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 the Minnesota legislative report I'm your host Tony cerdich there's under a month remaining before the Constitutional deadline mandating the end of the legislative session lawmakers wrapped up this past week with another packed agenda and a number of budget bills seeing action on both sides of the House and Senate floors Today's Show is an opportunity for viewers to find out more about those bills and any other questions you have to lawmakers who represent you to ask a question dial the number on your screen or email questions to ask at pbsnorth.org we're happy to see the sunshine today and to welcome two lawmakers to our studio representative Nathan Nelson is a republican from Hinckley representing house District 11b Welcome representative Nelson and representative Roger scraba is a republican from Ely representing house district 3A welcome representative scraba great to have you both here well thank you it's good to be here absolutely uh represent Scrabble we'll start with you today uh the governor uh had his State of the State address this last week uh on the house floor and he declared that the State of the State is strong what would you say the State of the State is uh it's strong we're generating income I mean record amount of income coming in so you know we're collecting a lot of taxes and and he wants to raise more taxes so that's where you know it the economy is going well right now we don't know what the forecast is at least they haven't let us know yet what the forecast is but um where I'm from uh just this weekend spend some time with contractors and with folks the Contracting world looks busy the tourism world looks really busy um unfortunately the other side of the world the nursing homes the the hospitals they're all looking for employees government employees are even looking for government people it's you know we don't know where the people are we don't understand why no one's asking looking for jobs we have a we have a manufacturing business that needs 15 people welders up in International Falls and can't find them um they're good work uh in Ely there's a quarry where they uh Quarry the stone um they need eight they have two these are good paying jobs so I you know is it good yeah the economy is good but there's some downside too so I don't know what we how we can help that or you know I something we're looking forward to but the governor was trying to be upbeat on that but again it comes down to the tax issue so and we'll certainly talk about Workforce taxes nursing homes and the rest of this hour and whatever else the viewers want to talk about representative Nelson the State of the State is I think it's strong I think uh you know also we had the you know the governor uh he's kind of got uh probably everybody's dream you've got a trifecta uh you know the all the same party runs uh the house the Senate and the governor and you know that's probably uh you know if you want to get an agenda through that's uh that's exactly what you wanted and I think you know as we look at this um you know I don't know if our country was really designed to be that way you know we've got a balance of powers I mean the voters that you know choose who goes there but at the same time uh while it can be really frustrating a divided government I think oftentimes puts out a a really good quality product because you have to give and take on both sides and I think that's uh one of the things we're missing this year uh there's uh probably not as much uh listening to the opposition as we've heard in the maybe the past couple years and um you know I think as we came to you know a year ago it was a lot of gridlock and you know then I think both sides are looking at the opportunity of you know what uh what the upcoming session was going to be and I think in many ways the you know Senate Republicans gambled and lost last year um thinking that we would probably have a very likely uh a republican-controlled House and Senate and uh you know that we could maybe change some of the where the direction where things were headed and I you know that obviously isn't that way this year and and so with uh with that uh you know I think there's some policies that are being rushed through rather quickly and uh maybe not giving the due diligence that they really need and the the concern that's out there great well the dflers have control of the governor as you said the house and the Senate but we have two Republicans you have the full majority and it's not the trifecta but uh you'll be able to have your voice heard today and so please bring those questions in the first question we have is a question that comes every week for us it's about the Social Security tax but we're going to take a step back and we're going to talk taxes more broadly so in the house the tax bill was released by The dfl majority party and I just want to talk through some of the uh specifics of it and get your your all reactions and so included in here here's some of the things included in here rebate checks uh though smaller than what the governor has proposed uh child uh and working family tax credit a elimination of the Social Security Social Security tax up to a certain percentage and so up to a certain dollar amount for married families with a hundred thousand dollars and individuals that I believe 75 uh thousand dollars a year there's a new millionaire tax that was put uh is being proposed that's a tax increase and then uh more funding in local government Aid and County Aid and so those are some of the highlights you guys make no more we're gonna start with you representative Nelson your thoughts overall on the tax proposal by the Democrats and in particular on that Social Security tax I think uh a couple things on the proposal overall you know almost all of the uh both sides of the aisle you know really campaigned on repealing the Social Security tax I think we're one of nine or one of ten states that has a tax limit so you know those that are social security income and you know it does uh generate about a billion dollars if I remember the number correctly and so it it is fairly significant but I you know I also think at a time when we've got a 17.9 almost 18 billion dollar Surplus I think uh exempting the tax on that is a good move and should be done um right now I think we'll take what we can get um I wish I wish we could do more than that but um you'll also look at that uh you know the millionaire tax you know they're putting in a fifth tier income tax and I think that's uh that's a little concerning to me um I just uh you know we've we've got a budget surplus you know why are we why are we increasing taxes on certain people when we have a surplus like