St. Paul, Minn. – Today the Minnesota House approved a bill, HF 3925, to eliminate the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) and replace it with a new legislative-citizen commission. Rep. Jason Metsa (DFL – Virginia) and Rep. Rob Ecklund (DFL – International Falls) released the following statement in response:
“Here we go again with another political assault on the people of northern Minnesota. The bill considered today is such a drastic overreach, and goes well beyond the recommendations made by the Office of the Legislative Auditor. As we said when it was released, the Legislative Auditor’s report made some good suggestions for how operations of the agency can be improved and how the structure of the board itself should be changed to address constitutional concerns.
“You wouldn’t be able to tell it from the rhetoric of the House GOP, but as we – as members of the Iron Range Delegation as well as board members of the IRRRB – and agency staff have already begun the effort to take steps addressing recommendations of the report. In fact, we have a bill to return the IRRRB to an advisory role, and the Senate has included this provision in their tax bill. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to even get a hearing in the House.
“It seems the GOP’s only interest in Iron Rangers is using them to earn political headlines, or to take money from them. In this case, they seek to do both. Article X, Section 6 of the Minnesota Constitution makes it clear that taxes from mining production are in lieu of property taxes; period. In no other scenario would it appropriate for the Legislature to micromanage local investments as this bill proposes to do.
“These are discussions that have been taking place for over 50 years, and we are doing our due diligence on this issue. It is our hope that the House GOP can do the same by working with us, and stop using the Iron Range as a political football.”