welcome to Minnesota legislative report our Region's longest running public affairs program lawmakers from Northeastern Minnesota are joining us today for a recap of the week's activities at the state capital this is your opportunity to call or email your legislative questions and have them answered live on the air Minnesota legislative report starts [Music] now hello and welcome to Minnesota legislative report I'm your host Tony ceric the clock continues to tick on deadlines at the state capital what issues remain alive this session viewers tonight this is your chance to join in the conversation email or call in with questions for the lawmakers that represent you to ask a question dial the phone number on your screen or you can email your questions to ask pbsn north.org joining us in studio today is representative Dave lizard a deller from Aurora representing District 7B and also with us is Senator Grant hild also a member of the dfl from Hermantown representing District 3 welcome represent lizard and Senator hild thanks for having us you absolutely so uh we are ticking away the days of the legislative session and uh every legislator can introduce as many bills as they want and there are always a whole bunch of issues but you have a funneling system of all these deadlines of what can be considered and we passed a pretty significant deadline right now where uh it's called third deadline which means basically if an issue hasn't received a hearing it is not probably going to move forward and so how do you feel about making it to this point in the process and what is left to be done in the session we'll start with representative Liz Gard well first of all thank you for uh having us on and uh yes the deadline is um passed but you know there are um ways that that certain bills last minute can get in um through leadership if leadership deems them worthy then then we can move in other bills um this session is um you know I think the B any we have over 5,000 um bills a lot of bills that um didn't get hearings a lot of bills that were more of a a messaging um for certain um colleagues of ours that were were never going to go anywhere but in some situations they uh stirred up a lot of uh emotion and and a lot of attention um you know which is unfortunate because it takes away from um the the the real meat and potatoes of what this session is about Senator house chop well yeah you mentioned all the that were introduced I think I have the second highest in the Senate I'm learning as a new member maybe how much to take on uh but the good news is I think that they're all worthy and uh representative lard is exactly right one example of what has moved through sort of around the deadlines is this helium issue we've discovered helium in Lake County and Northern Minnesota and we were drafting the legislation with the DNR to make sure that we can make sure our communities get the resources from that but uh we had to go through the rules committee to make sure we met those deadlines and we're still going to push that bill through here uh during this session well let's take that issue before we jump into any others then so yes healing was found in northeastern Minnesota a resource that uh there was no uh permanent process even considered because we didn't know we had it and so uh you all took on the effort to figure that out Senator hosel can you talk a bit about what we might expect around um the permitting of helium the potential permitting of helium yeah that's exactly right Minnesota surprisingly had no rules around gas extraction and so we got to work on that the big thing we want to make sure is that this industry can continue moving forward and is not sort of distracted or stopped in any way so this will allow Discovery drilling to continue it will also make sure that our local communities counties and schools get the royalties and the pooling from the helium that's extracted the big thing that's different about helium versus other resources is there's actually a pool of gas under the ground and the concern is that even if you're extracting from a private well it's possible that that gas is under state land federal forests other areas that should get resources back to the public so we want to make sure those pooling rules are in place so that we benefit in northern Minnesota from Helium extraction um we're really excited we're going to expedite the rule making to 24 months originally it was going to be 36 or 48 so we're really making sure that this industry can get going and I'm excited to keep pushing this issue forward represent liard you serve on the the Committees in the house that would be looking at this issue how's it looking in the house uh we are going to have a hearing um coming up this week and uh and I think that it'll go good I think that um you know you need to um have the conversation and bring stakeholders together um the one of the things that people don't understand is is like Grant and I um you know since we've been asked to kind of task with this we work with people behind the scenes not everything is done in the committee um and you have to work with the agencies you need to work with stakeholders what are the concerns when you're shaping legislation to be able to bring it forward and even through the process it may change um with amendments um so the final product we can get 68 34 and one and those are the most the three most important um numbers uh at the capital you need 68 votes in the house you need 34 in the Senate you need the governor to sign it so um when things work through a process that's what we're aiming to do great so uh both of you sit on the Committees that deal with environment and natural resources are there other pering reformer ideas that are being considered this session uh represent lizard we'll start with you this time yes um so in not just in the environment but there is uh the transmission um line reform and um um um it kind of started uh as we moved to Green energy right and so um we the um President Biden had mentioned um permit reform and streamlining and then the the Governor from Michigan had mentioned it and then Governor walls mentioned it and so Grant and I knew that this this conversation was going to happen this summer and we saw an opportunity because we've been talking about per permit reform for the last uh 14 years or 20 years but in the last 14 years we have not been able to do any permit reform streamlining making efficiency all these different things that help um certainty for companies to do things and so what we did is we work with the agencies we work with the DNR we work with the mpca Minnesota Pollution Control agency very much no acronyms on TV today U but um and we work with them and knowing that um because Grant and I both carried the state Chambers um um um permit reform and it was a wonderful document that they did great great um analysis of the shortcomings and where we can improve and Grant and I both knew that we couldn't get that quite over the Finish Line with um the makeup of the body but uh and