welcome to Minnesota legislative report our Region's longest running public affairs program lawmakers from North Eastern Minnesota are joining us today for a recap of the week's activities at the state capital this is your opportunity to call or email your legislative questions and have them answered live on the air Minnesota legislative report starts [Music] now hello and welcome to Minnesota legislative report I'm your host Tony ceric State Legislature is closing in on deadlines that will impact what issues remain alive this session viewers tonight is your chance to join in on the conversation email or call in with questions for the lawmakers that represent you to ask a question dial the phone number on your screen or you can also email your questions to ask pbsn north.org joining us in studio today our representative Spencer iGo a republican from obana Township representing District 7A and joining him is representative Roger scraba a republican from elely representing District 3A welcome representative iGo and scraba great to have you back in studio thanks for having us absolutely so here we are we're getting towards the end of session um now uh legislators can introduce as many bills or ideas as they want during the session but then there are deadlines that really funnel your work and you're getting close to some of those deadlines and so we'll start uh repr IO with you to just talk about for the viewers at home the process of how we winnow down to get to an end of session and decisions with these deadlines yeah so absolutely again we're third deadline this week so the deadlines really is a way for us to kind of what are we at Roger 6,000 bills or something right now it's to get us that kind of final list of what we're going to be moving forward with so um the first and second deadlines happen a few weeks ago we were having very long committee hearings usually two a day to get through a bunch of bills to kind of give us a good pallet to work with and now this week we'll kind of come together finally have those last hearings on those final bills that'll create usually the Omnibus bills so those need to be heard by Friday so it should be a busy week and we'll just kind of see what happens with it so once Friday gets here uh those ideas that are kind of in the mix are the ones that move forward and everything else is basically dead for the year is that true represent scrabo unless it's a spending if it's a bonding Bill uh we can have some leeway to work on that um but for the most part that is when it's done uh after Friday if you haven't introduced a bill uh it takes some EXT extraordinary effort to get it to hear it I mean it can be done but you know it's not something that's normal we've we've well over 10,000 bills in the last two years well north of that so we've heard enough Y and and so if viewers uh you call in or email in today we might have a sense of this is something that's still alive or this is something that probably won't happen this year one way or another so the big issue uh generally for this second year of a two-year session that you all are in involved in is the capital investment or bonding Bill and this is where the state uh borrows money to invest in infrastructure projects with regional or Statewide significance generally and so let's spend a little bit of time talking about this represent scraba you sit on the capital investment committee and so you've done a lot of work uh prior to the legislature meeting and session and now the heavy lifting is happening uh in that committee can you talk a bit about uh how this works how bonding works and maybe talk about how you spent your summer yeah which was a while ago but this all plays into how you build a bill that that can Garner support very very much so um think of uh Capital Investments bonding as a credit card and um the state has the ability to borrow so much each year and it's based on revenues it's based on a formula um this year they came to us and after last year's record phenomenal over $2 billion uh in bonding uh this year is more normal they came in and said you have 830 million and uh the governor has his bill the legislature has their bill you know the Senate and the house um what happens is um prior to all of this each Community whoever and normally like the governor this year said he wanted to focus on water and wastewater um not so much community centers and things like that so uh as a member of the bonding committee the bonding chair representative fi uh from I believe St Paul um Fu put together a trip uh we went six weeks this summer for we we go uh Tuesday Wednesday Thursday of the week and we get in the bus in St Paul and we travel around the state one one week we're in Northwestern Minnesota the next one Northeast the next one North Central the next one Southwest Southeast and then back in the metro in November we got done in November we started this in August so it's you you go to all the projects each each member or each Community member sometimes is even part of it in the beginning each Community just says you know we uh mpca came this year's big thing was Minnesota Pollution Control agency we don't do acronyms on the show so there Minnesota Pollution Control agency came out and said we're going to change the way we do this uh Wastewater and because there's so much salt in the water because of water and uh these issues so these communities down in south southern Minnesota had to change their wastewater treatment facilities well it's not a million dollar project you know it's five six8 million doar per project and uh they became priority this year because we're trying to keep our water safe and clean so what happens is we get a tour of all these communities that said hey we need help we can't do this alone um a town I mean we've had some towns of 60 where we have to build a six mile pipe to pump their effluent to another spot and that's they can't afford that they just can't afford it so the state comes in and says raise your rates to what the max you can pay and we'll make take care of the rest um so that's one aspect of bonding that the way we do that we get that and we did a lot of that this year a lot and water treatment same thing we also do um I for our listeners in our people the gig gami Trail we do uh massabi Trail uh we do uh different uh public entities that each community in itself in my opinion shouldn't have to pay for it's really a a regional project it it attracts people here and we benefit from it cuz we live here but at the same time people from the metro area just they fall over themselves and come up north to be with us and we have all these amenities for them that everybody helped pay for so I mean and and there are various other reasons things that in in capital Investments I could stay here for an hour but I don't need to talk about that but I'm this is my second year and it's been the the trips that I took last summer if you ever want to learn about Minnesota go on a bonding tour you will learn intimately what Comm we digest really quick we're in a nursing home for 34 people um there's 33 in in the building only because they can't get that last room fixed there's one shower and one bathtub for 33 people you know and I'm like what it's 2023 