House, Senate reach agreement on $102 million environment trust fund bill

— UPDATED at 2:16 p.m. following House vote

Environmental and Natural Resources Trust Fund conferees reached agreement Wednesday evening on a $102.03 million bill that would fund 108 projects for education and outdoor recreation, fish and wildlife, and water and conservation throughout the state.

The money would go to state agencies and departments plus community groups engaged in environmental or natural resource protection and management.

Projects and the amounts come from the annual recommendations of the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources. Fund dollars are generated by the state lottery proceeds and investment income. The trust fund has provided approximately $1.1 billion combined to more than 1,700 projects around the state since 1991.

[MORE: View the final report]

Sponsored by Rep. Sydney Jordan (DFL-Mpls) and Sen. Foung Hawj (DFL-St. Paul), the bill was repassed 117-15 by the House Thursday. If the Senate does the same, HF3426*/SF3857 would go to the governor.

(House Photography file photo)

Of the 108 funded projects, 67% are statewide initiatives, 16% are in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, 12% are regional, and 3% span the metro and other regions.

[MORE: View the spreadsheet]

Agreement, but with ‘a gaping hole’

The annual legislation incorporating the commission’s recommendations is typically non-controversial, with all recommendations for projects and their funding amounts being included.

This year, however, only 108 of the 109 recommended projects are in the agreement.

Neither the House nor Senate included a $1.25 million grant to Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness for an “Outdoor Learning Professional Development for Educators and Administrators” program.

Republicans objected to that funding based on their conflict-of-interest allegations surrounding Rep. Alex Falconer (DFL-Eden Prairie) and his connections with the group.

House Republicans filed an ethics complaint on the issue, which eventually found no probable cause for the case, but still negotiated the funding removal.

That did not sit well with Sen. Jennifer McEwen (DFL-Duluth).

“This is a gaping hole,” she said. “Minnesotans, I think, are sitting up and taking notice of the politicization of these funds that are not meant to be politicized.”

She said it’s a shame that because of Republican’s “clearly spurious accusations against an excellent nonprofit” children will be deprived of a unique wilderness experience that can be life changing. “It’s not OK to punish people for their political views by taking away educational opportunities from kids.”

Rep. Josh Heintzeman (R-Nisswa) has a different perspective, namely that the LCCMR needs to be extremely careful when making its recommendations to ensure an unbiased process is followed.

It’s extremely important to hold organizations to “a very high standard when it comes to these funds,” he said.

Anti-fraud policy changes

The agreement includes several anti-fraud provisions, all from the House side, including:

• requiring all Department of Natural Resources staff assigned grants management responsibilities to complete annual training on financial reconciliation and fraud prevention;
• requiring the DNR to conduct at least one in-person unannounced monitoring visit before final payment is made on all grants awarded in an amount of $50,000 or more;
• conducting a pre-award risk assessment for community grants awarded for an amount less than $50,000; and
• requiring community grant recipients to acquire a surety bond or an approved fiscal agent before funds are distributed.