we agreed with the majority of all of that but we did see an opportunity to move something and that is what we focused on and I'm so proud of my colleague Grant um he uh for the first time in 14 years keep this in mind in a divided government if the a certain party wanted to get something done they'd shut down government to get it done but in a trifecta with grants leadership on the on the Senate side he got it all the way passed off the senate floor and now it's going to move over to the the house I've been working with my colleagues educating and advocating talking about the importance of this and I am confident that if we can set the political games aside and focus on what will improve the permitting in the state of Minnesota we'll get that across the Finish Line Senator H can you talk about some of the specifics for permitting reform I can you know this green energy uh transformation that we need to go through over the next 20 or so years is really critical so that's really where this bill came about in the first place and representative list guard's exactly right we sort of saw this opportunity how do we broaden this to other Industries and so the initiative that we're working on is called something uh called coordinated project plans what this would allow is a company that's going through an environmental impact statement can apply to the Department of Natural Resources or the um uh agency that oversees pollution and say we would like you all to coordinate this project through the permitting process that just sort of makes sure that there's transparency make sure there's some deadlines for meeting those applications and has having some transparency back to the legislature and the governor saying you know what we didn't meet that deadline the reason is lack of Staff a federal permit issue something that went wrong with the project whatever it might be but let's have some transparency to why perhaps these projects aren't moving forward so that we can work on Solutions um and that's really what our bill is focused on coordinating among the agencies being more efficient and helping deliver for these projects are is any of this reform going to impact any of the mining projects that uh have been on the horizon absolutely if a mining project has an Eis uh Cleveland Cliffs could have an e environmental impact statement thank you uh a environmental impact statement then they certainly could apply for a coordinated project plan but I want to be abundantly clear this is not just a mining permitting reform this is businesses the chamber Cirrus Aircraft all sorts of Industries reaching out to us to say we've got to figure out this permitting process because Minnesota has to be competitive at both a national but also a global scale so I want to make sure that we understand across our different Industries if you have an environmental impact statement you can apply for a coordinated project plan and have better efficiencies with your agencies so um having two folks who represent the Iron Range on the panel today uh you know certainly there's a lot of talk about non-ferrous Mining and permits and so we we get questions here I know there are questions out in the public about uh is there anything that can be done from a legislative level in Minnesota to impact that re those projects either moving them forward or uh not moving them forward uh represent Liz legard is there anything that can happen from the Minnesota legislative perspective that could impact those projects and the permitting process well so I'll just go back to um LTV that you know became polyat now it's new Range uh and was a very very long process but in 2019 they received all of their permits um both um state and federal and then um you know then the challenge uh in court starts to happen and I think we lose focus of of that um you know um they followed the process they met exceeded both state and federal standards and uh they received it but then all of a sudden then you have the individuals that want to to challenge and they they want to sue and then they sue and settle and delay delay delay and that's what what I don't know if we can do anything legislatively I just believe that we need to have a stream we need to have um certainty so companies want all companies I don't care if you're in mining I don't care if you're an egg people are not trying to um not follow the process or not meet or exceed the standards they just don't want us to keep continue to move the goalpost and that's what my frustration is with the people that were opposed to these they um in my mind is delay delay delay to kill the project right and capital investment the the minerals might not go anywhere but the capital will at the end of the day it is capital investment rate of return and and we live in a business world we live in a global economy but we also live in a a global environment and and we should not be exporting our jobs or our conscience to third world countries that don't have the same environmental or labor standards that we do in this country just think about it Tony we went from no cars to cars to Mars in the last 120 some years we have the technology we have we just have to have the will to do the right thing we need to stop exporting all of our good jobs we have people in this in this state and in this country that are committed to this country wasn't built on fear Tony it was built with courage and Ingenuity that's what this country is based on and and I see this um political divide and it's US versus them and Grant and I and that's where it's just like this permit that we're talking about let's find a way to compromise let's find a way to bring people together this permit reform that um Grant and I are working on is supported by um labor it's supported by businesses and supported by um the what are they called the not the anti the um conservation all different types of groups that's what we need to do as legislators people are using our way of life in mining and in Timber and all this as a political football and we just can't afford to do that no more so legislatively um I don't know I think if we if we just allow companies to follow a process meter exceed both state and federal standards let them go quit trying to to delay or to um move the goalpost that's what they want is certainty Tony so we saw legislation this year that and in Prior years that would put a pause or slow down the process uh same question to you Senator Hilder is there anything on the other side that could be done uh from the legislature to ex expedite this process or is it truly up to the courts right now and up to the judicial system yeah you know I think there's a lot of issues right both at the federal level and in the legal system that that representative lard just got done talking about I will say this broader permitting reform that we're working on is about meeting the green economy needs that we have um and I think nonfer mining is a part of that right we've got to make sure that we have the minerals in order to produce the technology