this is the best we can do for our people in the state so things like that you see and it's like we need to fix that we need to help these communities cuz they don't have the means I'd in one of the poorest uh counties in Minnesota so you learn you know what what's your metal what are you made of how much of this can you take you know so I use that as my measuring stick you know I will make sure they get money that's my my goal is I want that that thing fixed it has to It's just sad to see to to know that it's happening and and I have an opportunity to help those people so but we see things it's just phenomenal yeah so legislature goes on the road firsthand gets to see what's going on in communities hosting Folks up here as well representative iGo uh I'm sure you have a list of projects that you are supporting for your community and our region can you take a bit of time to talk about what you're hopeful to see being either in the discussion or hopefully a part of a capital investment Bill impacting nor Eastern Minnesota yes I think Roger kind of hit it off great I mean and the governor has good priorities it should be water and infrastructure right now and that's really what a lot of our projects are um all over the range in northeastern Minnesota you know the the range delegation along with other members outside of it most of our bonding projects that we have put in are you know a water project in Hibbing a water project in floodwood a water project uh in some townships I mean that's the things we're working on and it's infrastructure that's going to help those communities that don't have the means don't have the tax base to do so um and that's kind of been the big thing I've been advocating for uh in the bonding bill this year you know I think last year we saw a bunch of onetime money that were used um it was a record bonding deal but I think this time we need to return to what bonding is supposed to be as a member of leadership that's kind of the conversations I've been having is saying let's do this it should be a bipartisan Bill bonding is a good thing if you're taking care of infrastructure and taking care of people because when we come into a community like Hibbing which is one of the projects I'm working on and we help them with their water infrastructure you know we lift that Community up by not putting that cost on the people that live there uh and it gives them more means to have more prosperity to invest in themselves um and I think it's really important that we keep that perspective when we talk about bonding because that's how we can you know lift up lives of minnesotans outside of our region too great and so the bill as representive scraba said is really borrowing or putting it on the state's credit card and in order to do that you need a super majority or or or more than traditionally it takes to pass and in both the Senate and the house that would mean it would take bipartisan support to get this done so represent iGo in order to win your support what are some of the things you're looking for I was going to say the million dollar question but I think it's like the $830 million question right um again kind of go back to what I just said I I want if the bill is strictly roads water Bridges infrastructure and actually helping people and helping communities that have tax based issues you're going to have my support I just don't want to see $27 million for a startup nonprofit like we did last year we need to actually invest in people invest in communities investing communities that need it and that's how you're going to get not just a bipartisan bill by a hairline margin you'll get massive support if we can put together a bill like that so that's what I've been working on since last summer as we came into session is let's leave the partisan stuff at the side focus on what bonding's for and we're going to get a good bill represent sco what are you looking for to gain your support well it's pretty hard for me not to support this bill um uh a majority of the projects that are we're we're seeing um I sit on the committee so I twice a week we have people come in and uh 2 three minutes per group I mean we're here you know $200 million a day worth of projects people are looking for you know that sort of thing and and and you're like okay we know we can't fund everything that's a fact so uh like uh representative iGo said I'm GNA I'm going to kind of defer I'd like to see more infrastructure but I do realize that some of these um I have a project in littlefork that is a RV Park in a um Gravel Pit and the water part of the deal is getting the water cleaned and all that it's all part of and it's a trail between Crane Lake and littlefork so it's like for a small community like littlefork that's huge it's it's a big deal for for us to sit there and um and between Senator hos child and myself we sit down and we try to find which projects are going to be good for our communities that we think we can get across the line um and it it last year's bill was just different so this year uh uh representative erall the Republican lead is like you know this is more like it this is the way you know where so I'm looking forward to seeing the Finish Line the finished product um getting to that um last year we really weren't a lot big part of it leadership did most of it uh this year Fu uh represented Le chair Lee said you know we're going to be more integral in what's going to happen so I hear CAU cautious optimism by both of you that something will get done here but as a reminder nothing needs to get done so unlike last year when the state is responsible to pass a budget in order to fund government they fund it for two years and so really this doesn't need to get done it sounds like a want definitely though across the board and I'm hearing some cautious optimism here well like I said I mean just anything can happen I mean as we get into these closing weeks and what's that final bill going to look like and how are we going to see like DNR agency product uh projects for example how are they going to factor into it where are they going to count what side of the aisle is going to work on that and again it a lot can happen so it's cautious optimism but at the same time I think there is some mutual understanding between both parties that if we focus on the infrastructure the bonding bill will happen Okay well if you have specific questions about this bonding bill or any Projects please call or email in we have our first uh question from a viewer and Hibbing uh wondering to both of you uh and we'll start with you uh represent scraba will you support an equal rights Minnesota constitutional ballot initiative to allow citizens to vote on an amendment to the Minnesota Constitution women have been waiting over a hundred years for equality Equal Rights Amendment uh to the Constitution um I would I would support to let the people vote absolutely that's something I I I wouldn't deny uh anyone the right to vote on on a Amendment uh the way this amendment is written uh they Chang the wording it's not the amendment from a hundred years ago it's a different Amendment right now we have what's different about it um well I don't know exactly because I'm not in that I the colleagues that I have