Minnesota Legislative Report, the longestr running public affairs show in the region, now in its 55th season.

Former state lawmaker Tony Certich speaks with legislators from northern Minnesota and answers your questions on the air.

Minnesota Legislative Report starts now.

Hello and welcome to Minnesota Legislative Report.

I'm your host, Tony Certich.

As the 2026 legislative session continues, lawmakers at the capital are working through a range of issues impacting communities across Minnesota.

From capital investments to happy hours at senior living facilities, we'll break down what's happening and how it may affect you.

Joining us today is Representative Nathan Nelson, a Republican from Clover Township near Hinckley representing District 11B.

And also with us again is Representative Spencer Iggo, a Republican from Obana Township in Itasca County representing District 7A.

Welcome to both of you.

Representative Igo is our returning guest.

Uh we'll start with you.

We're well past the midway point of the legislative session.

All the committee deadlines have taken place, which means the spectrum of issues have really focused down to a smaller amount of them.

How do you think the session's going thus far?

You know, the session was moving, I think, at a pretty good pace as we got through first and second deadline.

That third deadline week was pretty crazy, but we've cleared a lot of bills, especially in the House this week.

Um gosh, I think between our two full days, we passed over 30 different individual bills this week.

So, things are moving um relatively quickly.

We're kind of clearing the decks on the little things.

Um, but I think, you know, to kind of foreshadow what the weeks ahead look like is that as those bills start to pass and disappear and we get to the bigger issues, I think we're going to start to see that legislative slowdown that we usually see right before um we have to adjourn.

So, I think going into next week now, we're going to be very busy getting the budget bills that are agreed on, the rest of the smaller onesie bills done.

Um, so I think pace has been pretty good up to this point.

Represent Nelson, a lot of folks don't know and it doesn't really get covered by the press.

Uh, as represent Igo said, there's a whole host of smaller bills that pass almost unanimously this time of the year and the contentious bills take a lot of time and they're the ones that kind of pass at the end of session.

Uh, can you talk a bit about the the how it's going for you thus far and maybe touch on a few of those bills that have passed in this past week or so?

Yeah, one of the bills that passed this week was it's a dairy with an eye bill.

It's a It covers the a portion of the from the USDA.

They've got a program through the FSA for dairy margin coverage and I was asked to cover that.

There's a there's a portion of it.

It's old session law from 2023.

And for a dairy producer to be um eligible for that, they had to have had production in the the year 2022 or before.

And so there was a few dairy farms actually started up or maybe there was a fairly significant name change that happened on it.

You know, if it transferred to generations or somebody else bought the farm that uh were ineligible.

So there was uh there was about 30 to 40 farms that uh were not eligible to be able to participate in this program.

And so with that, we were able to adjust the uh for those farms that were they were able to use their most recent production.

And so that was that's just kind of an example of a small bill.

We've had bipartisan support, unanimous support in the Senate, nearly nearly unanimous in the House.

And but that's kind of the some of the bills that have been coming through, whether it's been a commerce bill or or a housing or I guess we haven't had a housing yet.

We got the housing chair here, co-chair.

So, I probably better not speak too much on that.

But, um, you we've had some small bills that have had generally strong bipartisan support.

And that's mostly what has left committee as well is been bills that have had bipartisan support and aren't the typical full budget bills that we usually see.

One of the uh bills and we'll talk about a few of the other bills that have passed uh this week was happy hour for senior living facilities.

Uh we t I talked about that in the intro.

Representative Igo, can you talk about why the legislature need to needed to pass a provision to provide happy hour abilities for folks living in nursing homes and assisted living facilities?

Yeah.

So, I mean, interesting bill, right?

when it comes up and as someone that doesn't sit on those committees when I came up I'm like what why do what's the need to do this can't people already legally do this and because of certain rules and regulations that was kind of a hindrance so it was a pretty simple bill honestly at the legislature and I know there's no such thing as a simple bill but you know if um for our care facilities and long-term care facilities and these types of things you know it's giving that that that choice and that freedom to be able to participate in those kinds of things that you know have a little bit libation have a little bit of fun I mean you're you lives your whole life, you still get to keep having fun.

And I think that's why the legislature moved that bill so quickly.

And Representative Nelson, one of the other bills that gained a bit of headlines and uh definitely got broad bipartisan support was making a license plate uh based on our state rock, which is the AGOT, and uh this bill passed through uh both bodies.

Um are these the type of bills that the legislature should be spending time on?

What are what's the value of passing a bill like this?

I think it's it's something that is easy to get behind.

You can build the coalition that uh um you know, as you look at some of these specialty plates and sometimes you look at them, you go, "Well, does that really best represent Minnesota when you see a plate like that?"

And you know, the current state park plate and I I've heard some describe it as it's the yellow brick road.

uh if you've seen the little kind of yellow trail on the on the current plate.

And so there was an an idea to um honor the state agot and uh create a new state license plate.

And and I I think that's something that we're seeing more of.

And it's also helping us to work on really single subject bills.

And I I it's more work.

We've got more work on the floor.

we spend uh in some ways we spend more time but we are also I think we're doing what we should be doing as legislators and doing more single subject bills instead of large omnibus bills and they have there is a place for omnibus bills but I think we've gotten too used to um relying on them to do everything.

Uh, Representative Igo, you are the co-chair of the housing committee and uh, Represent Nelson just brought up the idea of either single subject bills uh, which are very specific and we talked about just two of them right now.