that's going to let us deliver clean energy in the future in America and in Minnesota so this is a really key part of why we added this amendment to this Green Technology transmission bill because we understand that it's not just the transmission and the utilities it's the materials it's the minerals it's the things that go into the technology that are going to matter um representative lard and I also had the opportunity to go to Washington DC before the session to really Advocate to our federal delegation on the issues that matter to North Eastern Minnesota and I think that's something that legislators and local elected officials need to understand it's not just your purview in your legislative body or in your city council that matter it's your voice it's how you advocate for your region in all Realms and us going to DC advocating with those folks I think that that sort of shows that we're fighting on all angles when it comes to Industry in northeastern Minnesota and and I just like de feat on this and I'm not going to try to get into to to partisan stuff but um this last week I was very very disappointed in um my um Republican colleagues when we worked and they knew what this bill was they knew which Bill are you speaking of right now we're the the permit reform with the amendment that Senator Hile and I are worked on and so the State Chamber supports it labor supports it the very Industries up north support it and when Grant offered it on the senate floor they did not vote for it that's the political football that we can't do anymore we couldn't get the the ultimate did it go as far as that everybody wanted no but it moved the needle it hasn't been there hasn't been permit reform or any advancement in over 14 years and Grant got it over on the Senate side and I'm going into um this next couple of weeks to be able to get it over on the house side I don't want to play politics no more we're not going to be able to get the whole chamber bill but we did something that we're moving the needle forward and the the chamber supports it labor supports it the community support it and and we just need to get it done that's the political stuff that I that's very very disheartening for me is that what are we doing let's just work together and learn how to compromise and take what we can get together looking forward to more questions from viewers please call or email in uh and we will keep going here we're going to back out in more big picture so this is not a budget year you all set a budget every two years and you did that last year so the biggest item that's always on the agenda this second year is a capital investment or bonding Bill and this is where the state borrows money at a low interest rate to invest in infrastructure projects that have Regional or Statewide significance and so if you could both take a a bit of time to talk about where that's at in the process and any specific projects especially for those in northeastern Minnesota that they would care about uh that you hope to see cross the finish line Senator house child we'll start with you well I'm really hopeful that we'll have a capital investment bill this year um you know Northern Minnesota we don't have the same population density the property tax base that a lot of suburbs or larger uh communities have in addition to that you know places like Bloomington Edina have a huge sales tax base that they can build wealth and construct big projects in their communities Northern Minnesota is where bonding is needed most because we can reinvest those State dollars from the Metro back into Northeastern Minnesota so it's a top priority for us to make sure we get a capital investment Bill the challenge is going to be getting the minority to agree to the bill it requires a super majority to vote on a bonding bill as you might be familiar the only Bill in the legislature that requires that and so there'll be some hard negotiations going forward but my big thing is it can't just be no it has to be how do we get to yes how do we get these Investments back in northern Minnesota we have a lot of Republican colleagues in northern Minnesota I'm hoping that they lend their voice to that that they join us bipartisanly to say yes we want a bonding Bill there shouldn't be strings attached we should get these Investments back in our community because they really really matter I think of projects like in Proctor where they have utility and water infrastructure that they want to do for New housing projects we have a fire hall in Rice Lake that's really critical to the regional safety of of the region um these are projects that really matter to our communities and we don't have the same property tax base that other places do let's invest in those communities I hope they'll join us we certainly heard uh Republicans at this desk in Prior weeks from northern Minnesota supportive of doing something and so reprap Liz leard uh would you uh want to share any of the projects you hope makes it into a final package that would impact your District Andor nor Eastern Minnesota well you know what I'm supposed to say because you had the same Senator that I did that's Senator Thomas Sony were they're all number one you know and so um they're all worth wild projects um some um probably are easier to get over the Finish Line you can't have them all um but I think that that's what's important is is to you know see what you can and we don't know the the ultimate number and so it's like do we get a dollar amount do you get a project amount so when you have um you have 2011 legislators you have a certain amount of money and you need their vote how does it all shake out right and The Greatest Secret is there is no sec secrets so if I tell you what my number one is well then you know 50% of the people are going to try to oppose it the next 25% are going to use that to get whatever they want and then the other 25 is just cookie cutter that doesn't matter so I uh think that there are a lot of worthy projects and I'm going to work extremely hard to get them over the finish line so for the folks at home then how do these decisions get made who's ultimately responsible for putting such a complicated package together to gain this super majority of support yeah the capital investment committees have their chairs they do tours all around the state as a committee to look at these various project proposals in addition the governor comes forward with his capital investment proposal to sort of lay out from a state perspective state agencies and uh State facilities what he would like to see and then the higher ed institutions also present their bill for uh maintenance and new building projects so they're asking for a half a billion dollars themselves um so there's a substantial amount of need out there um but I would say when the politics comes into play it's at that leadership level between the Republican caucus and the dfl AK saying okay what's the amount we're willing to borrow and what do we need to get the yes votes and that's where I hope too much politics is not