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 capitol this is your opportunity to call or email your legislative questions and have them answered live on the air Minnesota legislative report Starts Now [Music] hello and welcome to Minnesota legislative report I'm your host Tony cerdich with just two weeks to the end of the 2023 legislative session conference committee members are working out the details of the major budget bills legislators are putting in long hours and many have stayed in St Paul over the weekend as committee conferees can be called to meetings on short notice viewers have an opportunity today to get the latest update on these major bills and others that you have questions about to the lawmakers who represent you to ask a question dial the number on your screen or email questions to ask at pbsnorth.org we're very happy to welcome two lawmakers who took time from their hectic final weeks to join us in the studio representative Roger scraba is a republican from Ely representing house district 3A welcome representative scraba good evening and representative Nathan Nelson is a republican from Hinckley representing house District 11b Welcome representative Nelson great to have you both back here well thank you it's good to be here already so we're in the season and I don't want to sound too much like Schoolhouse Rock here but I think it'd be good for the viewers we're in the season where the House Representatives and you both are members of the house and the Senate have passed versions of all of these bills dealing with all the budget areas and there are differences in them and so they go to what they call a conference committee where they pick five members of each body generally most of the majority members to iron out the differences and so that's the point we're at with a whole bunch of the bills what's it like down at the Capitol these days when that's the major your push now is these conference Committees of 10 legislators of the 201 are working on the details representative Nelson uh it's a little bit of hurry up and wait conference committees they can I mean there's not as much notice as a normal committee meeting quite often their plan to meet every day but that doesn't mean that it'll be scheduled for each day of the week and uh you know any usually anytime there's an agreement by chairs by the chairs of the committee usually there will be a committee called within a few hours and some things passed and it may be a thing of a committee May recess for a couple of hours and come back later so it is uh it does give a lot of time of just kind of idleness for those that aren't on conference committees and and uh so it can be different sure representative scrub it's your first time doing this a little different than City Hall up in Ely so so generally what happens is the house will come in and put an offer out to the Senate and then they'll go think about it and come back and forth and I know you've said it in a few hearings thus far what's your take as a first term legislator watching this process when you were talking about you know five of five senators and five house um like environment doesn't have any Republicans on it's all Democrats and and usually they give one just to sit and watch and so some of these committees don't have any of our representation so I mean I don't know what we could do anyway because we're in the minority but uh what I've seen so far is like uh uh you hear from the people outside the the room they're talking about this they're talking about that and then from my standpoint I'm again sitting back just watching what's going on trying to comprehend you know what's next what's our next role how do we fit in what's where do we go and I'd keep diverting back to what Senator Bach told me he came to my office one day this session and just said embrace it learn what you can now because you're in the minority and you were really in the minority just understand it you you actually have time off because you're not doing all the work you're just waiting what's coming back so I'm absorbing as much as I can you know there's a lot there's seems like a lot of downtime but there really isn't because someone's always wanting to talk to you sure sure and so once the house and the Senate this conference committee gets agreement between themselves the bill goes back to the floor and then you all vote on the final version there can be no amendments you can just put yes or no and then if it's passed as it goes on to the governor for signature so a couple of quick questions representative Nelson you said on the AG committee that's generally been the most bipartisan Bill easiest to manage there's not a lot of budget there as far as this overall state budget do you have a sense of kind of the overall highlights of where you see that going I think there's a pretty good Global agreement with the the AG Bill Broadband is funded through that and I think that's a it's an area that uh it's a it's easy to see the need and you know I think both both sides a very bipartisan issue on funding Broadband making sure that gets funded in the ways that it needs there's always be nice to have more money at it but uh you know we'll take what we can get I think it's about 127 million that's going to broadband there's a few uh a few little areas I think that are kind of holding up the the final agreement between the House and Senate versions but overall the the kind of the really the shape of the bill is really close if it's not completed I don't know if the chairs I know they've met yesterday I don't know if they had uh maybe had some phone uh played a la phone tag today I suppose but um you know as we're coming into the final days here uh you know a lot of things that happen you know fairly quickly oftentimes yeah and and the other big piece of legislation the last bill that's traditionally passed is the tax bill because almost everything is related to taxes in one way shape or form and that's where some final agreements gets done we talked about this two weeks ago and both of you were here and our viewers are always asking about the social social security tax and the state taxing that it looks to be now that the agreement is roughly uh it'll be covered for 75 percent roughly of minnesotans is that your sense of it or or take represent Scrabble and and what do you think about that you know um that is a sense of it there sounds like there'll be some uh negotiation on it uh it's the irony to the comment you know the tax bills always last the bonding bills always last that's true and and right now we have a bonding and a tax bill which is unusual you know it's not normal but it's what's going to happen here is uh the bonding bill is waiting to see what the tax bill