Dear Neighbor,
The House on Thursday passed its version of drought relief for Minnesota farmers. The $10.1 million package provides direct grants to farmers affected by last year's dry weather, along with additional funds for the Rural Finance Authority to issue loans to those who suffered crop and livestock losses. The final piece of the bill provides $100,000 in transportation assistance to farmers who purchased hay to supplement their feed supply.
Although I'm glad we finally took action on the bill, it's not going help all those who saw their crops dry up. Large parts of Minnesota were determined to be at the highest levels of drought last year, and the amount of funding in this bill will not reach all those who were affected.
Interestingly, a bill that granted additional money to the DNR for replanting trees and helping local units of government with water conservation efforts was added to the ag relief bill, and it contained more funding than the ag bill did. Over 13 million dollars was the total of the DNR portion of the bill, fully $3 million more than went to farmers.
Although grateful for the funding received, I think we could have done better for our state's farmers. Those with livestock, especially, were hurt as they had to make the painful decision of either trying to purchase expensive hay, or else selling off all or part of their herds because the drought greatly impacted their own hay fields and pastures.
The Senate will be considering its own drought relief package this coming week. It's my hope that when this bill comes back from conference committee it will be much improved over the bill passed in the House.
In other news, the deadline to enact legislation preventing Minnesota employers from suffering a significant tax increase is rapidly approaching.
A bill must be signed into the law by Tuesday replenishing the state’s depleted unemployment insurance trust fund, otherwise a tax increase will take effect. You may recall the Senate already approved a bill to fix this issue on a bipartisan, veto-proof vote. The hang-up remains in the House, where the majority has not brought this legislation to the floor, even though it's supported by Gov. Walz, House Republicans, Senate Republicans, and most Senate Democrats.
House Republicans made a move this week to declare urgency on the issue and pass a bill, but House Democrats blocked that effort. This is causing unnecessary strain for Minnesotans at a time we already are facing higher costs and the state has a $9.3 billion surplus.
Expect to hear more on this issue and other developments from the House soon and, as always, I appreciate your input.
Sincerely,
Paul