played My Hope Is that we get to a place where we understand the critical Investments that are needed and that there's not a bunch of strings that get attached we wait until the very last day of session and everything possibly blows up like it did in 2021 and 2020 so my goal is let's get it done let's get these Investments and make sure we're putting people to work and then the other thing is is that um certain colleagues um on on both sides want to tell the other side um what they should be bonding for and so it's it's a it's a philosophy it's what they view um that that what should be bonded for and what shouldn't but um say that you're down in um minaka for you to bond for a fire hall is nothing but if you're in a small town of uh Gilbert and you wanted to bond for a fire hall that is a much different ass and that's where people need uh what Grant is saying about wealth and and in property taxes and what can you generate you know in Greater Minnesota in in Iron Range in particular it's a much bigger Challenge and so um the bonding is extremely important and if we don't get it then it then our our communities struggle just remember 68% of all money generated in the state of Minnesota approximate is generated from the 7 County Metro doesn't come from the iron r you know Rochester St Cloud Morehead duth other economic hubs that's what generates the wealth and then you get into areas where like the Iron Range and uh we have uh production tax and L property taxes in which we're probably going to have I hope we have that conversation those are our property those are our property taxes you know and those property taxes um we need to start utilizing them more on the core Iron Range um so when we go down for bonding it's not such a big ask and the capital investment bill or this bonding Bill does not need to pass I mean Senator hild you said you know there were there were years where nothing happened and then you just move on so this legislative session is also unique where if you guys don't do anything the legislature doesn't do anything government doesn't shut down things just kind of move on as is is that correct that's exactly right and that's why I think it's all the more possibilities for politics to come in because you can can kind of play around you can negotiate on things that maybe uh aren't needed or or are making things difficult for certain members um so let's just have a clean bonding Bill and let's prioritize these infrastructure projects I mean to me it's the simplest bill before us it should be yeses across the board it should be chosen by the local legislator what projects get funded and we should make sure those Investments happen it shouldn't be a political football game well we have some uh viewers who have some questions for you and so for this first one I don't know uh if this is a state issue or not but I'm going to ask the question anyways a caller wants to know uh why the state doesn't help get mining pension costs of living increases to help combat inflation and so it sounds like this is a a a minor from nor Eastern Minnesota ER not o h is there any role that the Minnesota state legislature can play in mining pensions uh I'll start with represent lizard because I believe you have a mining pension from your days working at LTV yeah um I do not believe no that uh the state can play a role in that okay anything to add yeah I would just say if it's a private pension it's probably not an area where the state gets involved okay uh another viewer uh writes in from night River and says States like Iowa Illinois and Washington don't tax any retirement income including pensions 401ks IAS and Social Security how come Minnesota taxes retirement incomes yeah we'll start with you Senator H it's it's a great question and it's something that I've been fighting on since I got here um you know folks that work hard and earn that retirement whether it's Social Security or pensions they shouldn't have to pay back into the system when they've already paid all those taxes all through their working lives um and so we fought hard last session on the Social Security taxation as well as pensions for firefighters police officers other public pensions to make sure that that was not taxed for a vast majority of minnesotans um in fact 8 5% of minnesotans will not see their social security or their public pensions taxed because of the legislation that we passed that's an issue that's been worked on for decades I mean how many times have you heard politicians from the Iron Range in northern Minnesota say Social Security taxes shouldn't be taxed well the truth is we did it last session um it was a heavy lift not everybody agreed with us um but we were able to get the tax chairs to help us get 1.2 billion every single year into the future back into the pockets of our seniors and I think that's going to make a big difference when you talk about the top 15% of retirees that aren't getting this benefit a lot of those folks are in the upper rungs of uh society and and wealth I'm not saying we shouldn't try to chip away and keep working on it but we got the bread and butter middle class included in that bill and that's what really matters repr lard more to be done on this issue I yes we need to continue to work on it and just uh put things in perspective and that's why I was so uh blessed uh that Senator hild won and he was committed to the Social Security because because the session before um Senator um Bach and myself carry the legislation to eliminate the tax on social security um completely and um and we got it all the way um to the conference committee and it was going to happen and then it blew up and so and then what people don't understand is is that there's a makeup change then the next session there's different people there's different players at the table and um there's different you know mindsets and what people think should happen or not Senator deash Shel came in and he was a champion um and uh we partnered and we drove that conversation all the way to um not complete but a very very impactful um for the people that needed it most well let's keep those questions coming in from viewers at home another big issue that both of you uh have worked on is Emergency Medical Services ambulance services you both served along with some of your colleagues from Northeastern Minnesota on a task force who studied this issue where our ambulance services are are running at a deficit uh and there's a proposal out there it starts with uh Governor walls proposing some funding as a Band-Aid or stop Gap uh issue uh legislators in those seats Republican legislators uh in weeks prior have said not enough funding from The Proposal from Governor walls uh two questions for you and we're going to start with you represent Liz lagard first of all do you see this as a state issue you you know so much of uh the funding that goes for our Emergency Services fire and police and others come through local property taxes or local government and County Aid that that uh the state funds but beyond that