does so if the tax bill goes through the wage it could then there'll be some movement from the bonding and then they'll move real close fast boom boom in and out but um the Social Security tax you know um again I go back to the district and the folks kept saying this week again you need to make that higher you got to get that number up higher you know there's a lot of us that make more than 78 000 I think is what it is so individuals making seventy eight thousand dollars and couples making a hundred thousand dollars everything below that will be no tax right and and some of them most uh and it was kind of interesting coming down today listening to who's in the military most people joining the military never saw 91 911. you know it's kind of like well so they have no idea same thing with Social Security most of the people that are retiring now only one spouse worked you know or or I should say take that back two spouses were working during the whole time so that number is way small for what it could should be for these married couples and I keep getting pushback from them and these are traditional Democrats they're saying you know can't you work do better can't you do better and I think it's a good starting point I think where we are is where you know if that's where we're going to communicate at that's good but ideally uh that number would be higher you know that's all any thoughts on the Social Security tax yeah I think uh you know there's a 17 almost 18 billion dollar Surplus I know some of it is one-time money but I think at the same time uh you know the right now the tax that's collected off of the Social Security it's around a billion dollars if I remember right um I think that there's areas that we can we can balance our budget without without that tax and I think we can we can work around it um and you know exempting taxes it would only be on the Social Security portion of that income you know and that's already been collected one time as a tax I don't think we need to do it a second time and I really I really think that we're missing it when we we could have I think most people campaigned on repealing it completely as well and for the viewers information though it feels locked in you know roughly 76 percent uh folks will will see that elimination and the others will not so we will move on to our first question here from a viewer today uh Thomas writes in and represent scraba you might know this what is the status of the proposal for legislation to eliminate using lead to make fishing tackle or jigs of one ounce or less that that was starting through if that was eliminated uh in the negotiation when I looked at they have a list of what's been talked about so it's so it's under consideration right now yes and we're unsure of the status right and the Senate and the house conferees are meeting and there was some stuff they've already agreed to and I can't remember if I saw something about that or not I I don't know what the status is um I don't think if I I'd be wrong because it it part of it was a swan what pushed it was the swans sanction uh representative Hanson wanted to protect the swans and I think the lead ban is still in the seven metro area I I want to say but I'd be my memory is not that there's so much information going on right now but it's probably safe to say it's not resolved yet but it's definitely being discussed absolutely yes absolutely I would if I if it was totally out I think I would have remembered it being totally out but I don't think I think it's being discussed still it's okay next viewer and representative Nelson we'll start with you wants to talk about the capital investment or bonding Bill and so as a reminder to viewers this is a bill that generally happens every other year where the state borrows resources to invest in public infrastructure buildings colleges roads Bridges those sorts of projects that have Regional or Statewide significance last year the bill did not get completed and so this year it's been on the table represent scraba you sit on the capital investment committee there's a proposal right now for a rather significant Bill uh and and right now the Senate Republicans have said we don't want to support this bill until we see a total elimination of the Social Security tax we saw that that's not going to happen and they've since walked back that position a little bit and so they've been somewhat tied together in the viewers is wondering about the status of this bill and I guess there's two tracks to go down right is this bill could be presented at the end of session and see if there's bipartisan support and there needs to be because you need a super majority to pass a bill that does borrowing of resources or what's been discussed by some Democrats is some using some of that one-time cash money that representative Nelson was talking about to just pass that bill which would probably eliminate some or all of the Republican projects because uh in their what they're saying is some Republicans are tying the two bills together and so representative Nelson what's the status of this what are what are your hopes about a final capital investment bill I think uh my My Hope Is that there can be a capital investment you know bonding bill that passes before the end of session and I know that the Senate has walked back their position a little bit but yeah at the same time there's there are some other positions that they're kind of holding on um and like a true Game of Poker they're not really showing their cards but at the same time they are they are saying they want to want a few things so it is you know the house did pass out a bill uh and the Senate is holding that currently so they could uh they could pass that and you know send it back to the house with the changes or I don't know if uh representative scraba has any other ideas what is happening with the the bonding Bill uh and the house side but uh you know there's lots can happen in two weeks here uh I think we close or end of sessions two weeks from tomorrow I believe and so a lot can happen in uh 14 days so and represent scrub as you said this is generally a last bill out the door so we won't know a final answer on this but what's the lay of the land from your perspective from what I'm seeing um uh it's interesting how you know you said that you know the Republicans won't get anything and actually some Republicans will get some um and some but what the Democrats would end up doing is going to a cash Bill and then they don't need Super majority they would just have a simple majority and they have that as it is and that would cut into their 17.6 billion the way they're trying to allocate it they would take a portion of the Surplus and dedicated towards and the governor the governor was