds.
Or maybe he and his colleagues who admire 3M (and its federal PAC's $5000 contribution to the HRCC's federal campaign finance account) will simply provide safe bottled water to 3M executives.
Photo: Meme Generator image depicting Minnesota House Republicans' angst about not being able to raid 3M pollution settlement funds.
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