this I think it it concerns me because many of these are our job creators or people that are are generating the revenue in the first place and so if we're going to put tax on them I think there's a concern that we can uh maybe get them looking to uh more tax friendly states to invest in their businesses and that's that gets concerning representative and that millionaire tax would impact point eight percent of minnesotans right but uh overall tax bill specifically addressed Social Security tax um from listening to the people in my district the person the people that are affected the most uh retired College professors retired College people in there you know and they're taking home you know 90 to 100 000 individually that's their retirement so this still doesn't affect them they're the ones that were and these are Democrats that are they say you know we need to have this cut we want this cut and I've like hey you know I'm not in charge of that you know I'm looking I think what what the tax folks have done is a step in the direction I don't think they went far enough I don't think a hundred thousand for a married couple is enough I think it needs to be higher I think those numbers should be higher for Social Security a total elimination would be great if it's a it's rough I thought it was 900 some million almost a billion it's 1.2 billion 1.2 billion yes so knowing that in the last three years we've raised in excess of our what was budgeted we raised about two and a half mil billion a year different I think that's what it's been going up so if you take Social Security out of it you only your your Surplus is one billion instead of 2 billion so it technically wouldn't affect us people wouldn't know us if it was gone um in the short term because we're collecting so much money now so my concern is if we're going to negotiate this number I think it should be higher and where it affects more of the people because you know even a couple that makes or an individual that makes a hundred thousand um if if they're living with their spouse that doesn't get any uh they're spending that money on their families I mean it's not like it's being saved it's being spent in the district and that's good you know the more the more money that gets out to the public and the more money they spend the more sales tax you have the more income tax on on other individuals it trickles down then it works my concern with the whole tax bill the big concern is they put the etabs in the tax bill and uh explain what etabs yes uh the they're a pull tab instead of going into a an establishment and getting a pull tab that you rip open it's a looks like an iPad and you go in there and it's electronic and you you give your dollars to the to the person and they take the money and then they you play the game and it accumulates the points and then when you're done you you clear out and then you get your money back or you redo it in uh super successful highly successful um uh the numbers that I saw last week were just like wow I mean and that funded the construction primarily of the uh Viking State yes correct that's what it was for and now that it's technically or supposed to be paid for the deal was with the tribal entities that that was going to be only short term it's become entrenched ingrained in our communities these are charitable organizations that are raising this money all that money goes back into the community your baseball fields your hockey ranks your your uh snowmobile club it's our snowmobile club volunteer fire departments vfws Legions that and and the etab is successful very and they want to eliminate it and it's kind of like hey wait a minute you know it really that this is something and and with the tribes coming up we have uh sports betting so is is there some way to negotiate these around I'm hoping that we can have some conversations in the future on these these issues so that that etab can stay in there it's important it's hard to vote for something that that that affects the normal common person but as far as the rest of the tax bill I've I've went through it really quick last week I got a e-copy of it and I was trying to look through it and um there's some good things like you you had there I'm a local government Aid guy County Aid guy former mayor of Ely yes you know and you know the Republicans sometimes are like what and I'm like hey man this is go north go here in North and without it we don't exist it's just that simple and and it's important that we have it so um that again that's the stuff I support that but can you take the etab out then it becomes a lot easier to to support so for the callers that are interested Us in the Social Security tax it sounds like something is going to get done this year but possibly probably not a total elimination uh but I've heard uh both of you I think express interest and potentially a total elimination eventually yeah I think I think have total event elimination would be you know would be possible this year under the current climate no we're not it's not possible but it's going to be increased and I that's that's workable for now but I think working for a total total elimination is what our you know our end game is great yep same it's the same thing all right well let's uh keep those calls coming in we've got a a caller who's asking about EV batteries from electric vehicles and wondering um saying that they are not recyclable and is there any legislation being introduced or discussed about figuring out where EV batteries will go at the end of their life cycle are you familiar with any legislation on that either no I'm I'm not I you know there's about 32 or 3 300 bills that have been introduced here so they're they're very well possibly is some legislation on that I don't know if there is but I I think it is a it is a concern uh you know these are you know oftentimes Rare Earth minerals in these and difficult to get and I think I don't know what the status is on being able to recycle them right now I think it's probably a challenge but I think it's something that needs to be looked into as as more and more EVS come on the road and and uh because there will be recycling whether it's uh end of life or maybe an auto accident or something like that you know it's something that has to be looked at representative scrubber you serve on the environment natural resource committee any discussion I did not hear any and I was gonna say I you know I serve on that committee and on Legacy which would fund a study to do that probably you know and then I have not seen anything in any of the hearings and capital Investments I also sit on that and I I have not heard anything on on recycling of the batteries okay moving on uh a question from Isaac who wants