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Minnesota House of Representatives

State Representative Jim Davnie

445 State Office BuildingState Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-0173

For more information contact: Ted Modrich 651-296-5809

Posted: 2011-07-27 00:00:00
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HOUSE BRIEFS

MPR funding

During the special session on July 19 the Legislature passed, and Governor Mark Dayton signed into law, the Legacy Funds Omnibus Bill that distributes revenue from the sales tax increase approved by voters in 2008 for both arts and environmental projects.

During the first year of the Legacy Amendment’s implementation, the Legislature allocated $2.65 million to MPR for the 2010-2011 biennium. However, this year a controversial debate arose when Republicans decided to remove specific funding recommendations for MPR and other cultural organizations and instead require them to compete for grants.

MPR will now have to compete directly with Ampers (a collection of 12 independent community radio stations around the state such as KFAI) for $5.3 million during the 2012-2013 biennium. While I am pleased that MPR will still receive significant Legacy funding, I am disappointed that the Republicans decided to force MPR (and Ampers) through an additional hoop in order to obtain this money.

I was also very opposed to language in the special session Legacy Bill that shortchanges metro area parks by limiting the eligibility of certain DNR grants to parks only outside the metro area. This despite the fact that the metro area parks see significantly higher use than the Greater Minnesota parks.

All this came on the heels of the last night of the regular session when House Republicans attempted to pass the Legacy Bill with language that would have allowed the Lessard Sams Outdoor Heritage Council to meet without being subject to Minnesota’s opening meeting laws. Fortunately, this provision was removed in the special session.

As a result of these many concerns, I was one of 30 House members to vote against the Legacy Bill during the special session. Clearly, we can do better in distributing Legacy funds in a fair and equitable manner.

You can count on my continued strong support for arts venues that contribute so much to the soul of our community. Thank you again for your interested in the insightful types of programming that only MPR can provide.

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