Speaker of the House
Steve Sviggum

(St. Paul, MN...) House Republican leaders announced a package of initiatives targeted to rural Minnesota including another round of substantial property tax cuts for farm families. The package also includes targeted farm relief, rural economic development initiatives focused on worker shortages and technology, help for rural nursing homes, and the elimination of regulations that hurt our farmers's competitiveness.

The agenda comes as the result of more than 100 hearings and meetings in rural Minnesota this summer and fall.

"As Republicans, we understand not everyone has benefitted from the strong Minnesota economy and that our farm economy specifically has suffered," said Sviggum, who is also a farmer. "The most appropriate thing we can do for farmers is to permanently cut high property taxes on agricultural land to help with their bottom line."

The property tax cuts will be modeled after the Republican approach in 1999 which allowed farmers to exempt a higher percentage of their land from the education portion of their property taxes. In 1999, Republicans were successful in cutting farm property taxes by $52.6 million. The 2000 initiative will be around $30-40 million.

In addition to further property tax cuts, the Republican agenda includes an initiative to make our farmers more competitive by freeing them from burdensome regulations. The "Big Scissors" project will also eliminate regulations in rural nursing homes, allowing them to spend more time on patient care than on handling paperwork.

Republicans will also propose several initiatives aimed at bringing technology to rural Minnesota strengthening the workforce of smaller communities, including a job skills inventory and grants for wired and wireless technology. Addressing deficiencies in rural schools caused by declining enrollments and funding the second year of secondary vocational education will also be on the rural agenda.

"We need to make sure everyone in Minnesota has the opportunity to connect to this growing, high tech economy," added Rep. Bob Ness, Chairman of the House Agriculture Finance Committee.

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House Republican Caucus 2000 Agenda for Rural Minnesota

Agriculture Land Property Tax Relief Republicans will continue their efforts to provide property tax relief statewide and focused in agricultural disaster areas.

Agricultural Set-Aside Program Creates a three year set-aside program for agricultural land in Northwest Minnesota that has been severely damaged due to flood or crop damage and declared a Presidential Disaster County. The package also includes $4 million of targeted property tax relief for farm land in those disaster counties.

Ethanol Program Deficiency Full funding of annual payments to ethanol producers in the newer ethanol plants (Albert Lea, Bingham Lake, Buffalo Lake, Luverne, Preston and St. Paul) These newer plants are currently capped below the statutory level.

Secondary Vocational Education Restores funding for 192 high school level vocational agriculture programs.

Rural Declining Pupil Aid This funding provides rural districts with additional revenue based on declining pupil counts.

Big Scissors Project This project cuts red tape for farm families and nursing homes. It would modify or repeal rules that place Minnesota farmers or food processors at a competitive disadvantage with competition in other states. It would also reduce the amount of paperwork required by nursing homes.

Equitable Rural Nursing Home Rate Reimbursement Nursing homes face great challenges in maintaining an adequate level of staffing to serve resident needs and the inequality in rate reimbursements only add to this problem. House Republicans will work to bring back equity without sacrificing the quality of resident care.

Community Job Skills Inventory One of the obstacles to attracting high paying jobs is the employers' perception of uncertainty of workforce availability and unknown skill levels. Unemployment rates do not tell the whole story about the potential of an area to provide workers, particularly for good paying jobs. A workforce identification system has been developed to conduct inventories on a county or regional basis.

Wired and Wireless Technology Grants (MMDS)-- The lack of access to high speed Internet connection and telephone lines is often sited as an obstacle to economic development. Grants to provide this new technology may be particularly useful in areas where there are a large number of very small towns.

E-Business Institute A pilot program has been conducted to assist rural businesses in making effective use of the Internet and other e-commerce technologies. Having access is the first step, but having a strategy for using technology is also critical. This Institute will provide statewide assistance.

DTED Tourism Loan Fund The Tourism Loan Fund is currently out of money. Replenishing the fund will assist areas of the state where tourism is very popular.