to know is the state of Minnesota planning on joining the commission of States and what are the obstacles to join it are either of you familiar with the commission of States um I'm wondering if maybe they're talking the convention of State I think that's probably the probably the question can you can you first explain it a little bit for the viewers so yeah the convention Estates that is you know and I know enough about it to be dangerous so this uh might be a little bit of a hopefully it's not misleading anyway but the convention Estates I believe you have to have two-thirds of the state so I think I think there has to be 36 or 38 I don't remember the number on it but um it's to have a con Constitutional Convention and most of the the individuals that are concerned about having a constitutional convention or Convention of States um are looking at um they want to have a budget resolution is kind of the the big reason behind it and when you look at the federal government uh and the difference between a federal and state government state we obviously have to have a balanced budget so before we go home at the uh in about a month here before we adjourn for the the remainder of the session or we have to uh we have to have a balanced budget before well definitely before uh June the 30th but um so we have to have a balanced budget the federal government doesn't have to have that and so not needing a balanced budget um you know we see that the federal government has you know trillions of stacked up and you know they kind of constantly you know every few months they meet and raise the debt ceiling and then uh usually shortly after there's a spending bill that comes out and but I you know if they don't raise the debt ceiling then things like Social Security and you know some of the other uh you know payments that come out automatically get stopped from the federal government so I think that's the one of the biggest reason there's a few other reasons but the convention Estates really open up the open up the Constitution and look at it doing some amendments and so either the legislature or the you know Congress can do that or there can be a Convention of states that take and look at it and do that are you in favor of that kind of uh you know I used to be really in favor of it and then there's been some that have been talking about it that are that are worried about a runaway convention and you know there's there's I really don't know whether that could happen or not you know some say that if you're meeting together for a specific purpose to you know such as to set a debt ceiling that you could add that Amendment and that that's all it would be for but there's also a concern of uh if if you did have a runaway convention and I got out of hand and they decided to go up and change everything uh there could be a lot at stake if uh if the wrong people were involved and and were to open up the Constitution and do some changes so um I'm a little bit apprehensive I I understand the idea I think it's it would be good to have a balanced budget amendment but at the same time I I think that there's some challenges in doing so representative I'm assuming there hasn't been a lot of talk in the legislature about this this year but the the caller wants to know so your thoughts are there has been a lot of emails about it so let's put it that way I mean so a very organized effort by very much so yeah and and we were approached us freshmen were approached earlier in January where they got us in a room and said this is what we are and you know and it was like how do we get here who who got this person to talk to us about this you know and and it was very interesting and I'm like Nathan representative Nelson I'm very I'm I see the value of it but at the same time I'm a little concerned just I'm not I'm not all in right right now all right so uh let's move on to talk about some of the budget bills from the Committees that both of you sit on so we're going to start with you representative scrubba um environment and natural resources committee has their budget Bill going through the process can you speak to that bill uh things in there maybe that you support and things that you have concerns of well um uh representative Hanson pulled some of the things that we are opposed to out in order to get it to the floor he had members ask him you know if you pull npca they had a Minnesota Pollution Control agency had a Advisory Board they wanted to reinstate The Advisory board but The Advisory Board was appointed by the governor whoever and this is for forever not just for this Governor's forever and that Governor would appoint eight people and they would control everything out of the npca and it was like what you know so if any policy was coming out from scientists they still had the thumb up or thumb down you know it's like it's like yeah that's not good that's not something we wanted and uh that got pulled so all that the stuff that's in there that's good a lot of there's Trail monies there's um there's some good stuff on um trying to trying to the DNR has a good portion of their money helping a fish Fisheries down in southern Minnesota cold water Fisheries trying to get money to build a building for our nursery tree nursery we don't we import all our trees from other areas but not here really you know and then there's some there's uh what other there's there was a lot of good things but at the same time there's things in there the Lola and Conifer Reserve carbon Reserve basically takes all the state land uh mainly in northern Minnesota what I represent out of cutting for loggers and no peat mining allowed in in any state land and and the DNR as opposed to it they're trying to get it out they try they were not successful in the house side but they're going to try in the Senate side um I'm concerned because the loggers in our area they need that Spruce um right now Grand Rapids blandin that's a majority of what they make their paper with this Spruce so I mean if you're trying to kill businesses in northern Minnesota it's a great it's a great part and that does its part but I'm not in favor of that so I I did vote against it again it passed anyway you know but there's there was a lot of good things for northern Minnesota in it and once we get to before we get to the egg Bill we do have a question around natural resources so I'll ask it right now Brad from Hibbing wonders why fishing license fees are going up when the state has a large budget surplus uh fishing license fees yeah can you speak well the whole DNR they came in and said we don't have enough money to operate we need more money and it's like okay we have a 17 billion dollar Surplus we can Shore you up for a couple of years or or you know