Legislative Update: House committee hears trail bills
The last week at the Capitol was a busy one for parks and trails. A number of bills were heard and continue to move through the legislative process:
On Tuesday, March 29, the House Mining & Outdoor Recreation committee heard 20 different park and trail related bills. Among the bills heard were bonding bills for Greater Minnesota park and trail grant programs (HF 2852), Chester Woods State Trail (HF 2863), Dakota Rail Trail (HF 2949), Gitchi Gami State Trail (HF 2759), Glacial Lakes State Trail (HF 3306), Heartland State Trail (HF 2782), Mill Towns State Trail (HF 2907), Minnesota Valley State Trail (HF 2894), Preston-Harmony State Trail (HF 2920), and two composite bills on state park and trail rehabilitation (HF 2786) and acquisition and development (HF 2787). All the bills were adopted by the committee and referred to Environment & Natural Resources.
The Civil Law and Data Practices committee heard the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund appropriations bill (HF 2993) and referred it to Ways and Means. The house version of the bill removes a number of the projects recommended by the Legislative-Citizens Committee on Minnesota’s Resources, including $2.5 million for state park and trail acquisition. The Senate has not yet to act on the bill.
Looking ahead, the Senate Capital Investment committee is scheduled to hear trail-related bills on Tuesday, April 12. We’ll keep you up-to-date as that agenda is formalized.