they're being they're telling us to be cautious about the form that this is coming in if it comes in the form that um again this is my expertise is environment and natural resources but on whole I support this I just want to see what the language is to see if we can support the language that it's going to come in and quite honestly I don't know what it is represo do you have any more information on what's being considered right now yeah you know represent scrab kind of hit hit it there I mean so the way we see the language getting crafted right now and right now I don't I don't know if the new language even moved through any of the Committees yet this year so again going back to that deadline conversation it would have to basically be heard by the end of the week if we're going to see it move anymore so what is then the current language that is being considered there's a current language in the Senate that had some basically Minnesota took what we're seeing across the country and added some language that I don't think most minnesotans are aware of yet it kind of goes into the weeds a little bit um on the terms of Reproductive Rights um that changes things a little bit that is usually what the conversation hasn't been for the last 100 years so I think there's Republicans and Democrats both looking at the language going maybe this needs to be tuned so when it comes to putting an amendment before the people of Minnesota absolutely I think that's the way we need to move amendments like that especially for our constitution but I think there needs to be more work done on it right now because there's being changes introduced to the language so I don't think we're going to probably see it move this year if anything it'll probably be another year and the legislature is supposed to move slow especially when we're talking about Constitutional Amendments now and just so that our viewers at home and I'm clear about this so this is uh really to codify equal rights for women in is it the state constitution or is it the national Constitution because I know other states are passing similar provisions and so is this specific to Minnesota or is this more of a national push do either of you know that so again and like Roger my expertise is more on the energy side of things natural resources uh Economic Development so I'm not as privy to this because I haven't been in the conversations but as I'm aware it's it's a national movement to help on ratifying um some stuff at the national level but it's also at the State Side level too okay well keep those questions coming in thank you very much um thanks to my constituent from heav there you go uh so I I'm going to get back to the questions in a second so the other piece uh that's going on this legislative session is you're sitting with a current surplus of resources for this budget year and the state projects out and forecasts out if there's money available and so the governor also brought forward as one does uh a list of proposals to potentially fund above and beyond what last year's budget was and and once again this doesn't need to get it passed because you already have an existing budget in place and I know that the legislature has their priorities one of the biggest priorities uh that the governor put forward in his supplemental budget was F funding for Emergency Medical Services ambulance services I know a big issue in Greater Minnesota there was a committee that was formed that went around uh and so can you talk a bit about uh the need if you feel there is a need for some additional State funding to help out our rural ambulance Services representative scraba do you want to go first yeah um I went to the first meeting they had Mountain Iron uh this organization the group The the legislative group um what the governor proposed I think was $16 million six was for um an experiment and 10 I I I I didn't break it down enough because it's not even close to what we need right now it's it's not even a Band-Aid um it's it's identifying the problem like yes there is an issue we all know it's an issue um I think I think it's going to take some negotiating and um what you negotiate with to get more um the the organization identified 12 120 million if we had one-time funding it would make everyone in the state whole that is in a ho I I represent International Falls they're they're about 250,000 a year going in the hole so we're trying to bring them back to being whole elely goes about 120 150,000 every year in the hole we're going to try to make them whole Grand marray same same issue uh Silver Bay uh all these small communities Big Fork you know they they're like big fork doesn't okay job but now they're finally there's not finally they're losing money um uh city of ore makes money because it's all volunteer they don't have any they're not paying EMTs or um um paramedics so it's it's a model it needs a big discussion you know and and a really big discussion about what is the future what what do you expect I mean um I think I think what's going to end up happening is at some point we're all going to have to pay more um I I keep using the example of uh in St Louis County we have a solid waste fee $85 per parcel uh cuz we want clean water clean air clean everything and the solid waste fee is part of that um do we want Emergency Medical Services do we want that how much per parcel would it cost for all of us to pay to have that for everybody sounds like you're advocating though for more funding than what even the governor's proposing far this session AB absolutely and it sounds like one of the major issues around this is actually the reimbursement rates uh fed corre from the federal government and so that is impacting as well so uh I'll I'll ask you a similar question but I want to expand this out a little bit more is because traditionally these sorts of service are paid for by local property taxes and so where the state has played in this in the past has been giving local government Aid to communities to say you spend it how you spend it best in in in your community it's sounding like this proposal is more above and beyond and so do you see this funding Emergency Medical Services or ambulance services in local communities as a state responsibility so this has been an issue that didn't just pop up at the end of last session we've been going to this point and you know if you talk to um anyone that works in EMS they've been saying it's been coming for a long time and now we're here we've arrived so this legislation that we're working on to try and get this one-time funding is just that it's a one-time situation we need to do something to fix it but I think representative scraa is kind of honest saying we need to start looking at how do we fix it long term with only a few weeks left in the legislative session we can't get there but I know one thing that people need to be able to dial 911 and if an AM and an ambulance needs to be there to pick them up and I think there's been a huge discrepancy see you know when there's a lot of Education that used to happen on EMS right you know when we talk about service areas for some of these ambulance units right I mean we can just use city of Hibbing for example the city itself is 190 square miles right I