Growing Government, Increasing Fees, Neglecting Permitting Reform
by Senator Steve Green

Senate Democrats recently brought forward an environment bill that basically enables the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to continue its over-spending. It also increases fees in numerous areas. Worst of all, it fails to ask the DNR to make any meaningful cuts to their budget. We’re left with a bill that funds frivolous projects using taxpayer dollars. It’s a bad bill, plain and simple.

The main thing folks should know is that this bill raises fees. It raises the fees for state parks and trails license plates. It also increases watercraft surcharge fees. Now every single watercraft owner will pay more based on the size of their watercraft. Democrats have also increased the aquatic invasive species surcharge. Yet for some reason, DNR is not getting a meaningful cut to their budget. Let us not forget we are facing a $6 billion deficit. Instead of asking the DNR to tighten its belt and scale back, we are increasing their budget and asking Minnesotans to pay higher fees at every turn.

This bill also continues the trend of expanding DNR authority and power. It creates a Foraging Task Force, which is totally useless. People have been foraging for years – we don’t need a new task force to regulate that. It also increases consequences for abandoning watercraft, allowing the DNR to seize and forfeit the watercraft. Overall, this bill signals a continuing trend of ceding more and more power to government agencies, which is something we should all take issue with.

One big thing missing from the bill is permitting reform. With a $6 billion deficit, permitting reform is one of the quickest ways we can get our state’s economy moving again. It’s no secret we’ve been losing business to other states because of government overregulation. States like North Dakota and South Dakota are getting permits out faster, and that’s more desirable for businesses. We tried to offer an amendment to the bill that would be a good place to work from – it didn’t address every issue, but it would’ve given us a starting point. But the amendment failed because of petty partisan politics.

The permitting reform amendment I offered would have minimized permitting timelines and would have improved safety oversight. On its first vote, it passed with bipartisan support. Then Sen. Kupec, who voted for the amendment, asked to reconsider the vote. The vote would not have been reconsidered if it didn’t have the support of every single Democrat, which it did. When the amendment was voted on again, it was disappointing to see Sen. Kupec switching his vote. This is an issue that has had bipartisan support in the past, and to see two Democrats playing political games is something that should not go unnoticed.

Another clear issue is the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENRTF) portion. Never before has the ENRTF funding bill been rolled into an Environment omnibus bill, but it was this year. The people of Minnesota voted in the last election for us to continue funding ENRTF projects because they are supposed to “protect, conserve, and enhance Minnesota’s air, water, land, fish, wildlife, and other natural resources.” All noble things. Yet democrats instead allocated funds in this bill in a ridiculous way: nearly $300,000 for an “Are All Walleye Created Equal?” study,  $772,000 for “the Impacts of Climate Change on Northeastern Minnesota,” nearly $3 million for Outdoor Schools, and so much more. There are better ways for us to use these funds.

Overall, this is a bad bill. It needs a lot of work. It increases fees and expands the DNR’s authority in some areas. It also appropriates ENRTF funds in a misguided way. It needs a lot of work. As this bill heads to conference committee, I’m committed to working through these issues so we have a better bill to vote on in the next few weeks.