Wild rice bill moves forward with Senate language

House and Senate negotiators agreed Thursday evening on legislation that would nullify the state’s 45-year-old rice water quality sulfate standard and require the Pollution Control Agency to adopt a new water quality rule.

The conference committee on HF3280*/SF2983 agreed to adopt the Senate language. The conference committee report will now head back to both bodies for approval.

The primary difference between the bills was an appropriation to the Department of Natural Resources to convene a wild rice workgroup and prepare a report. The Senate language appropriates $500,000 for that purpose while the House language would have appropriated $50,000.

Sen. Justin Eichorn (R-Grand Rapids) explained that the Senate’s reasoning for a higher appropriation was to ensure the efforts were effective.

WATCH Full video of the meeting

“We felt that having that money in place would help with what we wanted to do with wild rice restoration in particular,” Eichorn said. “We thought that’s something the tribes were asking for and something the advocates for the bill were asking for. Because, at the end of the day, we all agree that wild rice is an important asset to the state and we did want to do something that would actually be beneficial.”

In a letter sent to the conferees Thursday, Gov. Mark Dayton characterized the bill as an “extreme approach” that would remove important protections for wild rice, conflict with federal law and guarantee ongoing litigation.

Dayton said that without modifications, he would be forced to veto the bill.