mean that's larger than Ramsey County which has what four or five different ambulance services to cover it now sure there's more people but it's still the same land area um so and that and when you talk about those reimbursements right I mean the Medicare Medicaid reimbursement what is it like usually only covers 60% if that if that um and that's a larger conversation we need to work with our Congressional Delegation but even that I mean in being real about the situation those reimbursements for Medicare Medicaid haven't been touched in almost two decades um and with the State of Affairs when it comes to those programs when you start adjusting one um it could mean adjustments for others which could in pop the bubble on that so we need to think twice act once but I think at the local level is where we're going to make an impact so we're really advocating we need to up that number get our ambulance services whole and then this summer meet meet with the stakeholders that's you know leagues of Minnesota cities our small cities our large cities our counties and find a way that gets everyone on board that we can fund this problem moving forward so that we can keep our people safe and that's a key role of government right so are there any other uh funding that you're advocating besides this in supplemental funding this year that you're hoping to see a part of a budget package we'll start with you represento yeah I mean when it just comes to this this is number one priority I mean it was one of the first bills that I signed on to when I got down there I had multiple meetings across the range about this this we're really seeing it up north here so um really pushing that again it the ask was you know 120 we're at 16 million we we got to find a way to mess with that formula so that it actually is going to help out and take care of everybody um because I don't want to see it move to a state where we're having ambulance services close um it's a scary situation SC is there any other uh funding requests that you're supportive of for this session being on Capital Investments the supplemental the governor people been coming in all week or last two weeks three weeks um Child Care came in you know and asked for um I think like 80 or 90 million something you know and it's like U and I asked the director um I think it's under HHS right now I can't remember Human Services I think that's where it's at right now and I and I asked the the chair chair the head I said what about the 1.2 billion we put in the budget last year that you guys got for child care you know who how much is going into programming um she kind of looked at me and asked for help from the side the guy came in told her and then she said none of that money is for programming and I'm like so $1.2 billion is not going to go into programming at all no and I'm like okay so you know we're going to put in another let's say 200 million so it's like 1.4 billion dollar into child care and 200 million is only going to go to programming in the state and and that frustrates me you know and I want to I want to help that because I want that money to go to the people that's that's my goal and the governor's supplemental budget he's he's identified things that he he wants to see and for us to do that it takes a caucus and then another caucus to to override that and that's pretty hard it's pretty tough um so I'm I'm looking I would go along with more money for child care the EMS that's easy um where could we go otherwise uh we tried to get some PFA money some more money into uh Public Finance sorry that's okay yeah Public Finance Authority it's where uh communities go get their money for uh water Wastewater um the state doesn't write the community a check it goes through PFA or through deed uh Department of Ed employment Economic Development there's different different ways for the money to get to the communities but uh and that's that's trust me it's my second year it's a learning experience to find how that money gets funneled and where it goes and um when a community calls you up says hey I didn't get my money where is it it's like hold on you know a week later there's where it is and I think it's almost worth mentioning too right I mean when it comes to supplemental spending I think the one thing that we're seeing and I'm hearing a lot from my district alone is how much was spent last year right you know we can't forget that the state budget was increased by 40% and taxes were raised by almost 10 billion so I think the thing that we need to be looking at right now is how can we streamline what's in place um you know when we talk child care right none of that went to programming but how many mandates could we remove or fine tune with stakeholders to make that money go a lot farther right I mean same thing can we applied for education so I think especially being in a policy year what could we do with the budget that's in place if we did those fine tweaks so that the programs could go farther and I think that's kind of the other angle we to be looking at with this well we'll get back to some of those public policy uh questions and conversation but first uh one of the viewers from balam Township uh wrote in and said will the representatives support an increase on tanite taxes for local townships and so let's remind the viewers that uh uh production taxes what they're talking about here tanite taxes are what the mining companies pay for pay instead of property taxes and there's a formula that some of the money goes to counties some goes to cities and townships some goes to to uh schools and then the rest goes to the IB and there's a few other uh pieces in there and so this viewer is is looking for an increase in tanai taxes to go towards local townships who wants to take this one first I would I would ask you to answer because you were the highb commissioner I'm on this side of the I know I know I know I you can go first or me I mean doesn't matter so I guess I don't know of any proposals like that right now that are introduced just for Township specifically um when weever we have conversations about adjusting the tach andite tax and how it's distributed those are very very large conversations that we need to have about how is it going to impact because when you adjust one it affects everybody else um and that fund can go up and down depending on the three-year running balance so um it's something I think worth looking into but I guess I can't answer you know without looking at the dollars and cents and seeing really what the adjustments would do so I think there's been a lot of talk about how we can support people uh other communities LGA is always conversation there you know one good thing for our townships right now though is we did get a lot of Township funding at the end of last session so hopefully that's going to be helping moving forward but uh I I guess I appreciate the idea I can I can look into that absolutely well the townships are always they don't have enough money for the roads and that's what's probably pushes this question uh it's one thing I've learned down here in St Paul is the the amount of dollars that we the state gives to the township to manage the roads is not even close to what they need and last year we had