Dear Neighbor,
It’s been another busy week in the House, including the release of new boundaries for our state’s 201 legislative districts.
The “redistricting” process takes place once every 10 years in accordance with our state’s Constitution and compensate for changes in our population. A special panel of five state judges released its redistricting plan for the Minnesota Legislature this week, with changes based on the results of the 2020 Census.
The goal is for each legislative district to have roughly the same number of constituents. Some districts in areas with thinning populations must grow in area while others are contracted. The district where I live, 12B, gained quite a bit more territory to the west – and ceded some areas to the east. The one thing I want to stress now is the new districts do not take effect until 2023 and, in the meantime, I will continue focusing on the people who have entrusted me as their representative in St. Paul.
Most of our time in the House continues to be spent in committee meetings as we put bills though the preliminary stages. One item of note that came up this week is a package of $10 million in relief after a severe drought caused widespread damage to the ag industry in our state in 2021. The funding includes $5 million in grants and another $5 million for the Rural Finance Authority to issue loans to those who were impacted.
While I am pleased to see this funding take a step forward in committee, I do question whether more dollars should have been included. The bill has been on the table since last summer. Since then, a state budget surplus of $8 billion has sprouted yet the bill stayed at the same amount instead of doing more to provide much-needed relief. I did, however, gain $100,000 in the bill to help offset costs if farmers had to buy hay to supplement their own supplies the drought left meager.
On a final note, we received a couple of announcements this week indicating things at the Capitol are every so slowly returning to normal. First, the mask mandate was lifted on the House floor for legislators, staff and the public alike. In addition, the State Office Building, where House members’ offices are located, will be open to the public on select days starting March 21. It will be the first time in two years we will be able to schedule in-office meetings with constituents.
Have a good weekend and I will be back with more from the House soon.
Sincerely,
Paul