Final version of omnibus environment bill takes shape

House and Senate conferees stopped just short of completing their work on the omnibus environment, natural resources policy and finance bill Monday, adopting several amendments that should put the legislation in its final form, then tabling the amended bill until a final draft can be written.

Sponsored by Rep. Dan Fabian (R-Roseau) and Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen (R-Alexandria), HF888*/SF723 would appropriate more than $800 million during the upcoming biennium for the state’s environment and natural resources efforts and provide a number of policy provisions.

The conference committee adopted a delete-all amendment that will serve as the basis for the final report it will eventually need to approve. Among the amended bill’s many provisions is a fee increase at state parks and a two-year delay for implementation of the buffer law.

Officials from the Department of Natural Resources, Pollution Control Agency and Board of Soil and Water Resources each voiced concerns.

Rep. Dan Fabian

DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr said the lack of funding for operating adjustments caused by inflation would impact all divisions of his agency and force 100 full-time employees to be laid off.

Fabian, who co-chairs the conference committee with Ingebrigtsen, asked administration officials to urge Gov. Mark Dayton to get involved in the negotiations so that “three-way targets” could be reached by this Thursday.

“We did our work,” Fabian said. “We negotiated with each other the legislative position on this environment and natural resources policy and finance bill as per the governor’s request. My request is the governor is going to be engaged in this process.”

Landwehr said it would be difficult for the administration to begin negotiations until some of the other bills moving through the committee process – including the omnibus state government finance bill – are better settled.

“There are some pending issues in other bills that we want to work with the governor’s office to fully understand before we get to completing our conversation with the budget,” PCA Commissioner John Linc Stine told the committee.