By Rep. Paul Anderson
All eyes were on the maps this past week when a judicial panel released information on how Minnesota's congressional and legislative districts would look for the next 10 years. The statutory timeline says this process must be completed 25 weeks before the state's primary election so counties and local jurisdictions have sufficient time to complete their re-districting.
According to the 2020 census Minnesota's population stands at 5.7 million, which breaks down to an "ideal" size of 42,586 for each of the 134 House districts in the Legislature. Some suburban districts grew faster during the past decade and were as much as 21 percent above the ideal size. And some rural districts, not surprisingly, grew at a slower rate and were as much as 11 percent below the required number.
The district I presently serve, 12B, underwent a pretty substantial change. Lost were the sections of Douglas County currently in my district, and portions of Stearns County along the I-94 corridor, including the cities of Sauk Centre, Melrose and Albany. Also moving to a different district next year are the townships in northeastern Pope County.
Added to the new district, which will be known as 12A after this fall's election, were the western tier of townships in Pope County, including my hometown of Starbuck, in addition to three entire counties to the south and west. Those counties are Swift, Stevens, and Big Stone. All three counties have a strong agricultural economy and fit well with the rest of the new district. In the meantime, I will continue doing my best representing the folks in the current 12B.
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A drought disaster bill was finally passed out of the House Ag Committee last week. It provides just over $10 million in the form of grants and loans to farmers affected last year by the devastating drought that gripped large parts of our state. Although $10 million is a lot of money, when the portion designated for grants ($5 million) is allocated, it may only reach as few as 500 farmers. Another $5 million goes to the Rural Finance Authority to make zero percent loans, again not a large enough amount to help the number of farmers who suffered losses. I did get another $100,000 added to the bill to help offset the cost of transportation for those needing to purchase additional hay or forage.
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Legislation that would make whole the state's Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund was passed in the Senate last week. It would not only provide enough funding to bring the fund out of negative territory, but also enough to raise it to fully funded levels. Total cost of the measure is $2.7 billion. The DFL bill currently being debated in the House only brings the fund back out of the 'red' at a cost of approximately $1 billion. If that were to happen, agency officials testified that businesses would still be required to pay higher rates for the next six years in order to fully fund the account.
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