Happy hour for assisted living and and uh, nursing homes and specialty license plate.

Uh, you've chaired a committee where sometimes you'll put uh, a bunch of bills together that deal with in your instance housing.

Can you talk about the pros and cons of having what's called these omnibus bills move forward uh versus single subject bills?

So again, I think to kind of reiterate what was just said like single subject is so critically important.

I think that's when you see better support on the House floor.

You have better discussion.

You keep the topics really narrowly defined.

Now each committee is going to have its unique way that maybe there's more than one, you know, pertinent issue involved.

So like housing is actually a really good example, right?

So like if there is a landlord tenant bill that's going to move through the house and work on some things for cleaning that up, you know, instead of passing seven different individual provisions that are roughly all in the same chapter of law and deal with the same subject, we'll put that together.

It's still not going to be this 100page bill.

It'll be a four-page bill, but it's going to have seven different provisions.

Same thing with like when I when we pass our housing budget bill or working on our supplemental budget this year.

Um it's really tricky to pass individual budget provisions because it's a package, right?

They all work and harmonize with each other.

So for instance, the budget bill that passed out of ways and means this week for housing um roughly has um three or four different monetary fiscal issu issues in it along with then eight different policy provisions that make up a bill that's just a few pages long.

and again all kind of harmonized with each other.

So that's kind of the difference, right?

There's a lot of issues out there where we should be continuing to pass single subject bills.

And I think this is a really good departure for the legislature, especially in the House, to be taking that this is the process we're going to get behind now.

But also the full elimination of of quote unquote omnibus, I don't think is realistic.

And when I say omnibus, it's not 1400page bill.

It's an eight-page budget bill.

It's a six-page policy bill.

Just a reminder, if you have questions at home that you'd like uh answered in an upcoming uh episode, please email us at askpbsnorth.org.

Now, we've talked about a few of the smaller issues.

We talked about some um philosophy around bills, but the legislative leaders have been getting together and really talking about three key issues that I want to spend the next little bit of time talking about.

and that is uh anti-fraud measures, a capital investment or bonding bill, and some support for one of our largest healthcare institutions, Hemp County Medical Center.

We'll take them piece by piece.

So, we'll start with anti-fraud and uh talk about uh legislation uh looking to address fraud, whether it be Medicare or otherwise.

Um can you talk about what is being proposed right now, the status of it, and why it's important?

And represent Nelson, we'll start with you.

Uh, one of the biggest things we're talking about is the Office of Inspector General, OIG, and really giving the having right now there's a legislative audit that that can happen that tells the program function.

It might show that that there's some financial issues or fraud going on, but there's really no teeth to it and there's not a whole lot that can happen with that.

And so the office of inspector general that would have some regulatory that would have uh some law enforcement uh abilities there and to be able to pass that on to the attorney general and have some charging and you know I think that's an important part and that's a it's a big step and I think all sides want it.

It's just depending on what version of the of that that we want.

repo, can you speak to some of those details and where we're at in that process?

Yeah, I'll just add a little bit.

I mean, I think the OIG is going to be critically important for the future of the state to make sure again we have that ability to have a nonpartisan office that's going to be watching what's happening on the state's bank accounts, but also has that authority to prosecute and bring charges and bring people to justice.

I think the other part to this fraud conversation and you're seeing it happen.

It's not really reported in the news, but you're seeing it happen in all major committees where the co-chairs are working together, especially in the House, and saying, "Hey, these accountability, transparency, um these anti-fraud measures that exist already in state law, like we need to jack up and make sure that these are getting used in state government.

We need to have enforcement that our state agencies are doing their jobs when it comes to this, right?

So, um I think you're seeing a lot of smaller things like that that are being done.

And there's also like frustration from the public that's being weighed in on this, right?

Because you're you're dealing with obviously we want to stop the fraudsters, but there's a lot of good hardworking institutions out there that have had their their dollars frozen or have been put into 60-day notices on things that now are threatening um the ability to help our communities and have been stable parts of our community for decades.

So I think you're seeing this this kind of leadership on let's make sure we get the fraudsters and and make sure we use the stuff we have on the books and then at the top of it let's get this OIG implemented so we have one one group one individual one agency at the top to filter down through our state agencies.

There's also talk about giving more tools to the attorney general as well and both of you really spoke to this uh office of inspector general which is really a reactive piece about trying to find people after fraud may have been committed.

Uh what more can be done on the proactive or front end of this uh and suggestions to make sure fraud doesn't happen in the first place and either one of you can start.

Well, I think starting on it, um I think there's been a culture around allow uh allowing fraud to happen, unfortunately.

And and I think the as we look at this, one of the things that really has to happen is tightening up our legislative intent when we're we're drafting up our legislation that, you know, here's what the funds are, here's what the program does, and then making sure that the, you know, we're we're listening to or we're looking at other examples of what has gone wrong and we're preventing that in legislation.

I think that's a a key step on making sure that we're protecting those before before the dollars are even committed in the first place.

Yes.

Yeah.

If I could add just a little bit to that.

Um, you know, being a part of both Representative Nelson and I were in the 23 24 session when the state had a historic surplus and we saw billions of dollars go out the door into new programs and new initiatives.

Right.

I think one of the biggest reasons we're in this situation is that much of that process was rushed and I feel like the legislature needs to get back at vetting and actually writing laws.