real clear he didn't want to do that he said no you know I really don't want to use cash but if you're going to make me I will you know and it was like okay so there's hope that there's going to be some movement uh before we left on Thursday Eve I think I left Thursday afternoon there was some movement in the bonding there were some numbers being tossed around thrown around so any movement right now on the capital Investments bill is good so there's they're talking safe to say though we will not have a final answer on this most likely until that last weekend I would I would I would say yes um you know again there's there are and I'm a representative not supposed to do rumors but there is talk about another bonding bill right behind it but I don't think we're set for that chair Lee fully is he hasn't notified us to have another meeting yet we've been hearing we up until about a week ago we're hearing for uh more projects but those will be on for next year now thank you so uh caller from Hibbing is wondering if he should be contacting lawmakers besides his own representatives to ask them to eliminate the state tax on social security is there a way to contact all Representatives as a group or do you reach out to them individually and so we can talk about what what do you think the chances are if this caller from Hibbing were to reach out to other legislators from other districts other than their own how do you think that would be received is that a good use of that person's time I have 685 unanswered emails right now you know you want to keep bringing more quit I try to get just my constituents first and then I go back and get the rest I I think this issue is um it's down to a couple of senators because I mean basically came out of the house and houses you know happy with what what it sent I I think the Senate is the place to put your energy you know and find out where your representative um but that's where it's at right now the Senate impact of folks from outside your District trying to influence your vote um you know I think in in areas uh like Social Security things like this I think it's important to be able to envoice your opinion I think your Senator and your representative are the ones you know that are going to be most responsive um for myself and probably most others if you if they get an email from somebody outside of the district that it may just kind of go as a tally mark that all right this one you know this individual's in favor or opposed to a to something but um it's still it's most people are really representing their District we do serve the whole state so it is important there but the next the next area I would say if if you do want to contact somebody would be the committee chairs um you know so on the tax committee you know sending an email to the chair to your representative and probably to your Senator and same you know the house inside of both of them can you know contacting committee chairs because I think that's really important and then also like the speaker and minority leaders I think uh you know they're they're individuals that they've you know probably or don't read every email that comes in to that's not from their constituent at the same time it's something that you know they're looking at you know where where the winds blowing what is the feel from from the uh you know from Minnesota from you know those are represent okay and then I think procedurally to finish off the question here there's no way to blank it just blast out a message to all legislators you have to go one by one to contact legislators is that correct um I I don't know I've gotten some emails where say to all legislators you know like it says but there's nowhere like on the website to say hit one button and send to everybody you have to go to Every individual and that's the question I think I think there's like different names like vote so so they have access to the program that gets to all legislators so we all get a copy of your your issue and again like I think like a representative Nelson said we look at a mentalium and use them I mean it's like because where's the trend going what what's happening and I think that's important uh to let leadership know what's going on what's the feel of what most people I I don't think there's I I'm trying to figure out how what else you can talk about for Social Security I mean it's pretty wore out issue right now so any legislator that doesn't think it has to go this way they're going to have to defend themselves so that's where we're going all right well thanks to that uh viewer in Hibbing for the question keep those questions coming in a question we get from time to time uh on on the show is about polymet and actually it's now called new Range copper and nickel LLC representative scraba that's up near your neck of the woods I guess the questions we get uh is are go all around the issues so I guess the way I'd pose a more general question is at this point in time with new Range having its permits and some of the permits being challenged in court uh is there anything the legislature can do at this point to impact the project one way or another or is it in the courts and that's where it's at right now I I it's in the courts because I I mean I we meet with different people at different times you know mining company uh iron ore mining both all the above and the minute that led legislators go in and try to tweak laws to show favoritism it doesn't sell good and it really doesn't look good I I the rules are in place Everybody abided by the rules they went in they got everything done with what they did and now people are suing saying that wasn't enough you need to do more if we go in and say well we can help you we'll rewrite the law did we did we help them you know and it's like no just let it go let the courts go and then once the courts are done then we can reevaluate and see where we are with the development of these mines in northern Minnesota we hear from range legislators and others all the time on mining issues we'll give the floor to a farmer from AG country to talk a bit about this as well I think when I had first uh first got elected about uh was it four years five years ago now um I came in and uh representative Dave lesligard he and I were talking and you know he represents a big portion of you know a big portion of his areas you know mining and he said you know I said I know you're from farming you know that's your background that's kind of what our area you know the 11b that's uh you know agriculture is pretty strong there and he said at the end of the day he goes if it comes out of the ground either from farming or from mining to get what we have and you know and that's that produces so much of what and you know I think it's an