Lawmakers: End of session brought action, cooperation

The two lawmakers have met for the last 10 years with local officials to hear their input prior to each session as well as to report on how the session’s actions may impact local residents following each session.

This session’s redistricting, which follows the U.S. Census every 10 years and is intended to reflect shifts in the population, means that Saxhaug and Anzelc will no longer represent Borderland after January when a new Legislature is seated following the November elections.

Instead, because of the redrawing of district boundaries, they indicate they will seek election to the districts of House 5B and Senate 5.

Local officials expressed their disappointment that the two lawmakers would no longer represent the area and thanked them for their efforts to bring local needs to the state Capitol. Both men pledged that they would continue to assist the area’s efforts as much as possible should they be elected to serve in adjacent districts.

Saxhaug said he will return to the Falls for an Aug. 29 veterans stand down and Anzelc said he plans to attend the area’s July Fourth festivities.

Meanwhile, Saxhaug told officials not much happened in the first two months of the session, but three major bills jump started the discussions near the end of the session.

Those discussions, he said, were led by the leadership of the majority party of Republicans, but the votes were provided by the minority of Democrats.

He pointed to the bonding bill, the game and fish bill and the Vikings stadium bill, which he called “kind of fun” because of the bipartisan discussions.

Anzelc said the bonding bill included “the great success story of my community of International Falls” — a more than $650,000 state grant for a warehouse project in International Falls.

Anzelc and Saxhaug were both thanked for their efforts in gaining the Department of Employment and Economic Development grant. Anzelc noted that he helped to coordinate meetings last summer with state and Falls officials on behalf of the effort.

The bonding bill, Saxhaug said, also provided money for reforestation and projects at Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.

While Saxhaug said the bonding bill wasn’t perfect, “I’m for getting it done more than perfection.”

The game and fish bill provided for increases in hunting and fishing licenses that will help fund natural resource programs and activities, Saxhaug said. The bill also provided for a wolf hunting and trapping season.

The bill, he said, “is important for us up north.” He also said the bill is “significant to all who believe in the tourism, fishing and hunting industries.”

The final Vikings stadium bill, Saxhaug said, sought additional $50 million from the Vikings and should help to keep the NFL team in the state.

“The Legislature worked together to get a few things done,” Saxhaug said. “Maybe we can do something more serious next year.”

Anzelc said the 2012 session must be considered along with the 2011 session.

“From a historical perspective, this was a do-nothing Legislature,” he said. He said the 2011 Legislature spent a lot of time on bills that would not be signed into law by Gov. Mark Dayton, and a lot of time on Constitutional amendments, which he said “divided the state and circumvented Gov. Dayton.”

However, he said in the last three weeks of the 2012 session “I believe the majority realized that they had to accomplish something and they did reach across the political aisle, as I always do, and we managed to get the bonding bill — which I would call modest.”

In addition, Anzelc said in the last three weeks of the session he was proud that he was able to remove a provision in law that allowed the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board to keep private its spending. “People ought to be able to know how their tax dollars are being spent,” he said.

“That wouldn’t have happened without the cooperation of the Democrats and Republicans,” he said. “It looks to me like the citizens of Minnesota like a divided government. They don’t want one group to dominate, but when that is your approach, you get all kinds of consternation and it looks as though nothing is getting accomplished.”

Anzelc said he looks to that continued cooperation in the next session.

Saxhaug said the next session will require that one-time money that was used this session will have to somehow be made up. That, he said, includes repaying school districts for funding delayed by using it to close the state’s budget deficit last year.

“Next year will be no picnic,” Saxhaug said. “The election will be important in terms of thinking about LGA (local government aid to cities) and PILT (payment in lieu of taxes to counties).”

And while the PolyMet Mining Corp. proposal to develop a copper-nickel-precious metals project is in the Iron Range, Anzelc said its success will have a regional economic boost that will benefit the area.

Anzelc said a recent setback on permitting for the project must be overcome by permitting one operation that can test technology and protect the sensitive natural resources in the area.