an opportunity to give more and we didn't we give them some more but not I heard from all the townships that I represent and they're just like it wasn't enough it you know I'm like well n It's never enough but it really wasn't enough um if they want to use those dollars to to work on the road again um if they're if if you move that tanite tax around you know which which there is a bill now to offset property taxes um and even that gets scary because we don't know what the future is you know we don't know if the all the plants are going to keep operating we don't know and if it goes down where do we get the money that we said we were going to do so it's not that I don't want to I mean I would love to see the townships get a little more uh the cities are you know obviously more concentrated people and uh but townships if if that's what they're going to need then we need to bring it up more or they do but it sounds like at least for right now there is no proposals out there to impact it in one way or another first I've heard of it so let's stay on the topic of property taxes because this is coming up on our show uh at least um because folks are getting statements in the mail uh in the last couple of weeks and they ask questions of state legislators and what is your role in property taxes as we know generally property taxes fund County Township School District City uh and and is really set on that level but there is it interplay or byplay between the legislature and property taxes you fund local government Aid County Aid we just talked about maybe some of this Ambulance Service funding and so beyond what we talked about is there anything else being considered that would impact property taxes from the state legislature of this session ref Scrabble we'll start with you um I'm not again I'm not on taxes so I don't I don't know what all the bills they're hearing um I I'm not aware of anything right off of where where my brain I'm trying to think of you know what what have I heard um other than me saying you know if we're going to solve this ambulance problem we're going to have to go to a per parcel something at some point whether we do or not depends on what ha how what the folks want what people want do they want better service or do they want to save money that's so I don't think there's as much this year there was quite a bit done last year um you know we increased the homestead amount by quite a bit um the property tax uh return by the state of Minnesota was also increased those are things that are going to help but we're seeing a very unique time especially here in northern Minnesota I mean this is something when I came into the legislature in 2021 was just starting to pick up I mean itaska County St Louis County aen counties those were in the top four for highest property property valuation increase in the state the average valuation increase in itas County loone was 29% so unfortunately with that comes increased property taxes and I I I I think this is a unique time to be able to tell those listening that this isn't the county doesn't look at it and say oh there's more money to be made here they by Statute have to tax at 90 to 105% of that of that property's value so they have to increase with it now I think our counties are doing as good a job they can to stabilize their levies so that hopefully people aren't seeing those increases but we need to talk about more of a long-term solution and I'm I'm still trying to work with stakeholders because again this is a conversation that the state plays a role but this is a lot of local government this is counties and our municipalities and it's finding a way we can work at that to stabilize these valuations and these property taxes so we're not pushing people out of their homes and it's not going to be sustainable right because sure that valuation might have went up 29% but now your prime rate for a mortgage is 7% so is that house really going to sell for that new valuation and the answer is probably not but then how do we get that valuation to a point we're not going to be removing people from their homes because they can't afford the taxes so I'm hoping some of the things we passed last year are going to be at help but the work's not done yet and I'm still working with stakeholders and I encourage those people that are reaching out to keep in touch with with your legislators on it because this is a conversation where we need to partner on to find a good solution this legislative session changing gears a bit uh is focused as we discussed on the capital investment Bill and then uh policy or policy focused uh both of you sit on either energy environment or Economic Development committees and one of the topics that tends to come up especially in northeastern Minnesota is permits and permit reform uh are we seeing any movement on that or any proposals that either of you'd like to discuss that have a chance of passing this session we'll start with you represent IO yes so I mean there's definitely a conversation to be had um this something that really all of us in northern Minnesota have been working on for years to get to this point um so Minnesota Chamber did a great Report with bar engineering that came out that kind of laid out a good framework to work with um so right now there's a couple bills moving um I've had one of them front me that I'll talk about right now um and that was one that was actually strictly just related to energy permitting so really if we looked at what was on that you know the streamlining cleaning it up making sure that we don't have 5 sevene weights um it honestly stuff we can all support the problem that I had with the bill U and that I'm actually actively working on trying to change is it only was for three things it was for solar wind and transmission projects so the conversation I'm trying to have right now is why do we need to pick winners and losers with this permanent uh solution and I was just with a group uh last week talking about I said you know even as it applies to solar what good is permitting a solar project if the manufacturer making the solar panels can't get permitted this is a larger conversation so I know between the house and the Senate there's an amendment working around right now that we're trying to make it apply to everybody um and those have all made deadlines so that's going to be well alive here as we go into the end of session but it's really finding a way that we make sure that permitting is going to apply to everybody and the conversation we also need to have with that is permitting is not just for that business or that manufacturer that wants to build something it's for the community that's wait waiting right right look at new range right those folks have been waiting over 20 years now for a mine we got to keep pering in Minds that it's not just for the business it's for the community that's going to be affected by it and I think that's how we can be effective in getting this permanent conversation larger than just the three industries that I mentioned and So currently though uh when we talk about perem reform are we talking about shorter timelines defined timelines what what what exactly is the big stuff is shorter timelines deadlines um you know the the old uh