important part um you know mining is is crucial for you know the whether it's the minerals that you know make our phones to uh you know I've got a GPS in the tractor that you know self-drives and so you just push a button on the end of the field you push a button it turns around well all of that is you know a requirement of mining you know to the to um and it's it's crucial and I think you know we've done a great job in the United States having uh you know quite restringent uh regulations and doing it properly and I think as best we can we need to be doing it here so next question Up is on uh and I believe we talked about this issue days before you voted on it and it is the adult use of a cannabis or marijuana it took this long to get here I figured that was the first question I was just trying to soften you guys up and so uh so cannabis legalization now both of you had some concerns going in represent Scrabble you were on the fence or episode Nelson you were pretty sure you were going to vote no you both ended up voting no at this point um but uh but but the bill bill did pass both out of the house and the Senate so it looks like there's some potential for a final agreement in place uh what are your thoughts on on it thus far what changes do you think need to be done if any to gain your approval on its way back after there's compromise between the house and the senate representative Nelson we'll let you go first I don't know how much difference is between the House and Senate versions I know that there's there's some differences there um and I I think still uh you know one of the things that I really you know and I've been hearing from our law enforcement Community that's probably has some of the most concern about it and whether it's founded or not uh I know one of their big concerns is that there's not a really a roadside test you know what what you know if they take a Sam you know a test of somebody a sample it's going to show what's in your system but where is the level of of uh inhibition or whatever and and I know that that's a concern uh at the same time I know that there's people out you know today you know illicitly using and driving around operating equipment and um I know that's I know it's not right they probably know it's not right but at the same time I think we need to get to uh I think we need to have some more testing available some standards you know if you're driving under the influence of alcohol it's 0.08 is uh you know the level of intoxication um at what point uh you know is it so many bags of Cheetos that you eat that you know the level of uh how high you are I I don't know but uh you know I think there's got to be a test of of some sort to be able to to quantify you know and I think that's one of the the issue that's that's difficult to to Really quantify right now represent Scrabble I know that uh most of your concerns last time Senator around the hemp industry and you wanted to see some relief or some changes in the bill there your thoughts on this legislation as it stands right now so I I talked with representative Stevenson before the vote and he's the chief author of the legislation yeah Zach from the metro area and he's done a great job of shepherding it through there's really no stone unturned I think every question he's tried to answer if he hasn't already and I told him my concern and I talked to him on the floor about it publicly because I wanted people to understand that you know I've come from being a mayor and sometimes we like to have control over what goes on in our communities and this bill doesn't give any Community any opportunity to deny it anywhere at any point and it's kind of like hey wait a minute you know Colorado passed it the City of Colorado Springs banned it because they have the the military there and they said we just don't want it around the military can you do that fine this is it's Colorado and you can't buy pot in Colorado Springs so it's like well maybe there's communities up here that that don't want it and I told Zach representative Stevenson I said really you get that I'm there's really not much more that I'm I think you've done a good job of following through on everything um so I'm hoping it comes from and representative West is voted for it from us and he's on the conference committee and he's one of two Republicans to support them yes and and representative fidela the other one so I and and I was really close and you know I said if you guys can get me some parity on that issue uh the hemp Farmers hopefully that'll that the Senate worked through that they were going to try to do it I've not seen the the mix of the two I did a friend of mine did send me some snapshots of the chatter on the internet about you know I the day that I did that vote I wore a tie that had the Tasmanian devil on there you know because I really wasn't sure how I was going to vote that day I truly was like I don't know where I'm going to go on this because you know in the more I heard and the more that I was you know and when I talked to representative Stevenson um it's here it's here already communities have an opportunity uh to you know like the some of the folks on internet we're talking you know Grand Marais you know they would Embrace this it's their art community and that's their Niche and that you know why would I deny them that it's not what I want Grand Mara is I want Grand Marie to be able to vote on it saying yes we want it here and we're going to regulate it you know the way the state gives us the right to regulate it that to me is what I wanted to see and representative Stevenson said I can't do that you know he he wants it everywhere but if if anything changes in that I'll probably vote for it then I mean I'm I'm not opposed to it philosophically so well you talk about the Tasmanian devil another issue that's been spinning around the capitol for a number of years is sports betting and it's certainly gotten some life and legs there are some hearings on bills to legalize sports betting in Minnesota um in my opinion doesn't look like it's going to cross the finish line this year but it looks like there's certainly been some movement in the past couple of weeks represent scraba uh your thoughts on sports betting in Minnesota well it's an opportunity right now you know the etabs are hot and heavy on everybody's that's part of the issue the um the legislature wants to limit how the games are played we've had a break from the way they used to be during your I think during your term Were You There When you helped to get that Stadium Bill through no no okay sorry so someone was there and anyway what happened is that Stadium bill was built on on that on the pull tabs and the etabs and they let them go out into the public and we were