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State Representative Paul Anderson
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4317
For more information contact: House GOP Communications 651-296-5520
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
At. update
Dear Neighbor,
As expected, the House Rules Committee voted Monday along straight party lines to keep agricultural finance with the Environment and Natural Resources Committee and not move it back into its own committee with Ag Policy. The vote was 15-12.
I was disappointed but not surprised with the vote, and I'm not quite sure why the Democrats wouldn't budge on this issue. It wouldn't be too difficult this early in the session to make the change. In fairness, there is a stand-alone Ag Policy Committee, but any bills passing out of that committee and needing funding must also go through the finance committee that also deals with the environment. And I'm concerned that agriculture funding may take a back seat to other issues dealing with natural resources and the environment, especially if there's only one spending target for the committee.
To me, the issue becomes one of perception, that the current House leadership doesn't think agriculture is important enough to have its own stand-alone committee dealing with finance. Granted, it's not a large part of the overall state budget, but agriculture plays a huge role in our state's economy.
We will move on and continue working under this committee structure. And we will do the best we can for agriculture in Minnesota.
Sincerely,
Paul
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