Mont is used you know so the project or the the permit doesn't end up in the bottom desk drawer and get forgotten about for 4 years it's setting good transparency so that not only can the public follow the project but the project actually can move forward through the process so it is fair uh and States all around us are doing this uh in Minnesota's losing out I mean just my district in 7A Alone um if you count up over the last 5 years the amount of projects that have had to leave now due to permitting problems it's near almost $2 billion doll in loss capital investment to house district 7A alone and so what is and we'll get to you in a second SC what is uh what is kind of the pinch point there is it Staffing is it having more definition what is the actual pinch point that you see happening in either slowing these permits down or having uncertainty yeah so you know I I think the the transparency and having the deadlines things is a part of it one of the larger parts of it however I think is just how litigation the courts have impacted the permitting process you know the amount of times where if there's something filed in litigation that's going to stop the permit or it's going to stop stop comment or one of the other things we're seeing a lot uh is the Department of Natural Resources or the Minnesota Pollution Control agency will issue a permit and then that permit will get tied up in a court case and now those agencies who have done work for maybe two three years to get a good permit out that's following Minnesota regulations have to spend the next two to three years defending the work they did in the meantime all the other stuff they should be working has been put on the back burner so I think the larger conversation after we get through this first part is to figure out how can we find that happy medium of we don't want to take take away the Public's input and the power of the courts but we got to find a way that you can't litigate something in perpetuity States like Michigan are doing this um so it's not even a partisan thing we got to find a way that projects can go through the process but not be killed by the judicial system scraba what do you want to add to this conversation same I just we're on the same bills I mean literally literally and and and um yeah the next permit you I'm sure the question will come up anything about helium not seeing anything yet but if you want to talk about that as relates there uh there is a bill that was introduced uh Senator hos child representative lizard and I I'm getting on it on Monday uh it just got put in on Friday um for uh working towards permitting for the helium can you talk a bit about you helium found so the helium was found in uh Lake County uh uh south and east of babbit and um a rather large amount uh of it's not so much amount that the concentration uh 13.8% most helium in the United States right now is garnished from um uh natural gas with3 to one not even one% this is 133% so it's way higher and our helium has um nitrogen and carbon dioxide like um commercial grade carbon dioxide so the stuff that Mak soda pop and stuff like that so it's we don't know how much is there um there are no rules for it for permitting nothing of any of these sorts of resources never been and we're kind of working with the DNR and PC Department of Natural Resources mpca all the permitting agencies um uh Joe Henderson from the DNR has spearheaded um they they wrote a bill and it's been introduced so it's has a chance we have legs on it still it it was heard I think it was heard in the senate or it's going to be heard so that it it has legs we can still get it through this session um but it's it's uh never been done so we don't know and they want to also include the sequestration of CO2 into the into the ground um we're fortunate in northern Minnesota have Olivine in it and CO2 and Olivine um make hydrogen power energy we've got a pretty good opportunity to do this so everybody's working behind the scenes to get this um the environmental groups have been in my office I've talked to them and I'm like you know guys gals you know we need a win we need to show Northern Minnesota can do this and do it right can you work work with us instead of fighting us all the time you know so we're trying to work together I mean I'm I'm I'm telling you and everybody so there's no non-transparency here you know a lot of times you don't want to let too much out but it's like no I want everything out I want everyone to know that we're all working together and that this isn't going to be a catastrophe to the environment I mean it's like it's going to be a good it's going to be good for northern Minnesota because again helium is used in MRI when you go to the doctor you need helium to do an MRI you need helium to make computer chips it freezes down and makes it cold and you can work on it um we're working on a bill in the legislature to capture all the um uh East and all the Platinum pum gold precious metals that are in chips if we can do that in Minnesota and get the helium from Minnesota we can make those chips in Minnesota the president of the United States wants to make chips in the United States we have all the stuff here we can do it if we all work together I mean everything is combined instead of fighting it and saying no no no let's try to find some and say yes and let's work together so and it sounds like in the absence if if this hasn't been permitted before if if there's no law the the agencies will have to kind of develop it on their own which potentially could cause more litigation so if you all are involved in passing laws and giving some structure it can back to represent io's point maybe have some more sustainability or certainty for what a process can be am I understanding that correctly and that's what's happening right now what's happening now is the the agencies want two years to to get this done they they you know we're saying okay we'll give you two years um Lake County board's been very active in this they're really good stewards they're they want to make sure they also see the value of the royalties um if there is a production um if we do take the helium and the CO2 out of the ground and we produce it here in Lake County um it also helps Minnesota I mean it's it's a big it's a win for everyone you know and and um if it's that we don't know how big the find is that's what we're trying to determine but if it is Big 20% of our helium right now is made all over the United States in little bits and pieces we could make 20% here and we would be that much less dependent on our helium from our outside sources so and it's and I just want to add to that I mean I think some people on the here that we don't have anything on the books get kind of scared and what that could mean it I look at it through a positive lens because now we can look at how other states have done it I mean Minnesota's never had any gas extraction laws on its books and its history so now we can look at this and do it right and you know repam scraba mentioned even the sequestering and putting that underground with the geology we have in Minnesota this is kind of all teeing up Minnesota to become a circular Economy based around natural resources manufact facturing and