is this the role for state government to be funding Emergency Medical Services with other state tax dollars and sorry it's a two-part question and is Governor walz's proposal enough or not okay well first I'll say that um I I carry the legislation and um you Carri the legislation for $120 million stop $12.5 million stop Gap um to stop the bleeding and what we did or I did in the Senate because that you know targets so the house gets a Target the Senate gets a Target and then the governor um um gets what he thinks it should be and so the targets are the the legislature decides roughly how much is going to be spent out of a big pot of money kind of the budget for that issue area got we don't set that leadership sets that okay y and so what I was committed to doing because everything happens towards the end so I didn't settle for the the amount that was budget it I worked with leadership and I drove that conversation and we passed it out of property taxes we passed it then out of uh um Big taxes and then we went right to Ways and Means so it is parked at Ways and Means for negotiation at the full 122.5 million and it's extremely important that um we get as much as as we can um and Governor walls and he's right in some sense that this is a much bigger conversation to your point um do I think that it it's a state uh the state needs to be involved I sure do um the system that was created years ago uh is not working anymore right in Greater Minnesota we're the ones that suffer the most because we're in a rural area we have an aging population well aging population the need is more um we have less volunteers um we the Medicare and Medicade rates aren't there so we are losing and we're bleeding money just nonstop with this with this with this issue so then what do we do we have to change the structure and that's where um people a lot smarter than me that are in this field are starting to look at different models how do we make this better because one one thing we can't do from being fiscally responsible we can't give $12.5 million to all the people that lost money and then not change anything then they come back next year and say well we lost more money again well if if it's not working how do we make it better and that's the conversation that is starting to to take place and uh and and the people the stakeholders that are they're actually doing it are starting to bring forward ideas that how can we make this better State responsibility and where do you think that dollar amount may end up it absolutely needs to be a state responsibility and I'll tell you why in Greater Minnesota and in northeastern Minnesota we are at a severe disadvantage and representative lard mentioned some of the reasons but the main one is that there are other areas that are more populated in Minnesota that have a private hospital or a large nonprofit running their ambulance service for them those services are making substantial amounts of money in those regions in fact if you look at the whole state for EMS license they're in the green as in they are net positive profit making however if you look at where they're not making profits guess where they are Northeastern Minnesota Central Minnesota and greater Minnesota because those services are then put on the local townships the local cities that have to put those on the property tax owners as a tax to fund those Emergency Medical Services and so it's this double whammy not only are we not benefiting from a Metro Hospital running it but we're also taxing our own citizens to fund this large Regional area for ambulance services so I want to make sure that we have some sort of structure that takes that profit from the state level how how this is all making money and says this is a a a requirement that the state makes sure we have adequate Medical Services whether your ZIP code is down in the Metro or if you're on Lake Vermilion we should make sure that if you dial 911 that you can trust an ambulance will show up and that there's not this inequal uh funding mechanism between the metro and greater Minnesota with regards to the governor's budget um I thought it was an interesting proposal um he presents $10 million for the Stop Gap and a $6 million allocation for Innovation zones uh uniquely what we found with the task force that representative and I uh representative larden I called for Northeastern Minnesota and Central Minnesota around otter taale County are the two areas that are suffering most and so what the governor's proposal says is let's send the aid to those two regions and let's try this Innovation Zone in those two areas to see if we can provide paramedic support sort of overlapping with the other services to make sure that those rural residents get a get an ambulance I think it's a good test case but to the representative's point we need to get more and that's why we're advocating at the state level to make sure we get what's adequate reform the agency that oversees this and does some Innovations to try to make it better so it sounds like there's some ideas about what the state could do on a go forward basis as well are there things other things from a local level or a federal level that need to be uh fixed or changed in order to make this work as well I know represent lizard you talked a bit about reimbursement rates reimbursement rates they definitely have to uh be increased when uh you're going and you're you're losing money on every run and it's being put on to Senator hild's point on the local taxpayers that are in our tax bases so weak up there what do you what do you think is going to happen these these these they're closing I mean you know we're losing ambulance services people are just saying we can't do it anymore right we can't afford to do it anymore and so if we don't get reimbursement rates at a federal level and we don't start to address this we're going to be in trouble and what's going to happen what happens is is that in Greater Minnesota these these these smaller entities well PE why would anybody move to Greater Minnesota if if there's no health care right or if there's no ambulance service because people want that security they want to know that they're going to be taken care of and that's how big it is to for reimbursement rates I got to jump real quick because um we have another problem and it's a crisis and that is um our hospitals um they have changed overall right so they're they're they're big systems right they're big systems and what is happening is in in rural hospitals they're starting to suffer they're starting to bleed right and if we don't find ways to help our rural hospitals where are they going where are the ambulances going to bring them that's what's scary about you know that issue so Republican legislators just this last week had been advocating for the full funding uh that both of you are advocating for uh we know though that money is tight this legislative session uh because it's not a budget year and so uh they're proposing taking money from existing projects and one of them that was mentioned actually