Dear Neighbors,
The 1st and 2nd committee deadlines are today, Friday, so much of our work this week has been spent in committee meetings as we debate and vote on dozens of bills. As a member of the Legacy, Capital Investment, and Environment and Natural Resources Committees, I have a chance to work on issues that directly impact our communities and region including preserving our great outdoors and funding public infrastructure projects.
Last Friday, I was in Grand Portage for legislative day and spoke with Tribal Leaders, Cook County Leaders, and other leaders from the area. If you’d like to learn more about my visit, I encourage you to read an article and listen to a radio interview I did with WTIP recapping the day.
As always, I appreciate your support and partnership as I do my best to represent you, your family, and our communities. Thank you!
Emergency Aid for Ambulance Services
Legislation that I am co-authoring that provides aid to licensed ambulance service providers, received its first committee hearing Tuesday in the Health Finance and Policy Committee. House File 3992 helps EMS providers who are struggling under the current fee-for-service model that has not been working for some time, leaving rural areas of the state with dwindling access to ambulances and other EMS options.
This short-term funding would act as a bridge to address the real-time concerns with access. In addition to this emergency funding, I continue to work with my colleagues to find long-term solutions that address the root causes of the problem in hopes of providing structural support to make sure EMS services remain strong in the Northland and across rural Minnesota.
The bill establishes an aid program for licensed ambulance service providers, administered by the commissioner of revenue and makes a one-time appropriation of $122.5 million for the program. While this may seem like a lot, this dollar amount was arrived upon after discussions with stakeholders including cities, counties, health care providers, and more. The bill was passed out of the Health Finance and Policy Committee and referred to the Taxes Committee where it awaits further action.
National Ag Day
We celebrated National Ag Day this week!
Thank you to all our farmers who do an incredible job feeding our communities, state, nation, and world! While agriculture isn’t necessarily as big of a player in the local economy of the Northland when compared to the prairies of Southwestern Minnesota, it is still a vital part of Minnesota’s past, present, and future.
To the farmers in our communities, thank you!
Visitors and Meetings this Week
We had many visitors and events this week in St. Paul. Thank you all for visiting and advocating on behalf of the issues that are most important to you!
Sen. Hauschild and I met with a group of local residents advocating on behalf of the Gitchi Gami Trail.
Here is a picture of the parade lineup for the St. Urho’s Day celebration in Finland. It was great to see so many of you!
Visitors from the Ely MAPE group visited this week.
Vickie Hagberg, Regional Director of the Northeast Region of the Small Business Development Center, was in St. Paul this week.
Staying in Touch
Please be sure to reach out to me or my office if you have any questions, or comments, or would like to discuss your priorities. You can call me at 651-296-2190 or at rep.roger.skraba@house.mn.gov.
Have a great day!
Roger