Legislative Update – March 3, 2022

Greetings Northlanders,

I hope this e-mail update finds you and your family well. The pace at the State Capitol continues to be busy with lengthy committee agendas. To stay up to date, House Public Information Services publishes Session Daily, featuring nonpartisan recaps of legislative activity every day. If you have any friends, family, or neighbors who you think would be interested in receiving these updates, invite them to subscribe here.

New Economic Forecast

Earlier this week, Minnesota Management and Budget announced a new economic forecast showing a $9.25 billion budget surplus for the current biennium. This is good news and shows our economy is certainly headed in the right direction following two years of tremendous challenges. We will need to move forward somewhat cautiously though because the forecast doesn’t incorporate inflationary costs or the various impacts of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine.

Despite the historic surplus figure, working families, seniors, and students are facing struggles as they work to overcome the economic difficulties the pandemic caused. With this record budget surplus, we have the ability to help Minnesotans better navigate these difficulties, including rising costs in their everyday lives. I hope we can come together this session to deliver targeted tax cuts to working families and seniors while making productive investments in areas like health care, child care, and education so everyone can have a strong future.

Legislation to Strengthen Cook County

Last week, House committees had public hearings on two of my bills to benefit Cook County residents; one would improve health care and the other would bolster our region’s economy. The first bill would allow North Shore Health (NSH) in Grand Marais to increase its critical access hospital capacity from 16 beds to 25. NSH is the only hospital and care center in Cook County, along with an attached long-term care facility. State law has a moratorium on projects to create new hospital critical care bed capacity, and my bill would provide an exception to allow the facility to put some nursing home beds in layaway status and designate them for the hospital for use as swing beds. Right now, the hospital’s current cost structure is challenging the hospital’s current viability. The bill could generate an additional $800,000 per year in Medicare revenue.

The other bill allows Cook County to renew its 1% lodging tax for another 15 years. Proceeds from the sales tax fund Visit Cook County, the regional event and visitor’s bureau charged with promoting tourism, the county’s number one industry. Visit Cook County works to raise awareness of the region which supports visitor growth, promotes jobs and economic opportunities, and provides locals with activities, events, music, arts, and culture, contributing to a high quality of life.

New International Falls Wellness Center

This week I presented my bill to the House Capital Investment Committee to fund the new Kerry Park Health and Wellness Center in International Falls. The proposed facility will feature a new fitness center, ice rink, and community room along with outdoor recreation components including a playground, skate park, splash pad, sledding hill, and more.

The city of International Falls has worked thoughtfully to develop a master plan for its park facilities to best serve local residents and those from surrounding communities. Kerry Park will be a multigenerational facility for people in and around International Falls including kids and families who need child care, seniors who seek a place to gather, and everyone in between. As a border community, International Falls faces some unique challenges. I’m hopeful we can deliver the funding necessary to build this facility which will improve residents’ quality of life and strengthen our local economy.

Investing in Our Outdoor Heritage

I was recently honored to be appointed to the Lessard-Sams Outdoor Heritage Council, the panel responsible for recommending investments from the state’s Outdoor Heritage Fund. The fund receives 33% of proceeds from the sales tax enacted following the 2008 passage of the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment. The purpose of the fund is to restore, protect, and enhance wetlands, prairies, forests, and habitat for fish, game, and wildlife. Since 2010, lawmakers have invested over $1.2 billion from the Outdoor Heritage Fund, investing in more than 400 projects across the state toward conservation and preservation.

This week, the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee discussed this year’s recommendations from the Lessard-Sams Council containing over $155 million worth of projects all across the state. Projects include native prairie protection, wetland restoration, trout stream enhancement, public wildlife land enhancements, shallow lake enhancement, forest fragmentation prevention, and more. Minnesotans care enough about their outdoor heritage they raised their own taxes to protect it. I look forward to these important investments reaching the House Floor soon.

Don’t hesitate to contact me with your feedback and ideas, or if I can ever be of assistance. It’s an honor to represent you.

Sincerely,

Rob Ecklund
State Representative