using them I'm on a snowmobile club and it's helped us immensely and now the legislature in the tax bill has something saying you can't play those games like that anymore you have to you know you can't just hit a button and then all four open and then all four open you see if you're a winner you have to hit the button and then hit all four you know to get them open and and it's like hey that's going to cost money we're going to lose sales we're going to take a hit um in order to negotiate with the tribal councils or the the tribes if sports betting is imminent if that is what is going to happen we can use this as a negotiating tool you know like let's work together so everyone gets something out of this the public these Charities that could be hurt with the way the tax bill is written now um that's that's who we are in our communities that's the Little League that's the legion that's the uh um Blue Line clubs these are folks that use that money those get the gambling money the poll tab money for helping our community it's it's really a a great way to raise funds for our communities and uh if that gets cut then we have to negotiate a way to get it and and if that means getting the sports betting on again I'm I'm a negotiator I'm willing to sit down with that I'm not a Hardline anti-mi anti uh gambling person I know there's people in our party that just don't want it period they just don't want to be around it they don't they think it's not good for communities it's around us now it always has been it's just if you legalize it then you can tax it represent Nelson your thoughts on Sports gambling that expansion I think you know a big part of it we're losing some Revenue to out I think all the states around us allow it and it's it's happening I know there's people that go to Iowa over to Wisconsin and they're betting and you know they were it's the same platforms that would be legalized here so you know that Revenue could be spent in you know here in our state and and I think uh you know an agreement needs to happen I think it's really right now it's between the kind of between the tribes and you know I think the the wedge issue is you know these these e-poll tabs I think there is a wedge issue there and really trying to get that balanced out and what does that look like to to get this crossed and I don't think it really has been a priority this session to get it passed so I don't know if uh next you know next year if that'll be something that's worked on uh for me I've you know had other it's not my area of expertise you know so it's not something that I've worked on I'm really neutral on the thought I don't really care one way or another whether it passes because I think for the most part it's uh it's a form of gambling that I see is pretty safe because you can't uh you know from the time you place a bet till the time it happens you know what I've read about it you know you've got to play a game in the middle you know baseball or basketball whatever so it's something that uh you know studies show that it's not a real and highly uh I suppose it can be addictive but it's uh it's not something that you could lose everything really quickly um as a you know a habitual thing but uh you know that's uh again I probably just showed how much I don't know about about it but my answer but you know it's something that you know it's it's not I don't think it's likely to happen this session okay uh caller from Duluth um very frustrated uh is is saying that the governor promised a certain level of money being returned to taxpayers and rebate checks this year I believe his proposal was up to two thousand dollars per individual and right now the discussion is a lot less and it seems like uh the rebate checks proposals are somewhere around 275 to 550 and this is using that one-time uh money of the Surplus why the decrease why do you guys see see that being the case it received actually a fairly lukewarm reception from both Democrats and Republicans across the board maybe you individually have some thoughts on this but uh why didn't the rebate checks that Governor walls proposed really strike with Democrats or most Republicans uh represent Nelson we'll start with you I think uh you know it was back probably during the campaign you know you know almost a year ago you know while you know the governor walls had said you know was going to release the walls checks and probably a little bit uh similar to the Jesse checks that were uh you know 20 almost 25 years ago now and you know it was a thing of um I think to a lot of people look gimmicky um and and I think part of it was the you know the GOP at that time was really looking at hopeful uh November turning out different than it did and I think if had no that uh you know had been the GOP been in control um I think very House and Senate anyway I think there would have been more emphasis on tax rebates um and you know and really tax cuts that way and so some of that you know basically the same dollar amount would have been returned in in tax rebates and tax cuts um probably more in cuts and and instead uh you know now we're at a point where it's the you know Democrats control the trifecta you know the house senate and governor and you know their priorities have are in such a way that you know what's left to return to as in a rebate form is about 275 dollars per couple or per individual 550 per couple and then I think that has there's a cap on that or in income cap and I don't remember I don't know if it's 100 125 000 is the income cap that would be eligible for getting that so you know most you know a majority of minnesotans would be able to get a a refund but you know again not the you know two thousand dollars that was kind of thrown around and somewhat promised uh almost a year ago now or some Scrabble your thoughts on rebates right what defies all logic is the fact that we have a surplus we're going to raise taxes this year but that's with our budget we have right now and they're going to give money back and it's kind of like wait a minute you know why are you raising taxes and you're giving money back it it I don't understand you know I I don't like when they call it the waltz checks because that's that means it's his money to give out and it's not um and when you say you know they're going to put a cap on who gets the money well the people that paid more into it than anyone aren't going to get any back and everyone that doesn't pay in is going to get money back and it's kind of like where are we going with this I I think if the Democrats were um serious about this in the beginning this would have been discussed but right now I'm again not that I care don't care but I just think what it is is just a ploy trying to get votes saying I promise you