I think you see in so many bills that are passed that you know after the idea for the legislation is brought up in the bill.

There's a whole subsection about how and the so- and so agency will create rulemaking to set up the program and its own program initiatives and you know make sure to watch this and watch that.

So, it's not the legislature anymore that's dictating how taxpayer funds are going to be protected, used, and spent.

And I think that's what's led I mean, and this didn't just start a few years ago.

It started a long time ago.

And we've reached kind of this boiling point where bills are passing just on the the merit of the idea without actually digging into how it's going to be legislatively, you know, put in place and how it's actually going to work in law.

And that's how we've got the fraud problem on our hands.

So, I think this is um double faceted that we need to clean up our state laws, but also the legislature as a whole needs to be better about when we write bills, we write them from start to finish and stop leaving it up to unelected bureaucrats to decide how the law works because that's what gets us in these problems.

to that point.

Uh the argument that Governor Walls has actually made this legislative session is to say uh less of that either earmarked or direct appropriation because uh we have seen where uh sometimes there's been accusations about legislators being too close to those organizations that potentially could get that funding.

And so he has been advocating for less of that earmark or legislative direction and more of a competitive process that are run by state agencies.

And so can you comment on the tension that you just discussed representative Igo in having the legislature more involved in in that direct process?

No, I mean I think it's critically important and again this really comes back this named projects and named um appropriations really came out of the 23 and 24 session um when you know the DFL trifecta had $18 billion of surplus and was able to spend money wherever they wanted to.

And this was something that um I raised along with the House GOP was like, listen, we can't just be handing out blank checks to people that we're not vetting.

Um and I think hopefully this this this this cause of fraud now is making us realize we can't do that anymore.

And when we vet into if we are going to do these kinds of appropriations, they are the vetted tried and trueue proven partners.

And I think there's a lot of um nonprofits out there that have created these public private partnerships that have been in our communities for 30, 40, 50 years, have clean reports, and do a good job.

Those are the ways that we help support our communities.

It was all the new creation.

And I mean I mean there was dollars that went out in the 23 session for folks to start a running club in the Twin Cities and they got a million dollar appropriation and they weren't even six months old.

like it was ridiculous.

And now it's time to pull that back in and make sure that we support those things that matter that create those partnerships and not just hand it out willy-nilly.

That's not fair to the taxpayer.

Dr.

Sam Nelson, can you talk a bit about this tension of legislators directly appropriating dollars uh versus agencies setting up a more competitive process and your thoughts on it?

Yeah, we've been working um through in the LCCR bill.

We've been working on there's Can you explain that acronym?

I'm sorry.

Can you explain I'm the acronym police and so LCCMR stands for Y the legislative boy uh the legislative commission it's it's any it's the lottery funds um I don't remember what sorry LCCMR that's okay as long as you know it's the it's the lottery dollars that are set aside for environmental projects so yes yes yes so so as and uh sitting on the environment committee uh we've got a LCCMR bill we passed I believe we passed a committee um last week and or two weeks ago and we had in there there was an office of uh uh working on community grants and and so maybe it's a small community that wants to upgrade their bike trail through town.

And so we put the OIG had uh another report that we'd looked at and then we asked them also like all right so this part of the legislation what do you think about it and uh the IG the office not OIG the OA off office office of legislative audit they had looked at it and you know gave some suggestions so we got that you know drafted in and really made it so that really securing the the community projects that are going to be applying for grants So, we're we're really securing those dollars ahead of time and I think that's important to be able to do this and making sure that the those that are getting the funding that um whether they're uh needing requiring a shity bond or something like that to really make sure that they're following up and doing the projects that they're supposed to be doing.

I think that's important to be able to to do that to ensure our dollars are being used wisely.

One of the other major issues is capital investment or bonding bill.

And this is when the state borrows money at a low interest rate to support projects that are in local communities across the state or have regional significance.

We at PBS North and this show were actually down at Dutton St.

Louis County days and interviewed elected officials and others and asked what their priorities are.

And so we asked Senator Jennifer Mchuan what her priorities for this legislative session were and to give a question to the legislators here today.

My top priorities for this legislative session are a successful bonding bill, uh protecting and defending some of the gains that we've had in Minnesota over the last couple of years, especially our paid family medical leave program and our uh strong labor protections and worker protections that we've gained over these last years.

So, probably playing a little defense on those fronts.

And also uh this session I really want to work to advance some environmental priorities as we move into looking even into the next session.

So there's ways that we can have some hearings now to talk about some environmental issues that maybe we're not going to see pass and and signed into law this year.

But we're warming people up to the ideas and having some good beginning debate on some of these things.

I would ask them, well, and I am asking them, um, how devoted they are to seeing a bonding bill passed into law and will they commit to voting for the bonding bill without trying to leverage it for other political games?

Will they just commit to voting for the bonding bill?

So, the capital investment or bonding bill actually needs a super majority of legislators uh to vote in favor of it.

Uh and so uh let's talk a bit about that bill and answer Senator Mikuan's question.

Sometimes there's some trading that goes on if projects get in or not and sometimes people try to tie it to other issues.

What are your thoughts uh on the likelihood of a capital investment or bonding bill getting passed and what are some of your priorities?

Represent Nelson, we'll start with you.

I think it's a high likelihood that we pass a bonding bill this year.

uh with the house being tied right now, the both uh both co-chairs have been working very strong to make sure that projects from both sides are in there that are really meeting what both caucuses want.

