Friends and neighbors, 

This week at the Capitol, my colleagues and I in the Senate Agriculture and Rural Development Finance and Policy Committee heard a report on the concurrent authority regulating farmed white-tailed deer.

During the 2021 Special Session, we passed a law providing the Board of Animal Health (BAH) and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) concurrent authority to regulate farmed white-tailed deer. SF-20 was intended to provide better oversight and management of chronic wasting disease (CWD). Previously, the BAH had sole authority.

Local deer and elk farmers along with farmers across the state have expressed strong concerns on CWD and the DNR over asserting its authority. The concurrent authority was not put in place for one agency to lord over the other. I have personally heard concerns from constituents that since passing SF-20, the overreach of the DNR’s ‘authority’ has become abusive and punitive. This is an important local issue that needs to be addressed.

Additionally, I authored a bill, SF 2925, this session to allow a county recorder to record a certificate of discharge from the armed forces of the United States without a fee. And next week, on Tuesday, Feb. 15, we will hear this bill in the Senate Local Government Policy Committee. 

Statute as of now only allows three agencies – the Navy, Marine Corps and Army – to be exempt from paying a fee. I authored this bill in response to County Veteran Service Officers (C.V.S.O.’s) who asked for all armed forces to have no fee for recording a certificate.

We also heard a $2.73 billion proposal, SF 2677, this week to immediately pay off the state’s $1.2 billion in Unemployment Insurance (UI) debt, which made its way through committee.

Minnesota’s UI Trust Fund – the reserve built from state taxes, largely on employers, and used to pay for UI benefits – had a balance of $1.7 billion on Jan. 1, 2020. However, UI claims skyrocketed due to the pandemic and resulted in a $1.2 billion debt to the federal government. To date, our state has accrued more than $8 million in interest alone to the federal government on the debt. 

It is critical we pay off the UI trust fund debt as soon as possible. Every day we wait results in more than $50,000 in interest charges to the federal government. SF 2677 put forward by the Senate this session would do just that and refill the fund to protect employees’ benefits. 

This bill passed recently out of the Senate Jobs and Economic Growth Finance and Policy Committee, and the Senate Finance Committee. The committee report was adopted on Thursday, Feb. 10, during session, and we will work to pass this out of the Senate soon.

I want to hear from you, my constituents, on issues that are important to you. Please feel free to reach out to my office with any concerns or ideas you may have. As session moves forward, I will keep your thoughts and concerns in mind as legislation comes before me. You can contact my office at sen.bruce.anderson@senate.mn or 651-296-5981.

Sincerely,

Bruce Anderson