this I'll give you something but if you did why'd you raise taxes on everything else I mean um could could we take our 275 dollars and buy down the fishing and hunting licenses instead you know can you do that but instead we're not we're that those are scheduled to go up he has it in his budget for that and it's like you know yeah I don't know it's just a mess right now for me I I trying to figure out the logic what's going on and um in this next week we're going to see what comes out from tax conference committee from environment from education and I'm kind of shocked no one's the school teacher hasn't gone that's a question yet you know about what's going on with the school because I mean that that those dollars that are trying to find their way into our classrooms for our kids I again I remember the Jessie checks and I remember when they came out everyone thought it was oh this is really cool and then after people were like you know why didn't they use this money for other things you know for for education for roads for Bridges why they give it back to us so I'm again 275 dollars for some people it's a lot of money the people that I heard from are like where's my two thousand dollars my fuel oil went up and my my gas prices went up this year it sure would have been nice to help me this winter again you know the ask the trifecta because they're the ones in charge right now doing whatever they're doing now now some would say uh just to equate this thing we have two Republicans on right now so I feel like I have to bring in the other side of the argument so you guys can debate the other side of the argument as well some would say uh that the rebate checks wouldn't go to education funding because they're using the portion of the Surplus which is one time and that's really legislative speak for and the way we've explained it on the show before is uh the budget surplus is broken down to some one-time money and some ongoing money and the ongoing money is like the paycheck you receive you're going to get that every two weeks the one-time money is more like a bonus you got that you can't rely on moving forward so some would argue that the reason why you wouldn't put the money towards buying down fishing licenses or going to education is because the money goes away because it's only here for this one specific moment you can't promise it two years from now and so represent scriber are you proposing taking that one-time money and spending it on ongoing programming which would then put us into a deficit potentially or or not be able to fulfill that promise I think I think we kind of discussed it last time I was here there's roughly five million dollars every two years that's coming in or two and a half million every year coming in billion billion sorry thank you Bill what's a million and billion between friends when you're on uh yeah when you're on a bonding committee it's just you know every day is 137 million dollars asked you just numb so but yeah so there's an ongoing five billion dollar Surplus yeah that we keep getting and and yet you know and again the 12 and a half if you're going to give money from the 12 and a half go ahead but they're using that 12 and this is something I want to take when I go down this week tomorrow I want to find out exactly how the Democrats have the 12 and a half spent and the five spent so the one-time money yeah where are they spending that exactly where are they spending it because you know it's oh it's already gone it's spent you know and it's like it would be fun interesting to see so so if they are using that money um to buy down taxes or something in the future for something the one time uh maybe that's the rebate check that you would you would have gotten instead of having to pay more next year but I don't know what they're doing with it I I haven't I don't know if you're familiar with how they do it I've I'm not anything else on the tax issue so yeah I don't know know a whole lot there on you know on the one-time funding I I know that one of the bills that we passed or that the house passed this week was the Paid Family Leave Act and you know that's getting I don't remember what the seed money on that was is it 60 or was 670 million or was it more than that was more than it was uh but anyway that's it's uh you know to really kind of upfill that front you know up fill that account up front and and with that I know that was one-time money going into there but in in the end you know it's uh you know it's a payroll tax on on everybody in the state and so you know that's that's that is one area that you know one-time funding is being used it's to to up you know up front fill an account and then you know ongoing from there there will be a payroll tax that that gets enacted so you know there is it's upfront money or Surplus money spent plus uh tacking on ongoing so this this viewer that's wanting to know about the rebate check said one more question about property tax relief and so the state doesn't necessarily play a direct role at times in property taxes that is your cities your counties your school districts really Levy that but where the state does play a role is on Aid to local governments either on the county or the city level and so I do know there was an increase in that bill which could potentially impact local property taxes but that's a local decision for those local elected officials to make your thoughts on Aid coming back to communities and will that impact property taxes in one way shape or form representative Nelson we'll start with you this time I think you know the aid is helpful and important for you know our you know to our communities you know one of the downsides with property taxes from the time they're figured and calculated you know and you know the aid coming in it takes a while until it actually really ends you know almost two years by the time it ends up really showing up and making meaningful impact on our property taxes I think something that's quicker you know is some of the rebate programs that Department of Revenue can have uh for you know whether it's a disabled veteran or there's some elderly programs that you know if you have lived in your home for a certain amount of time or the property increase by a certain amount of value over a certain time period um you know there's some value some things there that I think probably need to be increased you know just inflation on property especially uh you know our rural properties have really increased the last two two years or so and that's uh I think we probably need to equally fund the rebate that's that's available for uh some of the elderly especially former mayor a local government Aid County Aid importance of that and will that impact property taxes yeah definitely I