Over at MinnPost, there's a Walker Orenstein's article, With no agreement in the Minnesota legislature, farmers suffer from last year’s drought.
Go read it there.
We're puzzled about what the exact disagreement is about, since it seems like there's a bill (combining two versions of drought relief) headed to the House floor that would fund drought relief for farmers, while also aiding in tree replacement and such.
If the bill was approved by both chambers and signed by the Governor, it's not like the funding heading to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources would slow the Department of Agriculture's implementation of an expanded Rural Finance Authority (RFA) program after Walz inks the bill.
The House has managed to hear, move, then combine two bills in preparation for a floor vote. It's not rocket science.
Here's a press release about the House actually acting on drought relief from Minnesota House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee Chair Rick Hansen, DFL-S. St. Paul, Ways & Means Committee passes drought relief bill:
Today, the House Ways & Means Committee approved legislation that invests $23.85 million in drought relief. HF 3598, authored by Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL – South St. Paul), will help communities across Minnesota recover from the drought of 2021.
"The drought we faced last year has created new challenges for many Minnesotans,” said Rep. Hansen. “This commonsense legislation provides resources for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to help local and tribal governments recover from the drought. It will support communities as they recover and help them thrive in the future.”
The bill invests a total of $23.85 million in drought relief, with $13.3 million allocated to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). $5.5 million will be used to replace seedlings on DNR-managed lands that were killed by the drought and to help tribal, county, and private forestland owners replace seedlings on their lands. $4.5 million is allocated to help municipal, township, and tribal governments remove and replace shade trees that were impacted by the drought, with an additional $3 million to help governments that operate public water supplies increase efficiency. The bill also includes $300,000 for costs associated with resolving well interferences.
The bill was combined with HF 3420, legislation authored by Rep. Mike Sundin (DFL – Esko) that includes $5 million for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) to provide grants for drought-related expenses and $5 million for the Rural Finance Authority’s revolving loan account for drought assistance.
Video of today’s hearing is available on House Public Information Services’ YouTube channel. Documents and other information from the hearing are available on the committee’s webpage.
Here's the video--note that both the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and the Commissioner of Department of Natural Resources were on hand to answer lawmakers' questions:
Perhaps if Elbow Lake Republican Torrey Westrom had actually heard the senate companion bill he signed on to go with the Sundin drought bill, we'd believe the notion that of the traditional farmers suffering from lack of an agreement.
Instead, it looks like Westrom and other Republicans have another agenda that's been consuming his committee's time.
Let's look at what Westrom's senate agriculture committee has been up to while House committees were actually hearing drought relief bills. Here's what we found on the Currently Posted Hearings for Current Biennium for the committee.
Sure, on Wednesday, March 2, the committee will hear S. F. 3479 Westrom Rural Finance Authority revolving loan account for drought relief appropriation. It's the companion bill to Sundin's HF 3420.
That comes after the Monday, February 7th, 2022, Wednesday, February 9th, 2022, and Monday, February 14th, 2022 hearing on the concurrent authority on deer farms by the DNR and the Board of Animal Health, the Monday, February 21st, 2022 review of BAH member applications and the Monday, February 28th, 2022 confirmation of three Board of Animal Health members--all appointed by Governor Walz in 2020, but what's the hurry, right?
Those earlier hearings included tales of woe from deer farmers whose fellow farmers suffered great woes from the temporary ban on movement of farmed deer in Minnesota issued in mid October 2021--and lifted on December 6, 2021.
Surely a higher priority for Westrom's committee than drought relief for the rest of Minnesota's farmers. Those poor oppressed cervid farmers
Related post:
Photo: Drought conditions in Minnesota. Via Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
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