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State Representative Tom Hackbarth
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-2439
For more information contact: Austin Bleess 651-296-5529
NEWS RELEASE
HACKBARTH FIGHTS FOR DEDICATED FUNDING DEMOCRATS STONEWALL CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
Saint Paul – Using procedural motions to stonewall habitat preservation and enhancement, the Democrat majority in the Minnesota House of Representatives turned down the chance to put dedicated funding on the ballot.
During debate on a bill containing a wide variety of environment and natural resource provisions, State Representative Tom Hackbarth (R – Cedar) offered an amendment that would have given voters the right to decide whether to dedicate 1/8 of one percent of existing sales tax to habitat preservation and enhancement on the November 2008 ballot.
Hackbarth’s amendment was ruled out of order by Speaker pro tempore Paul Thissen (DFL – Minneapolis) and upheld by all but a handful of Democrat House members.
Although the basis for the ruling was that Hackbarth’s amendment was not germane to the bill, the Democrat majority only a few hours earlier ruled that a 70-page amendment was germane to a three-page bill. This was the procedural motion that turned a benign bill addressing commercial fishing on Lake Superior into a bill dealing with game and fish policy, DNR lands, forestry, noise standards for racetracks and phosphorus content in household dishwashing detergents.
“The Democrat majority squandered an opportunity today to move dedicated funding for habitat forward,” Hackbarth said. “Democrats killed it in the Senate, and now House Democrats used procedural motions to keep it out of a bill that is clearly about wildlife, habitat, environment and natural resources.”
Hackbarth said the inconsistency of their procedural rulings aside, he questions if Democrats are really serious about letting the people vote to save Minnesota’s habitat.
“As it is now, the only bill that’s alive will increase the sales tax. With two weeks left in the legislative session the Democrats in the Minnesota Legislature seem more concerned with raising the sales tax than dedicating funding for the preservation and enhancement of Minnesota’s great outdoors,” Hackbarth said.
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