mean that's the whole idea of we've survived on LG local government Aid and County Aid the more that we get there the less we as legis elected officials have to raise local property taxes so it but again it comes to fiscal restraint per city council per Township Per County Board just because you get more doesn't mean you should spend more sometimes you have to wait for everything to catch up and not spend it and let you know if you if you haven't funded inflation or if you haven't um haven't kept up on some of your uh raising your fees in your community then you use that to offset it for a while but you still have to keep raising those fees to keep uh keep everything going but I I totally that you know I'm hoping that that stays in there the local government Aid and the county Aid can we I don't know I I I was trying to find there's a graph I just saw about property taxes about how much the valuation of the property went up and then the property taxes themselves and you know we're taught all the time the two aren't related they're totally not related but yet they always come related somehow they they start to find each other in the dark and and I I think in the next two years if our economy starts to go really South I think the taxes are going to freeze you're not going to see I think you can see everyone saying hey that that's enough let's just stop and just live with what we have and learn how to to do it and do what they do um that's I I was trying to think of some of the studies that I read this morning about it and I just it's there's so many different opinions out there like one one of the issues was people were criticizing non-profits getting all the money well in the truest sense and I I if I can use the Northland as an example what happens is the Northland Foundation has a great opportunity to take the state monies and make sure they get out to the public which I really want to see I want to see people get tax breaks I want to see people and when you give it to a government to do it it always gets sucked up in the Administration somewhere and the people get less so I'm hoping if we give some of this tax money to non-profits the nonprofits will reach more of the people in in instantly and whether or not that happens I'm kind of watching out what's going to happen now because I something has to change the way the way we're doing business and um because I think I think there's a certain part of population that needs tax relief and how they get it may not be directly a check say here maybe it's a service that they can get that they don't have to pay money for so so rounding it back to property taxes though one more time is there anything the state can do on this I know at times there have been some thoughts around the state coming in and mandating a freeze on levies and a freeze you know either with money coming with it or superseding that local control which I know gives some elected state legislators heartburn of those are local decisions that need to be made and so you know the the viewers are always coming in about property taxes and what can the legislature at the state level do representative Nelson freezing property taxes mandating certain Levy increases what are your thoughts on that I think uh you know on the surface it sounds good uh you know freeze the taxes and things like that but um you know at the same time I think when that happens when you freeze attacks like like you had said there's usually has to be money from the state that follows it up and and uh you know when that happens you know the the money from the state came in as a tax from somewhere you know the state doesn't just have money and and so you're you're redistributing from somewhere so I think it's uh I know that there's a lot of municipalities townships and stuff that just they kind of have an Unwritten rule that we're not going to increase the level by a certain more than a certain percentage and one of the challenges of you know this this last year I mean when you look at what wages have done um you know I'm hearing from you know the some of my people that plow the roads for the county well if they went and they worked for a private contractor instead of uh you know the County highway I think you have a pretty substantial wage increase they might give up some benefits but um you know and that used to be a better job better paying job working for the county than the local contractor well now it's uh you know they could do they can earn better the local contractor so um you know it really becomes a give and take and so if you put a cap on well uh you know on say a Road and Bridge fund um on the you know on the levy of it well now you can't you also can't pay the guy plow in the snow you can't pay him more and you know wages have to keep up with uh you know the really the cost of the you know you know that other employment options so it is a challenge to put a cap on but uh I I do I do definitely sympathize in here you know with those that are complaining about property taxes I pay them myself and uh you know they've increased and I I don't like it but at the same time um you know we've got a I think it's an area that we see the we see what it does locally because it's it's funding our roads it's funding our schools it's funding our you know our town our townships whatever and I think that's the form of government that is really the most responsive to what's going on president Scrabble you spoke earlier uh in this hour about the desire for local control your thoughts on the state coming in and talking about freezing property taxes or settings Levy limits I live through the Plenty you know they did that during the Plenty Administration they came in and tried to do all those things and you have to learn to do more with less and it was it wasn't um not that city government should be fund but it was not fund it wasn't even fun going to meetings trying to figure out because basically it comes down to what representative Nelson said what are you going to cut to pay for this because that's what's going to happen the state's not going to come in with a pot of gold and say okay we're going to freeze you but here's some money to make sure it goes okay it's like we're freezing you because there's no money in the system and we need to to check and balance the system and when those freezes come and will they come that's that's I'm I'm not there that's those three guys that the governor can talk to the the auditor the assessor and and those guys they'll tell you what's going on in long-range planning the demographics guys people and I think if we start freezing taxes to hold the property taxes if we do that um I had just the opposite conversation with state employees our plow truck drivers the guys at plow