And not just the caucuses, but meeting the needs of the communities.

And I know our my fellow GOP colleagues, one of the things that we've been really focusing on is water projects.

uh whether it's sanitary sanitary systems and really making sure that those uh we have clean water and then we have safe drinking water and and our sanitation system is um some of these are getting to be some really old systems there we've got going into our communities and our population is growing and outstate or at least in my district and it's putting a tax on our current wastewater treatment and we need to upgrade that and I think this is a good time to do that and we can uh um some of these projects also have some matching federal funds and I think we need to be able to tap into that and I plan to be voting on the bonding bill uh in favor of it but I I would also say that uh political games can get played and I I think could really take it down but I hope we don't go down that road.

represent Vigo, what are some of your priorities for the capital investment or bonding bill specific to your community or region?

And what do you think the likelihood of getting something passed is this year?

You know, kind of on the same note as Representative Nelson, right?

I mean, it's water projects, water projects, water projects.

And we have many of them across uh my district.

You know, cities like Hibbing are at the top of that list.

Cities like Kiwaten, cities like Tamarak, uh cities like Floodwood, all have water projects and wastewater projects that we're trying to get done.

And this is kind of one of the cool things we've seen bonding turn into is because we're finding grant dollars whether it be from the federal government or other groups is that now bonding steps in not as the only way that this project's getting done but it's creating again that public private partnership where we can utilize these dollars to get more dollars and make sure the projects get done quicker and faster which I think is going to lead to uh a potential bond bonding bill passing.

Um I've never voted against a bonding bill.

I I really don't plan on ever doing that.

So, I'm hoping we have a good bill come to us.

And in regards to the games, I I do think that one will pass and one will be brought forward.

But one of the things I try to share all the time is some of the bonding bills in the past have taken the nonpartisan kind of agency projects um whether it be for higher ed, whether it be for the DNR about where they're located and counting those against the respective caucus, right?

And that is a really dangerous precedent to set because when you are talking about higher ed for example and and heaper dollars which again acronym I'll correct myself.

Heaper is the taking care of like uh aging um infrastructure at our state colleges and universities.

But if you were going to count you know a $50 million investment in Baiji against the GOP and you're going to count the hundred million investment in St.

Paul against the DFL.

Well, now the small communities that needed water projects, those ones are going to suffer because those projects were counted as partisan projects.

And I think that we need to make sure that agency projects don't end up that way.

So, no community in Minnesota takes a loss.

So, this is a non-budget year.

The legislature budgets every two years.

And really, the main uh historically the main item on the agenda is this capital investment bill.

Why does it take always the legislature until the very last minute and the last day to pass the bill that is supposed to be the hallmark bill for the legislative session?

you know, well, I think think uh you go ahead repres a a non-budget year and part of that is because of the tie.

Um to be able to for any bill to leave the committee, there had to be uh bipartisan consent on it.

And so it's just made it that much more difficult for most bills to leave committee.

And also the committees really have or the the agencies haven't asked for a whole lot.

And with that, we've got some pretty small bills that are are leaving u the respective agencies.

And uh you know, even just the last week of session is when we finally heard the governor's bills there, his proposals, you know, the agency bills.

And you know, it wasn't even hearing the bill.

It was hearing the overview of it.

Um, and the bill was still being so I'm assuming there'll have to be a rules committee waiver to be able to hear these bills coming up, but it's been coming really slow from the governor.

But, um, you know, as back to the bonding bill, as we look at that, um, it's it's often times you really every other bill the majority passes.

The bonding bill, the minority is really kind of the one that controls to have a supermaajority of votes to be able to pass.

Well, in the House, it's a It's also being a spending bill, it has to originate in the House and being in a tie, there's really not a reason why it has to be held up to the end.

And I think especially looking at the status of the other bills that we have in the in the House.

Um, I think it could be could be done beforehand, but that's typically why it is that it's it's done late because we're we're trying to make sure, you know, the the minority party is usually trying to hold it up to to make sure that, you know, it's a piece of leverage that they have and u being that there's really no minority nor majority in the House that that is kind of gone this year.

represent Viggo, do you think a bill could get passed before the last waning hours of the session this year, a capital investment bill which would be unprecedented?

It's really it's a really good question.

I mean, my mind goes a million miles a minute thinking about how that situation could turn out.

I think represent Nelson made some really good points there about how like he really could move a little earlier this year.

But kind of like I alluded to that first question you asked me when you go when we opened up this conversation today.

um if we start hitting some weird roadblocks and it wouldn't be in the House, it would be how the House and the Senate interact, which we could have a whole another discussion on, which the viewers might enjoy.

But if that happens and you see the two chambers starting to butt heads a little bit, I see capital investment being one of those things that gets held up until there's agreement on how the final bills will pass between the House and the Senate.

And I don't even think that would necessarily be partisan.

That'll probably be the leaders of the Tide House having to work with a partisan Senate.

The third issue uh that has generally been talked about by those legislative leaders that you just spoke about is uh supporting Henipin County Medical Center, one of our largest healthc care providers in the state who is under significant financial trouble as are many hospitals and clinics across the state of Minnesota.

Why is the legislature uh taking such a big role and need to take a big role in helping solve these financial issues in particular for Henipin County Medical Center?

Uh Russo, let's start with you this time.