is the Northstar rail Expressway which is the train that would go from duth to the Twin Cities with stops in between uh your thoughts on finding other ways to find this funding if you can't get the $120 million uh out of the existing Sur plus that's available are you willing to make some tradeoffs to make sure that you get to that Band-Aid level of$ 1220 some million dollar or will and and find money from other places or or or what are your other Solutions Senator hosch child will start with you yeah I just want to go really quickly back to your previous question one thing that I really think needs to happen on the Emergency Medical Services locally is these uh service areas were created in the 1970s and they haven't been changed since then and the state of Minnesota sets those service areas they did um back in the 1970s but then they sort of froze them under this emsrb which I know it's an acronym but it's the medical services regulatory board which is sat on by a bunch of indust Industry folks that manage that and they don't have the same authority to change those service areas as other um uh you know Commissioners or agencies do at the state level so one of the reforms we're looking at is changing that board so that they have more uh both authority to change those service areas but also that they're more transparent and responsive to the legislature and the governor to make sure we're looking at sort of some of those changes to come with that is some consolidation right we have to make the hard choices in our rural communities about what our ambulance services look like and how they can operate so hopefully by doing some of those reforms sending Aid and looking at Innovations we can sort of incentivize our local communities to think about how to do this better and I think they're willing to to have those conversations if we're there as a partner rather than sort of a a a regulator from the top down okay um to your to your second question you know I I'm I am glad that the Republicans are advocating for the issue that has been my top concern you know we got out front of this early during the interim had uh Town Halls roundtables representative lard and I called for the task force to be created at the state level and so I am really grateful that this has become such a bipartisan advocated issue and I think we'll see how those negotiations go does it come from another program do we have enough of a surplus right now it's over $3 billion um let's look at what might happen but I'm really glad to have bipartisan advocacy on this issue because we're going to do something for our communities and that's what matters and I'm definitely willing to um look at uh ways to you know some creative ways but you know just uh what you just commented on um where they suggested we take it from is political right um because they don't agree with the train and and uh um and and I just got to say this too because when you talk about the train let's just talk about the train for a second um you know this it's all about leveraging money right so the federal federal the feds they put out so much money um to that it's already allocated that it's going to be used for these trains somewhere in the country and uh and I think there was like eight different locations so the state of that was uh a billion dollar project 800 million from the I believe 800 million from the feds if we put in 200 million well let's do the math I just told you where all the money's generated 68% of all money generated in the state of Minnesota comes from the seven County Metro so they would be paying 68% of that 200 million that runs a train from the cities all the way to duth opening up that Corridor for the future so when people want to take shots at that it's it's it's what are we how are we leveraging our dollars or the estate's dollars to open up opportunity into the future so is that a place that we could take it from I don't know is it going to jeopardize getting $800 million or 600 whatever the million from the feds I don't want to jeopardize that are there other areas I'm always willing to because I think EMS is extremely important um moving forward if we don't if it can't be fully funded then we're in trouble because somebody is going to suffer now to Grant's point though the math already shows that there two districts two zones that are the worst right so why don't we focus if we don't get the money why don't we focus on the two that need it the most and then continue to have a conversation because next year's a budget year so if people are that committed to it let's have that conversation during the budget year of course I'll take 122.5 million because I'm a ranger but if the conversation has to happen more globally next year during a budget year because it should be an essential service it doesn't matter your ZIP code every everybody should be able to get uh an ambulance or the service they need when they need it then that conversation needs to happen next year I think that's what the governor was trying to say I I think his number was too small and why we positioned um us all the way to Ways and Means is because it's at the full amount so when they're doing negotiations at the leadership level we put the EMS conversation at the at at the strongest Point by that money being at 122.5 sitting in reason means we didn't accept Grant and I didn't accept the lower amount and it sounds like this issue and resolving it and finding out what the dollar amount is going to probably be something that happens at the very end of the legislative session all right uh more viewers are emailing and calling in their questions this is one we've received in multiple weeks uh will you support the Equal Rights Amendment to the Minnesota Constitution and so this is an amendment uh love for you guys to explain it it's been around for number of years uh Senator hosch child uh can you explain a bit about what the Equal Rights Amendment uh could do and then whether you support it or not yeah thank you Tony so the Equal Rights Amendment has been a battle that's been going on for Generations quite literally decades um and this is an amendment that would be added to the Constitution to have equal right rights based on uh your gender or your background or your sexuality all of those things and so that's a really important thing that women have been fighting for for like I said for decades and in the state Senate we have passed the Equal Rights Amendment last session so it's waiting for uh those negotiations to happen and if we can agree to something then it would go on the ballot uh in the upcoming elections to determine whether or not Minnesota wants to accept an Equal Rights Amendment which I think they would in the house yeah so I think in the house there it is a it's that's where the negotiations are happening um and I don't know exactly where they're at um you know they haven't broken what all is going to be in there so that like Senator H said they passed it in in the in the in the Senate we have not passed it in the house I