By Judy Erickson, government relations director
The new funding provided by the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment has created a host of opportunities for Minnesota's parks and trails. When the Legislature returns from the Easter/Passover break next Tuesday, April 14, it will begin finalizing how this funding will be appropriated. The Parks & Trails Council has been deeply engaged in the legislative process leading up to this point, and we have made it clear that this funding must be invested wisely so that Minnesotans see tangible improvements to our state’s park and trail systems.
Part of the legislative process, and sometimes legislative strategy, is to introduce several bills simultaneously that lay out multiple policy options for legislators to debate. Because there have been a variety of valid approaches advanced by park and trail stakeholders, it was particularly important this year to give legislators several different options to consider with regard to park and trail legacy funding.
One approach has been to create an appropriation formula – a defined percentage for Minnesota's state park and trails, a defined percentage for metropolitan parks and trails and a defined percentage for a new grants program for parks and trails of regional significance. Gov. Tim Pawlenty proposed an allocation formula of 38 percent for state parks and trails, 38 percent for metropolitan regional parks and trails and 24 percent for Greater Minnesota regional parks and trails. Other park and trail interests proposed a 45-45-10 split with the 10 percent going to Greater Minnesota regional parks and trails. Many times a formula approach works for the Legislature, in this case, it does not.
In response to legislative resistance to a formula, the Parks & Trails Council worked on developing a bill based on the governor's recommendations for state parks and trails that incorporated input from legislators while sticking to many of our own priorities. HF1493 was introduced by Rep. Leon Lillie (DFL-North St. Paul) and SF1729 was introduced by Sen. Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook).
The 45-45-10 formula is reflected in HF1674 (Rep. Alice Hausman, DFL-St. Paul) and its companion SF1730 (Sen. Ellen Anderson, DFL-St. Paul). This bill also included a framework and appropriation for all three park systems, and a spending framework for metropolitan regional parks. Because of legislative concerns with formulas, these bills are not moving forward.
A third bill, HF2249 (Rep. Bev Scalze, DFL-Maplewood) and its companion SF2043 (Sen. Patricia Torres-Ray, DFL-Minneapolis) were introduced appropriating funds for metropolitan regional parks and also included a spending framework for metropolitan regional parks that was developed for HF1674 and SF1730.
A fourth bill, HF1967 (Rep. Larry Haws, DFL-St. Cloud) and its companion SF1564 (Sen. Rick Olseen, DFL-Harris) were introduced establishing a grants program for non-metro parks and trails at 24 percent of the overall Park and Trail Legacy fund proceeds. During House hearings, the bill was amended to create a grants program only, but with no specific percentages.
The House has held hearings on the four major approaches to allocating the Parks and Trails Fund as well as many park and trail project bills. This past week, the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance Division assembled its recommendations for the Parks and Trails Fund, using HF1493 as the vehicle. HF1493 now contains funding for Minnesota's state park and trail system at $21.558 million for the biennium, metropolitan parks and trails at $22.1 million for the biennium, creates a solar energy grant program for parks and trails of regional significance at $3 million for the biennium and a grants program for parks and trails of regional significance at $6.1 million for the biennium.
This approach had overwhelming support by committee members and bill author, Rep. Leon Lillie, said, "it was a fair bill and was a real representation of Minnesota values." HF1493 was referred to the House Cultural and Outdoor Resources Finance Division where further hearings will be held and it will be considered for inclusion in the Legacy funding bill, HF1231.
Because of the timing of the division's work on the eve of the legislative break, you will not be able to see the changes made to HF1493 on the legislative web site. HF1493 has to be reported to the floor before the changes to the bill will appear. The next floor session is Tuesday, April 14.
In the Senate, the Senate Subcommittee on Parks, chaired by Sen. Patricia Torres Ray (DFL-Minneapolis) will be assembling the park and trail legacy bill. This subcommittee held one overview hearing and a hearing last week on the three separate bills providing funding for state parks and trails (SF1729) metropolitan parks and trails (SF2043) and grants for parks and trails of regional significance (SF1564). The Senate will most likely begin assembling its park and trail legacy funding bill after the April 16 finance deadline (see story on session).