and get you into where we can figure out how many dollars you're going to need in the future you know and and they came in and said we need it now and we want it now and and it's like and the other money apparently is spent or it's not part of the plan so for the DNR to function they want to raise the rates um I I know um different members of the DNR testified in our committee for for the fee increases justifying it and it would you know it was hard to ask the question well what about the Surplus because it wasn't part of the discussion at the time so we we unfortunately that did get through I don't know what the Senate is going to do I don't I don't think we should be raising it right now traditionally it should be going up a little it should because it's been quite a few years but they're talking like the boat licenses some of them are doubling somewhere you know way more the fishing license I think is like five dollars six dollars the hunting license some more and I did ask uh Bob Myers assistant DNR commissioner I said are you raising the non-resident license proportionally and he he assured me they would if it does go up so if Minnesota's goes up five and compared to the dollar amount the percentage it's going to be the same for that so I I'm like as long as it does that you know that's a fair thing but I still I'm with a surplus it's really hard to support going up thoughts on the fishing license fee increase I think you know fishing license hunting license I mean even Auto tabs you know they're all they're all fees and they're all going up and so I think uh sometimes it's you know a fee increases oftentimes used and saying that it's not a tax increase well a fee is a tax in in reality and uh I think it's just another way to raise some revenue and I I'm opposed to it I you know again we've got nearly an 18 billion dollar Surplus um you know kind of a an incremental or you know kind of almost like a cost of living increase you know adjusted for inflation or whatever I think sometimes things like that are a little bit you know acceptable but you know it's been a while since it's been a you know adjusted so when we do see an adjustment usually it's uh seems quite High and a little bit out of line and but at the same time you know we've got we look at our lakes and our forest as you know public usage and you know that we should be able to use it as a you know a piece of the public so um it's frustrating but uh you know we're not you know I'm not in the majority neither is Roger and you know so we can't uh you know other than voting no on it and trying to have our conversation with our colleagues uh you know that's where we're at okay well let's uh move along to the agriculture budget as one of the few farmers in the legislature it was actually a farmer you said on the committee can you talk a bit about the egg budget things that are in the Bill maybe things some things you support and if you have some concerns about it yeah overall they the egg budget AG bill was uh was really pretty good uh you know it has some investments in uh you know some rural Minnesota does some uh investment one of the things that I've advocated for quite a while is uh more meat processing you know there used to be a locker in it pretty much every small town across the estate and and uh you know over the last couple years of the pandemic we've seen more people that have wanted to Source uh whether it's beef or Hogs or or lamb or whatever they wanted to Source it directly and and you know there just isn't this Locker space right now to be able to do that um it's quite often uh you know I've gotten a standing appointment that's about a year out for the beef that I have processed and um you know it's just uh that's that's where the schedule is and so you know trying to get trying to increase capacity of it so I've got a couple of bills that I had introduced one of them as a liaison position between the Department of Agriculture and somebody that was going to be maybe starting up or expanding a a meat locker and so that you know there's a whole lot of inspections and plans and safety things that go with that and you know if you have one of those out of place uh you're kind of back at the beginning and you're you're put behind and so it was uh you know we've from the Department of Agriculture and then also people that were trying to build a small Locker that was uh really a desire to have a kind of a liaison position so that they could work their way through it and really make sure that all of the eyes are cross eyes are dotted and teas crossed and and so that that was a position that I've been able to work done for a couple years and we've got it in the bill now there's also some funding for training uh for you know it's for so there's uh like Central Lakes College in Brainerd then over Ridgewater down in Wilmer they've got uh they've got classes on meat cutting you know whether it's a short shorter class or a longer class than just being able to expand that uh there's uh funding on for like cover crops and you know kind of expanding uh soil Health that's a pretty big topic that's discussed quite a bit and uh really trying to you know expand our options and what's available with that so those are some good things in there the uh one of the things that is probably one of the the biggest issues is and it's it's a helpful to the farmers in the long run but there's a grain Indemnity um account that's being set up and so when a farmer sells grain to an elevator if the elevator is maybe not uh maybe the management is poor or maybe they have some contracts that uh you got sideways on them um you know the farmer's the last one to get paid if the you know uh elevator goes in default and what ends up happening there is there's right now it's a Bonzer required but uh with bonding you're paid about 11 cents on the dollar so the you know the farmer would get you know pretty small portion and this is after a couple years of litigation and uh bankruptcy court and everything so the with the grain Indemnity that would set up an account at uh it would be required to be held between about 10 and 15 million is what's required by the state and so then the farmer would get anywhere from about 90 percent up to uh or down to about 75 percent depending on the the uh the quantity of grain that they were they were sold and so it's a good thing but the downside is on every bushel that green do you sell there's a fee on that so the farmer ends up being the one that has to pay for their own safety net and it's uh you know the majority of elevators don't aren't in default and so that's probably the biggest frustration is that you know we're having to pay for our own safety net which is being required by somebody