don't think there's an agreement what should be in there or not so until that happens I I I fear that I don't know where it's going to be okay uh did you vote for it I did and and it received bipartisan support I think there were 8 to 10 Republicans that supported it so it it it's very well supported in the Senate with the position that we have and your position on it I will not um say if I'm going to vote for it depends on what's in it okay what do you think you need to see in it in order to Garner your support I think I it it needs to be less I mean I think a lot of people want to put a more and more into it and I just think that that's what where it gets complicated okay and so uh if this was passed it would be on the ballot in in the fall here that would depend on those negotiations okay the the Senate version is on the 2024 ballot another question AJ from duth wants to know how prescription drug pricing impacts greater or rural Minnesota and if there's anything that the legislature is doing to resp respond to prescription drug pricing yeah so uh it's 340b um and 340b is a uh is a federal program um that uh has worked for 20 some years and uh and all of a sudden in 2021 I believe um that big Pharma um found a loophole and was able to kind of uh take that money and draw that money um back into them and so uh I carried legislation and and we're hoping uh it had a very good hearing in the house um and uh they had a hearing in the Senate I think it's all the way to the conference committee wonderful and I hope that we uh get it accepted this is what I was talking about earlier about um prescription and then hospitals right and so um this was brought to me by uh um some Hospital organizations and there is no one opposed to this bill you should look it up 340b um and except big Pharma and big Pharma it to me makes billions and billions and billions of dollars and we have hospitals that are on the cffs on the Cuffs of closing we just had one closed down in in towards the in the cities and what is happening when I told you about these great big systems right Essentia wonderful organization built a $1 billion facility r here in do state of the York the best that you can do right well they have um smaller hospitals in Aurora and Virginia all over and what is happening is um my fear is when things get tight what is a what is an organization going to do an organization is going to cut cost and when you cut cost you start to cut Services when you cut Services then all of a sudden then you're then everyone has to go down to the the duth or they have to go somewhere and so this does this 340b it takes money from the the the billion dooll pharmaceutical companies and it gives it back to the hospitals and uh when it gives it back to the hospitals it allows them to go and negotiate with the local pharmaceu uh uh pharmacies and then they get a cut back and it also helps our mom and pop shop local pharmacies and the bigger chains it just takes the money from the very very rich pharmaceutical companies right the cor you know they and the worst thing Tony is they don't want this done in the state of Minnesota they want that fight in uh in Washington DC where things are so dysfunctional nobody can get anything done this three uh 340b is starting to happen at the state level and if we can get this done in the state of Minnesota we are going to lower um prescription drugs and we are going to help our hospitals stay afloat it's not the end all Beall but it definitely will help them well the 340b program is critical but representative lard did a good job describing that last year um we had a drug prescription board that we created which would look at all of the prescription drug prices in the state of Minnesota and make recommendations for reductions in prices for certain critical medications um and I will tell you there were Billboards there were newspaper ads uh Billboards outside the capital with my face on them calling me for for uh for that issue and it was all the big Pharma companies uh calling us out so we made a lot of folks with a lot of money and Deep Pockets really mad last session because we put on some accountability for prescription drugs that's so critical because it impacts the very people that don't have the wealth when they're retiring to afford those prescription drugs so making sure that we have some accountability on those drug companies to pass those uh uh cost savings down to the ground level I think was critical and I wasn't afraid to vote Yes on that because I knew that at the end of the day it was the right thing to do for the people on the ground um and that's what matters most I'm going to change gears a bit we have about 10 minutes left of the show please uh call an email in but I'd be remissed having two Iron Range legislators you represent different parts of the Iron Range uh to not talk about mining taxes and so there's a production tax and represent lizard I think you mentioned this earlier uh mining companies pay a tax based on the uh production of Tonite uh and they pay that instead of property taxes and that funds County Services city services schools the remainder goes into a bunch of accounts into the ITB uh you both uh made proposals around uh the mining production tax this week that I would say uh received mixed reviews and so uh would like this opportunity to talk a bit about uh your joint proposal uh what you see in that and and probably get the other side of the story as well on that so represent lizard we'll start with you what was The Proposal what what's in it and the rationale for uh for what you're trying to accomplish so um the truth is is that there are three house districts um and they fall into two Senate districts so district 7 and District three and my district 7B and 7A and what is Roger 7 3A and it might be helpful to more talk about the I don't think our viewers might not know all basically from um um core Iron Range we produce those are our property taxes and years ago um you know the powers of be our forefathers on the on the Iron Range we created this this this Kingdom that was able to wield the power down in St Paul right and by ex making it so big and so now all of a sudden when things the demographics change the structure changes and and during that time Tony the communities that produce it are the poorest my district is the poorest District on the Iron Range from side Lake to Aurora per capita the tax capacity per capita my district is the poorest and I produce my district produces the most uh property tax from The Mining Company compies and yet I'm the poorest this money has to stop leaving the core Iron Range it has to stop leaving the districts that are producing it that is just a reality we can't just continue to do the same thing no offense to Grand Rapids in in in the districts over there their net capacity the tax capacity is three times four times higher than the core Iron Range and if their legislators are not going to vote for a go bonding bill that where the S count Metro is paying for it then don't come to