Dear Neighbor,
The biggest news from the House floor this week is that we passed legislation designed to provide more clarity to landowners, operators, and government officials regarding Minnesota's new buffer law.
Some of the revisions include:
- Eliminating problematic "benefitted area" language, and identifying the most recent public water inventory and public ditches that are subjected to buffers.
- Codifying the exemption for private ditches.
- Shifting buffer jurisdiction from state to local agencies. Under the plan, counties and local watershed districts would have jurisdiction. If they decline, the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources (BWSR) would gain authority.
- Reinforcing that the DNR's only role will be to conduct mapping.
- Eliminating any change from current statute regarding the measurement of ditch buffers.
Landowners and operators are urged to double check the DNR's maps when they become available in their county to ensure that any mistakes are quickly corrected.
In other news, transportation is one subject that should pick up steam over the last month of this session. There really is no question over whether we need to fix our roads and bridges. The consensus among people I talk with in our district is that roads and bridges should be a priority, so we have common ground in that regard as we look for the best options.
The House Republican plan uses taxes Minnesotans are already paying on car parts, auto repairs, vehicle leases, and rental cars and dedicates that revenue through a special Transportation Stability Fund. By adding a portion of the $900 million budget surplus and bonding, the Republican plan would fix 15,500 lane miles of roads and 330 bridges statewide.
The Senate DFL majority recently unveiled its proposed budget targets, devoting less than 4 percent of the $900 million state budget surplus to transportation. In addition, Gov. Mark Dayton and DFL lawmakers continue advocating for a historic gas tax increase and expansion of light rail in the Twin Cities area.
As for light rail, it is hard to justify such expensive projects for the Twin Cities at a time the state's infrastructure already is falling behind. We could repave six lanes of the entire interstate system in Minnesota, provide a significant increase in the new small cities road and bridges program, fund four years of Metro Transit bus operations, conduct a $3.5 million project on I-94 in our district and still have money left over compared with the cost of adding a single train line in Minneapolis.
Dayton and the Senate DFL majority continue to push the largest gas tax increase in state history. The proposal would raise gas prices by a minimum of 16 cents per gallon, a figure that would rise as the price of gasoline increases. A tax at that level would move Minnesota to the second-highest gas tax in the nation.
Sincerely,
Paul