else and so you know with again looking at a 17 billion dollar Surplus you know if we need you know the Department of Agriculture saying if we had uh you know 15 million in there that count would be solvent then and it should take care of all our problems well you know it's a pretty small percentage I think we could set that account up and have it going from day one and not having to collect a fee from uh you know on grain sales from the start so that was kind of uh probably one of the bigger frustrations with me is that it's it's in there but it's not set up it's not fully funded well keep those questions coming in either by calling or emailing we're going to go back you each mentioned the Surplus a number of times and just to level set for our viewers out there we do have a significant Surplus around 17 billion dollars with a B uh more than half of that is what is called in legislative speak one-time money and I think the way I look at that is a one-time money is maybe a bonus you'd get on a paycheck and your ongoing money is more of your your paycheck that you'd get so more than half of the Surplus is this one-time bonus money which many folks say you probably shouldn't put towards ongoing expenses so one of the viewers uh wrote in and talked about this budget surplus and we went over it pretty quickly Governor walls proposed giving two thousand and one thousand dollar check rebates back this the tax bill as it stands right now had 275 dollars and 550 dollars up to a certain income threshold for rebate checks what are your thoughts and feelings on uh rebate checks as a part of this Surplus solution I'll start with you representative um you know I think I get a little overall I kind of favor the rebate checks but at the same time I do have some concern with because I think much of the one-time Surplus we have right now is much of the federal dollars that came in you know the cares act the arpa um you know I don't remember all the acronyms that go on with the you know there was a tremendous amount of federal dollars that came into the state and you know there was uh you know much of that was spent it was not saved you know and we do have some inflation that goes along with that but I think it you know part of that inflation was those dollars coming in people were willing or you know able to spend more uh for items and and so they did some of it was just hard to get so we you know it had to some things did increase just because of the scarcity of them but uh as we've as we've seen that um you know it's it's driven inflation and I I'm concerned that you know even currently our rebate checks would be you know could be potential to you know Drive inflation and uh you know I would be much more in favor of uh seeing some tax cuts uh you know under the you know back about 2017 you know there was a you know federally there were some tax cuts made and you know one of the you know that was payroll and so most people saw a little bit more in each check but they didn't really notice at each check it was just a little bit more and you know in the end of the year it was you know a couple hundred bucks um you know maybe similar to what the governor is proposing right now but you know people were kind of frustrated because they didn't see it and what at the same time was a little bit more and it you know maybe helped out a little bit you didn't really even notice it was there but uh you know I think sometimes when we get uh a rebate check we see it as a bonus since we go and maybe buy something that we maybe normally maybe we don't have budget for maybe we're hoping that you know on a nice you know on a rainy day we'll go out and do something and maybe do a little shopping and spend a little bit more and I think that's my concern of what a a rebate check would do but uh you know I think overall our economy is strong right now however you know if we have these you know rebate checks go out I think it could you know Drive inflation a little bit more potentially represent Scrabble your thoughts on including rebate checks as part of the overall solution well again the governor's at thousand and two thousand um and the other ones that are 200 and 500. uh I have many many emails from people in my district that are saying I need help with my fuel oil bill can you could you get that rebate check to me now so I can heat my house and then after this last latest dumping you know just add more misery to people because they were starting to like feel the warmth and you know they're down to 100 gallons in their tank or less and they're like can I make it or can't I and and then it's like well you know well maybe we'll give you some money um I'm I'm I'm not a fan I remember when the Jessie checks came out and I remember that and and I just think we have other one-time costs that are more important um for me I was looking forward to having this big Surplus and being a legislator to buy the taxes down for some of these years for coming up to help the fuel assistance put more money into that uh what we what we're getting is nothing I mean not even close where we're going with it the Surplus I would the number this is these are the numbers I use in my head and I don't know how true they are I've asked several legislators about 12 and a half billion is the one time that's from that's about what it is and there's about five billion and and I think five billion of ongoing yes yes and and that 5 billion you know when I ask is that biennium or is that yearly and they're like oh it's biennium which means over two and a half billion yeah two and a half billion per year we're collecting more than normal so I'm like okay so literally we have two and a half billion per year then we could either buy increasing you know the cost to run government's not cheaper so we can use that to Anchor buy that down so we don't have to go to the taxpayers and take more and then at the same time if you want to give money back um who do you give it back to and how do you give it back and I don't think we've ever had those discussions um I again I'm I'm from a Northern Area and I and I'm I look at it like how can we help more people the lower uh the lower middle class you know the the ones that make 35 000 to 40 000 um twenty eight dollars an hour you think you know that's pretty good wage you know and you got a family it's hard to live on that it's really hard to live on that so how do we help those folks with that money that's I would try to Target it more towards their but we're not in that position so okay so uh next question uh has to do with uh environment and natural resources again uh the state is progressing towards a zero carbon future uh is the legislature looking at considering new nuclear power plants