recycling we're talking really high paying jobs we're talking about bringing Supply chains home and putting them right in the best state to do it the state with an inland Port the state with rail the state with the best Workforce um and those kind of the larger conversations that are coming out of this helium find is you know we could do a lot here I mean the one of the we didn't even really talk about it much as a state legislature we put $500 million into something called the chips act which is working with the federal government to bring micr chip processing back to our Shores but that money we invested from the Surplus is actually going to bring one those project right here to Minnesota so now we could utilize the helium up up on the NorthShore and literally have that Supply being building chips right here in Minnesota so it's really exciting unique opportunity uh keep those questions uh coming in by phone or by email please um I want to talk about a couple of different topics here uh to change gears yet again housing is a big Challenge and concern in many of our communities across the board whether you're in urban Twin Cities larger cities like we're sitting in to Luth here and many of our rural communities as well I know there was a proposal there was a historic funding for housing opportunities last legislative session and this year around housing it really seemed to focus there was a big Push by a group of folks uh who are on all sides of other issues to really look at um housing criteria that happen in local communities and so what they really wanted to do was supersede any local ordinances or local laws and allow for multi-unit housing to be developed in in all communities in Minnesota it received significant push back and I think it sounds like it's on the sidelines right now but can you talk about your thoughts and ideas about either that effort or other things we need to do to address this housing crisis so I I'll start with it just because I actually signed on to the bill um and I signed on to the bill to have the conversation because we definitely need to do something about housing um and you are correct the bill for the most part is probably on the back burner and will not happen this year which again it's a good thing the legislature is supposed to move slow and the reason it's on the back burner is because there's issues that arose that it's not going to move and that's why I signed on the bill is to have those conversations but the point that we are getting at is you know when we talk multif family housing that doesn't mean you know a six-story tall you know apartment building that could mean something in simple as Community as a split level duplex for senior citizens um and we need to find a way to allow our Builders to go out into communities and build homes because we're 106 housing units down in the state of Minnesota I mean we could be building non-stop for the next 10 years years and still not meet our goal and when we talk about wanting to retain our population and grow our populations housing is at the key part of that conversation so again I'm a proponent of local control I think that's important but if there's one good thing this bill has done is it's raised an issue that we need to have Partnerships with local communities our Builders counties and the state to find out how this is going to work so that we we're not running into roadblocks we're not running into increased costs right you know we we have some cities that'll look at a building project and say oh there's 30,000 in permits and hookups to do there well you just increase the cost of Workforce housing by $30,000 that the Builder got to pass on um and that's also going to increase property values again that's going to increase property taxes again it's unsustainable if we don't do something so I think the conversation's in a really good place um and I'm hoping to keep working on the legislation and the bill which is bipartisan and again from multiple different groups um to find solution that we can move in the years to come he said 106,000 you said 106 oh 106,000 yeah units units short 106,000 units yeah yeah um in again my opinion state of Minnesota doesn't need to be in the zoning business please stay out of it um that's what they want to do they want to run the zoning each City each Community as a uh chairman of St Louis County Planning Commission for 12 plus years um I don't want the state telling you know they they already control a lot I don't think this is the place for for them to do that I think if they want to help housing they need to get out of the way in some of the things they do um I it's I I if if a builder has a really fast-track way of doing it and it's safe let them go don't say well that's not how they do it in Mano or that's not how they do it in Morehead or in duth well each Community has its own quirks you know and each each Zone um I know city of Two Harbors and I don't know if it passed but they were going to change the zoning in the city that you could build anything anywhere any time and it was kind of like just let's have we need more housing if you can put a a a duplex in your backyard go ahead put it in you know and it's kind of like well what about the your neighbor what if they didn't want that you know and and that's where this comes in you know it's like we set aside in a in a planned community that that type of development goes here this goes here um some people can argue that that's not working and it's like okay how do we solve it by having the state come in and say you can't have rules anymore we're going to set the rules I'm sorry I'm I'm not in that camp I can't even get in I can't even get close to that camp for me you know that's just and you know I'm My Eyes Are Open my ears are open I'm listening but it's just like oh it's a big deal zoning is real personal I mean you try to do a a conditional use permit or a variance you can really really get Community going yeah well I'm hearing uh some local control Philosophy from both of you here let's test that on a separate issue that was before and is before the legislature right now Uber and Lyft and so you know it may not you don't have a lot of lift in Uber probably going on in robana Township even up in El however this is an issue that has come to Bear for the state and state legislators to discuss because the City of Minneapolis has local control uh pass some Provisions uh they want to lift an Uber to comply and lift and Uber said if you pass these Provisions we're going to leave your community so where this could potentially impact your constituents is when they're traveling to larger communities like duther the Twin Cities and so your thoughts and feelings about should the state step in uh represent scraba uh and and do something about this or leave it up to the City of Minneapolis I I when they when when the drivers came to the state legislature last year saying you know you have to pass a bill to make Uber and lft pay us $60 an hour that's what we're worth and I'm like that's not government's role that is not our role and they were adamant adamant about it and we finally just said you know what let the Senate deal with it so we just let it through the the the other side voted for