Following record-setting snowfall in Minnesota last month, and another major snowfall event this past weekend, weather experts are predicting major flooding throughout the state this spring.

Yet Minnesota’s Disaster Assistance Contingency Account – created to allocate funds to communities impacted by natural disasters and to avoid calling special sessions to authorize the appropriation of these funds – sits empty.

To rectify this problem, State Representative Tony Jurgens (R-Cottage Grove) and State Senator Mark Johnson (R-East Grand Forks) are authoring legislation that will replenish this needed funding so impacted cities will be able to immediately begin recovery efforts.

“If a river runs through your community and it’s been prone to flooding in the past, the likelihood is strong that you could see major flooding again in the next few weeks,” Jurgens said. “As it stands today, the State of Minnesota is not financially prepared to respond to this inevitable disaster. It is critical that we put funding in place now so our flood victims can avoid the potential of becoming an unintended pawn in end of session budget negotiations.”

Their bill would transfer $20 million in Fiscal Year 2019 and another $20 million in Fiscal Year 2020 to Minnesota’s disaster assistance contingency account, effective the day after final enactment.

The account is now in the red after Minnesota responded with $11 million in relief to flooding events last year in Brainerd and Duluth. The lawmakers noted that Governor Walz has proposed putting $10 million into the account for 2019, but that would be insufficient based on last year’s use and this year’s flood predictions.

“$10 million is simply not going to cut it,” Johnson said. “We allocated $11 million last year alone for two floods when we didn’t have record snowfall melting. Heaven help us if we see any tornadoes or massive rainfall this summer because that $10 million in disaster relief will likely be long gone after this spring.”

Jurgens and Johnson added that it’s not unheard of for the disaster assistance contingency account to contain more than $10 million. Since its creation in Fiscal Year 2014, the account held $17.466 million in Fiscal Year 2015 and $20.4 million in Fiscal Year 2016.

“We don’t want a serious disaster event competing with end-of-session needs, or force lawmakers to come back for a costly and unnecessary special session,” Jurgens said. “It’s just common sense to be prepared and to properly fund this account now so the State of Minnesota can appropriately respond to communities struggling with flood waters as the temperatures begin to rise.”