uh and what are your thoughts on that we'll start with you representative scraba I could only hope you know I wish we could go to a nuclear um it's being proposed the technology out there is it is it is a scale you don't have to build a mile island or Three Mile Island you don't have to build these big monoliths anymore you can build smaller ones and they can generate and they're learn we're learning how to use the the the waste to the point where it's gone and uh there's the technology is there if I wish we could go to it I would be in support of it I would I would definitely try to put you know a couple of them in the state and with with the caveat that the tech you know where you put in the technology that's available right now um I'll bleed into my my pad you know it's like twin metals like mining you know the the technology is this right now but can you meet and exceed the technology and I would I would strive for if we did nuclear to meet and exceed the technology but I I would be in favor of trying to locate some in our state or some Nelson new nuclear power uh right now I mean there's a moratorium on right nuclear and uh you know that that needs to be lifted first but I think there's uh there's definitely some promising uh developments that are coming along in the nuclear world you know we're getting some kind of modular size stuff you know it's smaller does a lot of uh a lot of generation of electricity carbon free and very small footprint and and safety and you know that that's something that you know as we see these come along and we're working towards you know a zero carbon future I think that has to be a part of the discussion and you know in talking with uh you know East Central Energy that's the energy provider that covers most of 11b um you know their their concern of you know going 100 I mean they're okay with going 100 percent uh carbon free but they know that you know above 80 percent it's going to get real expensive you know they can they feel that they can get to 80 percent and then that last 20 is going to be expensive and that's also you know to really make it reliable is is an issue as well and so that's where I think you know nuclear really needs to be a part of the discussion uh one other issue that is coming forward here especially in the spring is the potential of flooding and we've seen flooding happen now from the tip of your district and International Falls and all across Minnesota and so our is Minnesota Government prepared uh to help with the potential that flooding that we might see this spring and summer representative Nelson we'll start with you yeah the um there's a disaster relief account that uh you know the Minnesota Legislature funds and uh you know I think that was about 50 million 40 million and so we had put that in there um and part of it I mean it can go as you know basic for any natural disasters um you know it's uh we've been kind of expecting a little bit to you know the the flooding is is coming or it's here um you know I think Duluth they just broke the record uh snowfall probably a big part of the viewership has seen uh you know a lot of snow probably you know close to records this year and you know and then you know two weeks ago you know a big portion of the state had 80 degree weather and you know a lot of it melted very quickly uh what did a lot of flooding and so I'm anticipating that there's going to be a you know maybe the maybe not a lot of huge damage but at the same time there's probably a extensive amounts of small damage so uh we've got a lot of Township roads in the state there's 55 000 miles and uh you know I drove off a few miles of Back Road on the way up here today a lot of gravel roads and you know there's there's a lot of flags a lot of barrels out uh you know marking marking bad roads where they've where water was across the road they found culverts out well that's you know all things that are going to meet need to be have maintenance done on them this Summer and so oftentimes that isn't in the township budget to do so so I think there's probably going to have to be some increased funding on that and and do some increase the level of it because it's I think right now it was kind of at the wait and see but you know I think we've seen enough to know that we're probably going to have to do some more funding of these and historically special sessions needed to be called for this but represent Scrabble with flooding up there and fires potentially all across Northeastern Minnesota do you think this 40 million dollars is enough uh is uh is it enough well I don't know I I I'm hoping it is that actuarians and everyone said this is it representative pawlowski it's his it's his baby he he knows exactly what he's doing with it and that's what he wanted and that's what they got the governor was more than adequate with it um I know the flooding that we're talking about last yesterday I drove from Ely to Two Harbors and uh the Birch Lake dam is right there and uh this is the first time in years that I saw every gate wide open and the water on the other side was like almost level and and that's I was went to Two Harbors I came back and it was dark and I got in the middle no one was coming I turned the car off just to listen to the sound of how much water was going through it's just it's unbelievable how much and Rainy Lake um the commission had lowered it as low as they've it's ever been because you know again wash rinse repeat kind of you know they've done they've been through it last year so now this year they're ready so it they they lowered the lake as far as it could go it's starting to fill up again and they're still leaving that that gate a little lower what's going to happen they've got it all mapped out right now so they they know how much water is moving this big eight inches of wet snow didn't help but again um we're hoping that they've uh they're trying to get the basins as empty as they can to fill up because they use that water for power that's you know clean carbon free Power viewer from Duluth is wondering about a report that came out and some high profile a few high-profile cases where State Grant dollars went to organizations that failed to fulfill their requirements and so is the legislature been discussing this about grants that the state gives out to entities making sure they're going to meet their requirements have you heard about any of that in either of your committees that you serve on representative Nelson we'll start with you yeah I serve on the children and families and so that we heard about some of these in the uh it was the feeding our future there was some you know a lot of that was federal dollars but yet you know it's passed through and you know there's uh the the