the ITB and ask and take our property taxes these are our property taxes and and and they need to stay in the communities where they're generated and where they need it most and that is the transformational bill that we did it's not popular if I was the legislator over in in Grand Rapids or in Akin and all of this I wouldn't want this bill but if you represent the core Iron Range if you're Roger representative scraba if you're representative um um iGo if you are Senator Farnsworth or your Senator uh hosch child this is a bill to that benefits your District the district that produces it and Senator Hile District which is got the most potential moving forward is second my Senator that's just to show you that it's not political Senator Farnsworth his District which I represent one side of it is going to get by far the Lion Share by far the Lion Share and that is through projects and its property tax relief can you talk a bit about what is actually in this proposal the in this proposal so um right now the um if it's called uh the uh tanite homestead credit it hasn't been changed in 26 years and what does it do and it gives money if you live in the TR the tanite relief area it will raise right now if you live outside of a city in the in the TR you get 28980 um um off your taxes so they take it off your taxes and it's from the mining company so you get a reduction if you live in a in a city you get $35 taken off your your property taxes what Grant I's proposal it raises everyone across the board to $515 $515 Forever we're putting the money back into the hands of the people we're not and we're not taking all the money from the ITB all that big fear tactic it's not fully funded it's fully funded everything Tony this is transformational and it is the right thing to do and it and I you know and I know that legis uh that our forefathers and Tommy Ravina said a long time ago we need to take care of the people that need to be taken care of and who produce it and that's what this bill does and there was also a list of projects um that would you would take uh some of the property the production tax and and and a list of projects and I think the biggest complaint I heard Senator hosel we only have five minutes left so I'm going to push a little bit here uh and get to the heart of it is that uh that really circumvents the ITB and the professional staff there and the commissioner uh in doing their work and and go around that to identify this list of projects and so if you can speak to that as well as anything else uh that represent lizard talked about certainly um well a mineral article which is the bill that spends those tanite production taxes has been done for over 40 years in the legislature so this is something that has been directed by other Iron Range legislators for many years one thing that I want to pinpoint that representative lard sort of touched on we are looking at bonding this money so we're taking tanite production taxes and we're bonding out for a larger amount leveraging our dollars and reinvesting it back into the people and to the communities through INF infrastructure projects where the mining is produced predominantly and so in the past the ierb has looked at large projects large uh job creating manufacturing different opportunities to invest that's really critical but one thing that I fear hasn't happened at the ITB enough is giving the money back to the people to the communities that have been waiting for mining projects that have the miners themselves working these mines and so that's what our bill does it's a Grassroots Bill to send the money back to communities for the things they asked us for and when you talk about the DJJ and and it's fully Doug Johnson fund no it's okay you don't have to stop I'm just acronym police over here and so this is a pot of money uh through this formula that is set aside to do Economic Development exactly and you know and we are not touching that it's uh that fund backs what we're trying to do but we it does not take out of it here's what I would think right we that money is to generate jobs to diversify our economy right well what what area hasn't been um Diversified the core Iron Range so you I go over to Grand Rapids and bless their heart but you go over there they're Diversified they got all these different you know um um opportunities well that money should be focused here so when the commissioner and the and the staff went to Aurora the poorest community in the state of Minnesota and they made that investment for that SPEC Building to uh bring opportunity and bring jobs to um the core Iron Range that's what that money should be used for what we're doing is is we're taking the the the property taxes and there are property taxes and we are putting it back in the hands of the people where it's generated anything else to add on this one no you know I think it's a great opportunity it has bipartisan support I know that representative scraba uh in my district is going to be supporting it and so we're being Innovative we're trying something new we're bonding this money out to leverage our dollars it's only $3 million a year $3 million a year to leverage all this money to go back to these communities when you think about the I RB's budget of 60 million and the Doug Johnson fund having $215 million $3 million a year is a drop in the bucket to make these Investments back to the people so we only have one minute left um and we received actually a couple of questions right at the end they're very long we don't have time to get to them this week I hope we can get to them uh in a in a week uh moving forward here so I'm going to end as I've talked to every other legislator who sat in your seat and probably only give you about 15 seconds apologize for that Governor walls gave a State of the State address and said the State of the State is strong and so in a word or two what would you say the State of the State of Minnesota is at this point right now Senator hosch we saw historic job growth just this last month our surpluses keep coming in very strong beyond the forecast our economy is strong we have one of the most diverse economies in the world in Minnesota because of our Industries in northern Minnesota and the suburbs so I feel very confident about the Minnesota economy right now the state of the the state of Minnesota is I think we're I think we're strong I just think that we need to uh stay focused meet and potatoes and uh and just understand what we've done and make sure it works and we are out of time I would like to thank Senator hild and representative Liz legard for joining us here this evening answering questions and sharing their thoughts we'll be back here again next Sunday at 5: to speak with more members of the Minnesota state legislature and answer more of your questions thank you for watching and to the viewers at home for calling and writing in with your questions you're playing a vital part in our representative government for the team here at PBS North I'm Tony ceric have a great evening [Music] he e e e e e for