You know, this is a really interesting issue and to be candid, I haven't been as close to it being involved with so many other major committees this year.

Um but I think like you said in your remarks there, I mean, this is kind of a larger conversation for healthcare as a whole.

Um when we look at Henipin County Medical Center, I think there's a lot of things that we have to take into effect about how it's funded by the county, how it's funded by the city, how it's um funded by, you know, taxpayer dollars that are brought in around it.

And I think this is a kind of a long problem coming.

Obviously, the city of Minneapolis, we've had some issues with rising property taxes.

We've had issues with businesses leaving.

Um those all contribute to the health and stability of facilities like HCMC.

So, I think the legislature is looking at a way to make sure we take care of this very important asset for our large metropolitan area and for for the health and safety of people.

But I would like to advocate for it to be a larger conversation and say this is why we need to stabilize um our business communities.

Why we need to stabilize property taxes.

why we need to have good stable leadership whether it be in greater Minnesota, whether it be in the innermost of our cities so that we don't create these kinds of problems because this has just been a long time coming um with decisions that have been made over the last couple years and the proposals for the solution in broader buckets represent Nelson are really allowing the county to repurpose some of their dollars already to help solve this issue provide them a tool to raise more funds to solve this issue and or maybe a one time payment of state resources to solve it.

Do you have a preference right now on what you'd like to see?

Uh and can you just expound on on your thoughts on on what the proposal is to find solution here?

I think I think it's important to be able to prop up the or not I shouldn't prop up isn't the right word to even use, but to be able to help make a whole the HCMC.

Um you know, it's a level one trauma center.

Uh there's a lot of people that you know if there's uh you know they get life flights into there um you know from even from my area that or they're going up to Essentia and Duth and and so making sure that we have those those hospitals there are crucial and and I think when you're looking at how to you know when the when there's funds that are short one of the only really the only funding mechanism that a county has is property taxes and and we've been seeing more and more shifts, um, balancing budgets, and the mandates are still there for the county to do everything else that they're already doing.

And they're getting more and more of the tab to pay for that.

And it might lower your your federal or your state income taxes, but your property taxes are making up that balance.

And so I I think it's um, you know, we only have so many dollars at the end of the day, whether whichever pocket we take it out of.

So whether it comes from state, federal or or the county, you know, taking property taxes, uh I think we need to be mindful of this, but um also allowing the county to be able to really have local control on on how some of these are spent.

I can I can definitely understand that and I for the most part agree with that.

If you have questions uh for future episodes, please email us at askpbsnorth.org.

Now, we've talked about this not being a budget session, uh, though budget ideas are certainly brought forward in smaller increments in this session.

Uh, repres can you touch on, uh, any any of those that you support or you see coming to fruition by the end of the legislative session.

So, predominantly want me to talk about bills that have budget in them.

So, I guess this is my opportunity to talk about my housing budget bill that is working its way through right now.

So, um I do support a bill as it stands right now um that would hopefully bring about almost 2,000 more units of housing in the state of Minnesota.

Uh and what me and my co-chair were able to do on that bill is capitalize funds that were going to default to the general fund while also taking advantage of historic interest earnings inside the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency.

And what we were able to do is bundle a bill together that's going to unlock hund00 million in housing infrastructure bonds for developers and cities and counties across the state of Minnesota as well as put $20 million into workforce housing which is going to help us build that workforce housing all across greater Minnesota.

And then we coupled that with some home ownership education dollars to help increase first-time home buyers and decrease foreclosures along with a really exciting proposal uh that came from right up in our region from Representative Lesnikar about working on a pilot program to allow for senior home sharing.

So, this whole bill kind of came together um as a way to to bring about, you know, over $150 million in investment in housing in the state of Minnesota with zero impact to the general fund.

And that was all done because we're able to creatively look and find where dollars were and recapture things that weren't working.

So, this is a bill as it stands right now that I I I really support and hope we can get done.

represent Nelson, are there any budget adjustment bills that you're watching and perhaps supporting?

Um, right now the the three committees that I serve on, the agriculture, the environment, and the children and families committees, uh, none of them passed out a budget bill.

And so that's those would be the ones that I'm looking at closely.

And, you know, they don't have them.

Now, there's still some things that we're we're looking at and wanting to do.

Um and uh legislature nothing is dead even after a deadline.

So things can happen but it does become more tricky to get them done.

And and I think it also it makes it appear that it's not done up right.

Most of these things that have been heard in committee they've um maybe they just didn't have question weren't for them.

But uh there's a few things that I'm watching I'm hopeful for.

But I I don't think there was any real but it did that I' I've been watching and trying to to get across the line.

All right.

And we apologize we have a little bit of technical difficulty right now but we're working our way through it.

One of the other um things that have happened in the state of Minnesota over the past year is really a lot of violence and it really started uh almost a year ago with the assassination of former speaker Melissa Hortman and the shooting of Senator John Hoffman carried through to uh killings at the Assumption Church and School and we saw the ICE occupation that happened primarily over the winter in the Twin Cities and other communities across the state.

Uh coming out of that, uh the legislature uh passed this week some added penalties uh for impersonating a police officer, which I think was directly tied to, uh the assassination of Speaker Hortman in the shooting of Senator Hoffman.

However, school safety has become a large issue as well that's being discussed at the state capital, primarily focused uh on fortifying our schools and less around uh the guns that were used in the assassinations uh at both Assumption and uh with state- elected officials.