investigation is probably not going as quickly as some would like but uh you know it's uh you know that it's being investigated and you know people are being you know caught on this but at the same time uh you know just last week there was one of them was supposed to have a court date and you know the missed the court in the missed the appearance and nobody knows where they're at uh very possibly skip the country and it's you know outside of the borders of the US right now but uh you know it's something that I think we need to you know we need to take seriously our funds being responsible for them and you know when we would bring it up in committee oftentimes the the chair of the committee would would kind of downplay it that uh you know the the Ola reports office of legislative audit you know they didn't find as much of a um you know and that that was talking about the CCAP funds the children uh you know the child uh the child child assistance child assistance yes and uh you know that you know there was only a few charges made on it well we know it was uh much bigger than what you know what was actually charged out but um being able just to find out where that went is is one of the challenges I think you know we need to take um fraud seriously and stop it make sure we have the you know correct measures in place to prevent it and also the punitive behind it for when somebody does it and is caught so um and unfortunately I don't think there's as much uh attention being paid to that as there should be right now so so the feeding our future was really the big high profile case a big dollar amount represent Scrabble do you think that this is something that's happening all over state government and uh to represent Nelson's Point uh would it take the state actually being more responsible for spending these dollars and or having enough resources to make sure there isn't fraud moving forward well the office of legislative auditor they've they've asked where would you like us to work and you remember when you were there the way they the way it works we've asked them to look into what's going on and they come out with a recommendation and the last two that I read were like yes this is occurring you need to do something and there's sits sits on the table so nobody wants to do anything so what could be done I you know and and therein lies who wants to do it who wants to be the ones to do it you know and and uh I I would my my personal feelings on what's Happening when people take government money and totally disregard what it's for and then like well you know no one told me I couldn't do that and it's like no we need to the punishment needs to be more um public so so people know you you do that this is what you get and and perhaps it is I've not been through a system of this yet I'm a freshman so I it's new to me but um I know if we did it at city government we you know we fire people we lay them off we we go through um uh mediation we do everything we can to give that those groups of people their fair fair opportunity to defend themselves and then when it's when it's found then the punishment comes that has to happen and right now it's like it's non-existent it's just like and and I and I'm not going to blame if it's a Democrat or a Republican or whoever's not the the system should it shouldn't matter who's in charge there should be you know it's like uh criminal when it's Criminal there is no politics criminal is Criminal and it goes through the system that's where I'd like to see this get either elevated to a criminal or something something's not being done because the the the caller or the email or if they're still talking about it then we haven't done that end of the job so I'm hoping we can do something another viewer is asking they are a retiree and have seen their property taxes 65 percent in the last 15 or so years they don't live in Elise so just yeah uh yeah just know that represents yet their pension has not kept up since they retired in 2007. is there any way to help in particular senior citizens who are seeing this increase in property taxes yet their pensions or their retirements stay level represent Scrabble we're going to start with yeah I I think what we have to do on and and campaigning last year I campaigned from one end to the you know and it takes me six hours to drive from Grand Portage to North home you know it's a long drive it doesn't even take that to get to Iowa from here you know so uh what I what I've found out with all those people that they all complain why am I valuing it why are my property taxes Rising well there's two different issues there the value of the property and property taxes you know and what we're finding is the property taxes across the board everywhere went up and I don't mean a little bit like 65 percent I mean some of it was a lot and it's like I know in St Louis County we have our um Auditors you know the assessors they come in and they make sure that the property values are proper so that when the auditor comes in to figure out how much money we need and they take a certain percentage from each property owner to pay for all of our stuff the state does the same it uses this I'm trying to figure out what and and I haven't been able to I I feel with this person I've felt fielded a lot of people asking this question what are you going to do about it what are you going to do about it you know and and again my tax person that I ask you know where are we going I got a guy in Little Fork that is just he he's like you're pushing me out of my house so what's the role and and we'll pivot to you represent Nelson in a minute here but in particular I guess we're looking at what's the role of state government in this because so much of this is levied by cities counties and school districts and so what role can the legislature I'm hoping right now that the LGA makes up for some of this well so government local government Aid and our state and that state dollar is going to both counties and cities offset these property value property taxes that's the that is the intent the intent um if if a community takes that increase and says oh I have more money I can go to more projects there that's that's a good idea if you have projects but if you have a a rising tax you need to buy that tax down so that your people can stay there and that's that's coming there is some relief coming what can be the state's role in helping with property tax increases well that's there is a program right now especially for uh for property tax rebates that's available through and I think a Department of Revenue I'm not positive on that but um there's so there is some you know assistance available to help um you know and especially for retired fixed income because