We've been following the progress of bills related to funding extensions on the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund most recently in Will ENRTF appropriation extensions bill find new life in Senate Environment committee? We'll get to the fugly answer in a bit.
An email from the Houe Information Services this morning noted:
There are two bills on the Calendar for the Day when members gather as a full body this morning. The first, HF961, would create a new law enforcement supervisors unit under the Public Employment Labor Relations Act. The second, HF3765, would appropriate $70 million from the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. There are no amendments lined up for either bill.
Here's the item on the calendar:
H. F. No. 3765, (Authors: Hansen, R.; Jordan; Morrison; Acomb; Ecklund and others. Companion to S. F. No. 4043.) A bill for an act relating to natural resources; appropriating money from environment and natural resources trust fund; providing extensions. Second Engrossment .Printed page No. 329.
The House meets at 11 a.m. Watch the livestreams of the action on HTV 1 or the MNHouse Info Youtube Channel HTV1.
So what happened on Wednesday in the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources Finance? Minneapolis Senator Patricia Torres Ray offered an amendment based on the Senate DFL offer for SF 4043 (004) (PDF). The amendment failed in a bipartisan 4-4 vote
The committee then considered the Westrom amendment to SF4043, which passed 5-3 on its second try.
Lots of drama, including Breezy Point senator Carrie Ruud's objections to the process before her yes vote (she had voted no in the earlier hearing) and Torres Ray's prediction that the House and Senate conference committee will just devolve into Westrom and the House Environment chair, Rick Hansen, S. St. Paul, going into a closed-door private negotiation, to settle things.
From what we've observed on other bills, we think she's probably accurate in assessing Westrom's anti-transparency dreams, but she shouldn't lock Hansen into the same room with the Elbow Lake lawyer.
Here's the Senate Media Services video:
We'll keep an eye on the bills as they head toward the finish line.
Related posts
- Will ENRTF appropriation extensions bill find new life in Senate Environment committee?
- Session Daily: ENRTF appropriations OK’d despite no LCCMR recommendation
- MN House Enviro & Natural Resources committee approves $71M in ENRTF projects
- Ecklund's HF219 passed out of MN House Environment committee on bipartisan 14-5 vote
- [VIDEO] $1 billion investment: Minnesota House Climate Action Caucus unveils 2022 proposals
Photo: A rusty-patched bumble bee. Westrom's language doesn't include highly-ranked projects related to pollinators and such things.
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