Uh we'll start with you, Representative Iggo.

Uh why not talk about the guns that were used in these assassinations and those proposals that are primarily being brought forward by DFLers?

Yeah.

Well, thank you for the question.

I mean, again, these are really hard conversations to have and everyone's been affected for the actions of our state of the past year.

You know, all of us who had served with Melissa, uh, you know, were affected in that way.

The school shootings, everyone's affected by.

I mean, this is a very emotional issue and being legislators in this time, it's it's really on us to stand and listen to all viewpoints and make sure we come up with the best.

Now, I know there's kind of like you said, there's split about whether we're going to be talking about the guns or we're going to be talking making sure our schools are safe.

I think the big thing is that focusing on the school safety is the crucial first step and how we're going to make sure and make the difference on it.

The reason being is that it wasn't that long ago where we were having conversations at the capital about removing our SRO's from our schools across the state of Minnesota.

And those are school resource officers, the police officers that that are in our schools.

I broke the acronym rule again, but yes, I mean, it was just a few years ago that there was bills being moved to remove those school resource officers from our schools, having police officers that are working on community policing, building relationships with our kids, and most importantly, keeping them safe.

So, I think we need to start there and make sure we not only fortify isn't a good word to use, but stabilize and make sure our school boards, our school districts can have the tools and resources they need to work with parents, to work with the community to make sure that we have the best safety for our children.

And that's where we need to start because there's been way too many mandates and way too many bad too much bad policy that's that's hurt our school districts.

And that's why we're starting there.

repres Nelson.

Um, high cap highcapacity magazines, assault style weapons.

Uh, these these are both been used in these shootings.

Uh, why start with with working on how to fortify the schools versus the guns?

I think I think looking at fortifying the school um I look at it as you know if you take away some of these other the high-capacity magazine the assault style rifles if you take away that um they're either going to get it through a different means or they're going to come up with a different I hate to word use the word tool but they're going to use something else.

Uh, and there there's the ability out there.

I mean, you can search the internet and find out how to do a lot of damage without a gun.

And we're seeing it, you know, in other countries how people are doing it without a gun.

And it's using a different weapon, using a different device to bring harm.

And and so I think that's why the the discussion really needs to be around how do we make our schools safe regardless of what the tool the the mechanism the device that is used to bring harm to other people.

So what I'm hearing though is uh for both of you there is no legislation that you see impacting guns uh that you could support right now uh to help with this issue.

No, I mean for me not right now.

I mean the thing is is that these ideas it goes back to something we talked about earlier.

The idea itself sounds fantastic on paper.

We're going to get rid of this.

You know high-capacity magazines and that's going to solve the problem.

It won't.

You need to look at it down the step of one how many high-capacity magazines exist?

Every state around us they are legal in.

How many legal constitutionally people in the United in the state of Minnesota would you make um criminals by passing this law?

And again, just because you make something quote unquote illegal, doesn't mean people go and get it.

And I think there's lots of violent crime that we've seen across this state and across this country where those aren't lawful gun owners going to get these things.

So, I think getting at the root, there's a couple things we can do to really stop this.

one is make sure our schools are safe, but two, let's prosecute crime when we see it.

And that's something that House Republicans have been really strong on is making sure to prosecute on straw purchases, illegal gun purchases, illegal gun sales, because the best way to put it as a as a lawful gun owner, the one thing I hate most is an unlawful gun owner.

And that's something that we want to make sure and take care of, and that's something we stand united on.

One of the other issues around school safety is if public dollars can be used for private schools.

and that seems to be a sticking point in this whole conversation as well.

Represent Nelson, we'll start with you.

What are your thoughts on uh using public dollars to help fortify once again or support for school safety measures, private schools?

Well, I think uh you know there's children there um and those children are our communities there those individuals that are going to that school.

They're paying property taxes.

They're paying income taxes.

And I don't really I don't understand why we can't save all the children if you know instead of just those that are in state state schools.

Professor Viggo, uh, you serve a district that has a number of public schools and and a handful of private schools.

There are very limited dollars available to help school districts.

Um, should we prioritize our public schools or should private schools also qualify for this?

No, I mean, I think everyone should qualify, right?

I mean, this is safety for kids and that's something that we don't pick and choose on.

We're going to keep all of our kids safe.

I mean, you can compare this to a simple thing, right?

Um, are we going to say if you go to a private school then that, you know, the city police department isn't going to look after the private school because it's private, not a public school, you know, are we going to say then that this private school can't be, you know, able to use the uh the school the school district busing, which already happens by the way?

No.

I mean, this is something where, and I know there's a larger conversation about public versus private schools.

I went to one of those small private schools on the range.

There's a place in my heart for for all of them.

And I think that when it comes to school safety, just like my my friend and colleague represent Nelson said, we need to make sure that we um keep all kids safe.

Well, we also asked Doo City Council member uh Eric Foresman what his priorities were for this legislative session and to give a question to legislators here today.

Let's hear from Eric.

Well, uh, Duth has some basic infrastructure up for bonding, including our water treatment plants, as well as some economic development projects like the LA D project, which could bring some of that much needed housing to our community.

So, we're really excited to hopefully see a bonding bill come through.

And then we're also, as a city, very dependent on the state for local government aids.

We want to make sure that anytime we have a chance to talk about the importance of keeping people's property taxes down and funding our basic municipal services, we do that, too.