it the Democrats voted for it at passed and and the senate had it and the Senate was like you know and they they were Relentless they were not going away they wanted these drivers wanted their pound of Flesh and they were going to get it from from U Uber and Lyft um finally the Senate said Fu we we okay they passed it they got to the governor and the governor vetoed it rightfully so government's place is not to tell a company how much they should pay their employees that is not our role in in in my opinion that is I don't want the legislature to go to us steal saying you know what you need to pay more money why they're worth more money we start doing that where does it stop well we do have a minimum wage oh no no I I I'm not but that's this is different to me this is different this is totally a different uh argument um for me you know so I'm looking at this now does the legislature have a responsibility to step in uh and go over the City of Minneapolis I believe we do I believe you just arguing local control on the other issu so what's the difference here the difference is this exactly what you said Public Safety Public Health there are people in the metro area that don't have a car that need to get to the doctor they they use Uber andyt all the time $7 from an apartment building to their doctor okay for them to own a car it would cost way more I was just listening to a young woman on the on on a social media talk about how $7 gets her to work and back every day and if she can't she doesn't know how she's going to do it you know and I'm like wait a minute this is this is way more than just a little issue it's a big issue it's it's a very big issue and it needs to be addressed um the problem is will it get to us will it get to the legislature um representative gar has taunted pushed tried to get representative long uh majority leader to let's sit down and start working this out we don't need your help right now we don't need your help we don't need and it's kind of like yeah you do and it's like no we don't and it's like so we'll see where we go with it I'm I go your thoughts on this again local control is incredibly important and I think it you need to look at that but represent scraa kind of hit it right there I mean there's deep concerns for Public Safety Public Health um the well-being of our state's largest city right I mean there's people that you're hearing about conferences that won't come anymore if there's no Uber and LIF um what do you do for people that are going to concerts and shows and downtown if they can't get rides in and out um elderly young people there's a huge concern here about losing that ride shareability so the state right now we're having a conversation legislature just do preemption just say you know the City of Minneapolis can't do this and I think there's just some internal struggle going on about trying to figure out how do you solve this issue and I I can hear about making sure that people get paid money that's why you said why we have a minimum wage but you also have to look at the what the root of uber and lift is it's a 1099 job that people work um in their free time it was never meant to become a career and I think as that's being shaped and molded we need to have larger conversations that you can't just have a local government step in and turn a job that's provided by a company into what you want it to be because again that's another slippery slope mentality that represents scraa hit where do you start and stop at that so I'm hoping we can bring some stability to that it's again it's not a partisan issue at all this will be a bipartisan solution to step in and and fix this issue we have just a few more minutes left and we do have one more question from a viewer um can you please help the legislature do more inter agency efforts some states have inter agency departments I think it can save money and help people and be efficient so uh inter agency efforts are you familiar with any that are going on are there any ways to encourage more of that work um who'd like to take first swing at this um I could try you know I mean the DNR I I'm talking to Bob Myers every week you know and Bob Myers legislative on no he's the assistant DNR commissioner okay uh under Sarah strowman the DNR commissioner and um whenever have issues I always come to him and and they work with mpca Minnesota Pollution Control Agency on permitting issues so they do work together now if the questioner is saying do they like work together work together like drive to meetings together and that I don't I don't know I'm I'm it's government I I I couldn't answer that question I'll say I mean I think there's some things happening unfortunately there are so many changes in the last legislative session with the increase in budgets and all that that happened around that so I think a lot of the agencies right now are struggling to implement everything that happened we're finding a lot of issues that still need to get fixed at the end of this session so I I agree with the viewer because we have to find a way to limit that government spend because we're in a deficit right now a structural deficit going into budget next year so I mean finding ways to save money is going to be crucial right now so that's the conversation that I've I've actually had with Commissioners too is how can we find ways to work together cut costs because well taxpayers just can't bear it so the viewers is 100% right final question uh governor gave a State of the State address a couple of weeks ago and he qualified that the State of the State is strong and he gave many reasons he felt like the State of the State of Minnesota is strong in a sentence or two what do you think the State of the State is represento we'll go with you first state of the state right now I think is uncertain because there's so much that's happened that has L to be really come in front of people the increase in all these taxes the increase in our budget it's all coming to a te soon so I think people are kind of holding their breath to see what that's going to mean um and we're going to need to come together and fix those things in the years to come representive scraba last word for ask the families that have to pay 26% more for their food ask the families that have to pay 20% more for gas ask the families that have to pay more for everything and say hey it's great everything is great I don't think it's great I think we need to do a better job wonderful well I appreciate you both uh being with us here today and thank you for um the work that you do I think you're both headed back down to St Paul corre right after this right now and you've got about a little more than a month ago yeah all right well we are out of time and I'd like to thank representatives scraba and iGo for joining us here this evening answering questions and sharing their thoughts we will be back again next Sunday at 5: to speak with more members of the state legislature and answer more of your questions thank you for watching and to the viewers at home for calling and writing in with your questions you're playing a vital part in our representative government system for the team here at PBS North I'm Tony ceric have a great evening [Music] [Music] [Music] e e e e e