snow you know 27.50 an hour that's what they make the guy moving dirt down the street for a union shop is again 35 to 8 39 the difference is the guy at the state has got a job the whole time he's not getting cut off he's always going to have work or gal that everyone that's the way it's going to be when you work in a Private Industry it can you might not have work next week and that's just the way it is so you you give up things for what you have but right now they're so far out of whack there's people you know that are in their late 50s saying you know what I think it's time to go somewhere else and and then when we lose that nothing behind there's nothing to fill those voids so if you start talking freezing taxes and you start the if we were to do something like that I would I would ask if we did that if we could get those regional managers you know like Dwayne Hill the the districts come in and tell us our Workforce what's happening and before we start making decisions like that because it it could have a bigger impact than we think and I want to talk about Workforce in our limited amount of time but I want to get to this question from a viewer earlier on represent scraba directly to you another caller from Hibbing or maybe the same one who knows uh wondering if the Minnesota DNR has recommended that Cleveland Cliffs receive the state iron ore releases near nashwa these are pieces that have been held up for a long time and is it a foregone conclusion that Cliffs will receive those leases represent Scrabble to you and then the the caller asks do you think this is a good decision um tentatively right now yes the governor said we're going to award them to um Cliffs has to go through the council and when the council generally it's the auditor the secretary Secretary of State uh the the and the governor the lieutenant governor and it sounds like it's going to happen and I think it's good and the reason I say it's good is there's 750 almost 800 jobs that Cleveland Cliffs has in that area if it went to someone else those jobs might not be there anymore they would phase out so I think it's good that we keep those jobs healthy Cliffs is someone that they know what they're doing we can you know there's there's a reasonable amount of trust so I'm hoping that that stays then it goes great thank you and thanks for the colors uh for calling in I want to tackle Workforce we don't have a lot of time left and this is a big Wheeling topic I know both of you sit on committees that impact this represent Nelson we're going to start with you uh before Governor Rudy perpich Governor from the Iron Range always talked about jobs jobs well when you look at the demographic changes and you talk to small businesses large businesses it's really about people people now we don't have the people uh to fill the jobs that are currently here today and so there are a lot of barriers around Workforce and it's not just an issue in northeastern Minnesota in Minnesota it's it's around the country as well are we addressing those issues at the state level well enough or are there other things we can be doing to help with the the barriers for businesses to find workers I think there's a lot of areas that we are addressing them I think one area that we're I think kind of dropping the ball on a little bit um is in our schools in our secondary schools and with with what's happening some of the mandates that are coming down with the classes that are being required I'm hearing some of the schools or or maybe limiting their their options on some of the elective classes and so maybe that's a shop class or things like that and I think it's unfortunate because we're not exposing kids to some of the the areas that may be out there maybe they have an interest in them or maybe they take the class and find out that they don't want to work and work in an area and um one of the on in the workforce committee one of the statistics I'd heard early on in the in the committee was that if every job in Minnesota was filled right now we'd still have 140 000 open jobs and so it's it is we're there's a lack of people here and uh you know part of it it's our family sizes are smaller you know it's been trending trending smaller um you know there's a lot of things that's made up for it and you know this is something that was had always been coming it was on the on the horizon uh you know three years ago when covid-19 when that hit our Shores and and it really accelerated that there were people that took early retirements you know maybe they're doing some gig work you know taking a different lifestyle you know just seeing that you know how how life was affected and so that's affected our Workforce and everything and I I think while I think there's areas that are being addressed I think we could do a little bit more to to really help our Workforce be engaged in deciding on where they want to work in the future we only have a minute left represent Nelson talked about some of the long term but we know there are businesses today in our region who can't find workers today and so looking at the education piece I'm sure is important but what today can the state do to help these businesses looking for workers if we can go out and get more foreign workers like get work visas and things like that let's do it I I'm not opposed if we can get foreign workers come in you want to work work towards your citizenship let's get you on board let's get you filling some of these positions I'm all for it let's sit down and work Workforce housing only got 40 million dollars 300 million would have been better so that we can house these people it's one of our issues and just came from school up in Indus they have a program in the high school that teaches kids when they graduate from high school they have a line cook they can go work right away they have it it's a magnet school I think we need to really look at that and get these people working instead of trying to figure out what they want to do with their life let's just get them working right away and then let them think what they want to do with their life well it sounds like there's a lot that can be done on the state and that's a federal issue as well which thankfully is out of all of your guys's pay grade right all right well we are out of time and I'd like to thank representative Roger scraba and representative Nathan Nelson for joining us today I'd also like to thank my son Sam who's sitting in the green room and was very patient for this full hour join me again next Sunday for our final Minnesota legislative report of the season when we welcome more lawmakers from northern Minnesota with an update from the state capitol for the team at PBS North I'm Tony sirdich have a great evening [Music] thank you [Music]