Well, at Minnesota, we are often blessed with divided government.

And so, as uh a legislator in either a tied house or a one seat majority Senate, you know, my question would be, what are you doing to work across the aisle to build those relationships to try to get stuff done for our communities?

So, you both serve in the House of Representatives, which we've talked about being tied, so nothing can happen without uh getting votes from both sides of the aisle.

What are some specific things that uh you are doing?

We'll start with you represent to develop those relationships across the aisle to be successful.

Yeah, I mean one the the tie created a great opportunity but I think also like after you serve a couple terms in each respective chamber and you start to figure out how the place works that opens up the opportunity to create those relationships.

I think the best way I want to talk about it is a bill that I'm working on, which is a bill to propose a constitutional amendment in regards to our our school trust lands.

Um, so I've been working with Senator Kunish, who's a DFLer in the Senate.

I've also been working with Representative Long uh on the House side and Representative Yuim about working on this bill and this policy, making sure we get the amendment uh language right, making sure we're going to take care of all of our communities well.

And for like the spark notes on that whole thing, this is a constitutional amendment that's going to increase funding to all of our schools in the state of Minnesota by 40% without costing taxpayers a nickel.

So, it's been a really fun project to work on and again creating lots of bipartisan relationships.

I mean, the fact that Representative Long and I don't agree to get on much, but we've been sitting in my office talking about our excitement for this bill and how we're going to work together on it and that's just been super rewarding.

So, there's a great example of it.

Uh before we get to you, Represent Nelson, uh so you're talking about this constitutional amendment uh that would go to the voters to decide on that issue.

What is the likelihood of that passing this legislative session and being on the ballot this fall?

I don't want to guarantee anything because I don't want to jinx it, but it's it's really moving its way through the process.

It's all the way up until it's passed through all of its committees and needs to in the Senate.

It's passed through all of its committees and needs to in the House.

We're going to see floor action by this constitutional amendment in the next week or two, I would think.

Um, and you're probably going to see a very strong support out of both legislative bodies to get it to the governor's desk and to all the voters and viewers like you at home in November.

And as a political nerd, a constitutional amendments do not need to be signed by a governor.

And so once they pass both legislative bodies, they get automatically put on the ballot.

Uh, represent Nelson, what are you doing uh to uh work across the aisle?

Can you give us some strategies or or ways that you're trying to be successful in gaining bipartisan support for legislation you care about?

I think one of the most important building relationships and I realize that you know we're six years postco but those relationships that had really been kind of been lost there uh it's been taking a a while to build them back and part of it I think is due to social media as well.

It's too often that we go back to our own echo chamber.

We listen to the people that we want to hear.

Um maybe not ourselves, but the just overall just the general public does this as well.

And and so it's it's difficult to to really break out of that.

And that's something that I've been trying to meaningfully do.

Have those uh when we're done with committee walking with somebody from the other side of the aisle and saying, "Hey, I had some questions about the bill we were talking about today."

and um really follow-up conversations and and I think those are so important to have and they've been generally I think they've been missing and there's a there's a bar or restaurant that is down in uh I think it's Sweeny's that they've offered that if any uh any opposite members of the you parties come in together they'll buy them lunch and because they're sitting down and having dinner together and and I I think that's so important to be able to sit town to to break bread to be able to have a meal.

Uh there's a lot of things that we have in common, but to really we fight often times or you know view don't realize how much we have in common.

And when we start looking at what we have in common versus what um instead of looking at what separates us, we're going to find that we have far more things in common and that we can we can make more common ground even in the areas we disagree on and we can come together in those areas.

And I think that's important to be able to look at.

I want to take some time right now uh to talk about uh some more localized issues to our region that also have statewide significance.

And one of them is we just had an announcement this week that a a large child care center in Duth is going to be shutting its doors.

Repson Nelson, you co-chair a committee that is focused uh somewhat on childare and children and youth.

Uh are there any uh any pieces of legislation being introduced this year to help support childare?

Yes, there was uh and unfortunately it didn't leave committee.

There was a childare modernization bill that uh it probably would have helped the center-based child care more so than the the homebased child care, but uh it it's something that's desperately needed.

It's been needing to be updated for years and unfortunately that it wasn't able to pass out of committee and so now now we're waiting longer.

Um I'm hopeful that maybe a bill that's close enough to Germaine that we can we could attach something to at least some provisions, but it's it's a big enough bill that uh that it's going to be difficult to do just that, you know, add changing it as an amendment on the floor.

Um but as we've as we've heard across the state, uh child care is a significant issue and is we've got people looking for jobs, people thinking about starting a family.

Uh you know, housing and child care are are two of the top issues.

And child care, it's uh you know, people are are are applying for child care before they're thinking about starting a family just because it's not there.

And so it's something that drastically needs to be there and we need to focus on the safety of it and maybe not so much around the educational content that really has kind of driven some of child care for quite a while especially in centerbased and with the funding that's coming through it's it's really made some of the put some of the centers at disadvantages to others and I don't know the specific details on why why this one in duth is closing however it's there's a lot of disadvantages that the center can get up against that that really put them against a a disadvantage on really serving the children and the families in the community.

Representative Viggo up on the iron range right now we have two idle taken plants in Hibbing and Monorca uh and the steel workers that have worked there uh were able to receive an extension of unemployment benefits that will be running out in May.