that's uh you know that's a challenge especially uh um you know if you're newly retired you probably have an option of going and and picking up some you know side gigs and doing a little bit of work but uh you know the you know the longer you're in retirement the more of a challenge that's going to be where to work and and so I I think that there's some you know some need there to to probably strengthen that and increase that I know one of the things that I've been hearing from is uh retired veterans uh you know for the for those that are you know have uh I believe it's 70 disability and above um there's an exemption on property taxes the first currently it's 300 000 and I think it's I believe it's going to be increased up to like four hundred and thirty seven thousand dollars of value of your home so that wouldn't you know that would be a benefit there for uh you know but I think you have to be a 70 percent uh disabled for um for that um but I think I think having some uh you know increasing that uh you know it's a way that you know we can keep seniors in their homes longer and make sure that uh you know they're they're able to live in their home uh and I think that's important I think it's good for them and especially as we look at you know the the scarcity of uh elderly living whether it's uh you know assisted living or um you know even in the nursing homes I think you know as the longer somebody can stay in their home it's it's better for their health and uh they're just unfortunately isn't a system or uh you know the support there for right now but I think uh you know one of one of the areas that Northeast Minnesota really struggles with is the pilt payments the payment in lieu of taxes um you know we've got a lot of state and federal land uh you know federal land doesn't uh qualify for pilt but there's a lot of state land that um it's owned by you know it's uh different Parcels that are you know we can we get a pill payment on it and it's you know it's a portion of what the property taxes would be but you know there's disparity because in South you know Southwest Minnesota you know there's some pilt land there and it's they're getting a much higher payment rate on it and um you know one acre there is worth probably about 15 or 20 acres in northern Minnesota and you know it's a challenge because you know we've got much of the same needs up here and we're not getting the funds coming here so I do think that we do need to increase the uh especially for retired people I think we need to um you know either do a bigger rebate or or something to help them out with their property taxes and you talked about a program that is available by the state and uh the viewer or caller or any viewer should go to the Department of revenue's website to check that out yes uh I only have time for one more question uh it it's a big broad one but so we're gonna have to limit your answers and the House Representatives looks like it's going to vote on recreational cannabis use in the coming weeks here and we just had April 20th 420 happen in this last week representative Nelson your views on the recreational cannabis bill are you supportive of it um you know I'm kind of on the fence about it I'm probably going to vote no on hf-100 that it's uh probably coming to the floor maybe this next week um it'll be fairly soon but um I'm gonna vote no because I think there's some things that need to be fixed and especially for hemp Growers uh the farmers have a lot of concerns with it but uh I think it's going to happen in the state we'd be about the 26th state that legalizes it um but there's some issues yet that I think need to be worked out but uh as of today I would be a no and if I saw the Amendments because the hemp I've got two hemp growers in my district that are adamant about not you know not supporting that but they like the bill they just want their out they want an off ramp somewhere for them so I'm hoping that this week if it is comes up that there's an amendment in there I didn't fashion it right now I'm probably a yes probably we're having a press conference tomorrow morning and we'll see what I I'm more on the fence than he is I'm I really it's a difficult it's difficult you know I mean I've when I go home and the amount of emails I get are by far in favor by far we'll go from one uh issue like this to another and we only have about a minute or so left a viewer wants to know about red flag laws and safe storage uh any uh do you foresee any bills being passed in the last few weeks here on red flag laws represent Scrabble go first if the red flag law were written properly because I I don't believe people that have mental if they have serious mental causes they should be watched they should but how we get to that I don't know the way it's currently written I can't support any of them the way it's currently written but I believe we need to look at that red flag law yes represent Nelson um I believe the red flag laws in a pass I I think there's elements about it that I think we can all support but at the same time I think as it's written definitely has some concerns with it but um you know most likely the red flag laws and then I don't know if it's state there's two plot there's two that are going to probably pass and I don't know if it's safe storage or which is the storage ones out um but there's a couple Provisions that are going to pass that [Music] um you know we look at the Second Amendment as something that's uh you know very unique to the United States I support it quite strongly but at the same time I think there's got to be the uh you know the rules behind it that back it up great all right well just finally here there's only one month of the session left and in a sentence uh and only a sentence what do you hope gets accomplished in this last month oh boy uh you know I really hope that we can get to the end of session and and be pleased with what happens there might be some frustration but at the same time um we've had some challenges coming through the Committees that have been frustrating and making sure our voice is heard 15 seconds representative scrubba that they hear our voices more that I wish I wish on the floor and they would hear us more amendments 70 to 64.

70 to 64.

70 to 64. there's no there's no give unfortunately well we certainly heard both your voices today and thank you for being here we are out of time I would like to thank representative Roger scraba and representative Nathan Nelson for sharing their time today join me again next Sunday for another edition of Minnesota legislative report when we will welcome more legislators from northern Minnesota to the program for the team at PBS North I'm Tony sirdich have a great evening foreign [Music]