Um can and it doesn't look like either facility will be up and running at that point in time.

Can you talk about if is there anything else that the state or others can do uh to help those laid-off steel workers?

And of course then there are the vendors and others that are impacted by uh the mine closures as well.

Yeah.

No, it's you know it's been a hard time um on the range.

Um I know right now it was actually this week um I passed a bill out of ways and means for supplementary UI extension for the recent layoffs that occurred after the 600.

So that's going to cover the just shy of 100 layoffs that we've had since then um predominantly at HIPPAC.

Um but as that extension runs out, you know, one thing that we're looking at, not just myself, this is something where the range delegation really works together is having conversations with the company and our communities about really what do what what levers can we help pull, what can we do, how can we come together and try and fix these things.

Um, and we're just kind of hoping for that stabilization right now.

I know the big thing we're continuing to try and do is diversify economic opportunity on the range.

And even though, like I said, we're going through this kind of hard time, that's also we need to recognize that there's a lot good uh on the horizon for the Iron Range.

The fact that we are on schedule to probably this year open the first brand new tachinite facility in the Sabi Metallics uh in 50 years.

Uh, Congressman Ster passed this resolution last week that's opening the door for northern Minnesota to again start working on the process on critical mineral mining.

We have New Range Copper Nickel that's moving forward in its process along with Talon uh in the south of my district.

So, even though we're facing hard times those two facilities we mentioned, we got the extended UI.

We're working together on longer term solutions.

There's some really good things coming on the pipe for the Iron Range and for northern Minnesota that could bring in a whole new era of prosperity for all of us.

In the past week or so, um the House of Representatives in their rules committee uh took up some legislation to actually look to impeach and get rid of Governor Walls and Attorney General Ellison.

Uh wanted to get your thoughts and feelings on this.

We have two Republicans here.

We always invite folks from both sides of the aisle.

So, uh, I will have you react to this, but I'll first make the case that your DFL colleagues, uh, tried to make as well, so you can reply to that as well.

Um, you know, Governor Walls, uh, is going to be, uh, ending this legislative session and ending his time, not running for reelection.

Attorney General is running for reelection, but Minnesota voters, uh, will have their say on who a new governor is and if they want to reelect uh, Attorney General Ellison this November.

And so do you think uh it was wise and the right thing to do to spend very precious time here at the end of the legislative session looking at impeachment of either Governor Walls or Attorney General Ellison?

Represent Nelson, we'll start with you.

Uh thank you.

And as we look at this, I think uh one it does uh it is pressure committee time.

But I also will look at this and say the fraud is that's been happening has been a serious issue and there's a lot of people that feel that their voices aren't being heard and and I think this was a part of it.

I I we don't have the votes to be able to, you know, we're tied in the house.

We we do not have the votes to be able to impeach the governor nor the attorney general.

But I I think it also it's important that we we raise our concerns.

Uh there's been other areas through legislation that we've been tackling fraud.

But uh these these are people whether uh the governor is the head of the agencies and the attorney general is the chief law enforcement officer of the state um have really not been doing their job in in many ways and are we feel that way and and so I think there was a was a a time that people could really uh on the record voice their concerns and and raise the issue but again I I don't think there was a there was not a a real path to be able to go forward with impeachment.

So that does uh that does bring up the question of whether this was worth it.

But I I do think it was important to be able to raise the concerns.

Uh represent Nelson's point.

No, the votes aren't there.

Know an election is coming up right around the corner.

Uh do you think this was a good use of time?

Yeah.

Right.

So, I mean, the votes weren't there, but there was one thing that was there.

And because we were in a tide house, there was an opportunity to have a hearing.

And I think the hearing wasn't so much about impeachment as it was trying to get some accountability.

And I think that's one thing I've heard from Republicans in my district and from Democrats in my district.

People just want the governor and our attorney general to go in front of a camera or anything, release a statement, and just say, "We messed up."

And maybe that's just who we are on the range a little bit more.

We asked for that accountability, but that's what I look at that hearing about.

And yes, it was precious time.

All of our time is precious down at the capital.

But I think for most motans, again, nonpartisan motans, it was an opportunity to have a discussion about why there should be some accountability.

So, were the votes there?

No.

But it was important to put on the record that there's people in Minnesota and a pretty large group of people in Minnesota that just want the governor take accountability for his actions.

And if you compare what's happened under his watch with the fraud, if he was the, you know, the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, he would have had walking papers days after all this news came out.

But we're the state of Minnesota and it's state government and things are different and I respect that.

But that doesn't mean you don't get to take accountability.

And that's what that hearing was about.

Well, we have about one minute left and the governor um is going to be giving his final state of the state address next week uh to the legislature and to the state of Minnesota.

And generally governors uh start out sometime in the early part uh of their pronouncement saying the state of the state is blank.

And so I'm going to give you guys an opportunity to pre-but his state of the state address and share with us what you think the state of the state is in just a word or phrase.

And so represent Igo, the state of the state of Minnesota in your mind is what?

A work in progress.

All right.

And represent Nelson, uh, the state of the state is I think he's going to say bright.

All righty.

Well, we are out of time and I'd like to thank Representatives Nelson and Igo for joining us this evening, answering your questions, and sharing their thoughts.

We'll be back again next week to speak to even more members of the state legislature to answer more of your questions.

Thank you for watching.

For the team here at PBS North, I'm Tony Certich.

Have a great evening.