Please contact your legislators about these two bills. Use MN Senate & House Rep. District Finder link to locate your legislators' contact information.
State Representative Karen Clark and State Senator Linda Berglin are working hard to preserve the language of a bill (HF3293 and SF3393) they co-sponsored, which takes into account the cummulative effects of pollution when deciding MPCA permits. Some members of the legislature are trying to modify the bill so that it fails to protect communities already over-burdened with pollution (Phillips, Northside, etc.). Unfortunately, the Senate version has already been ammended to the point of ineffectiveness. Please contact your legislators and let them know that vulnerable and over-burdened communities need their protection. The MPCA must consider how new toxins may interact with existing pollutants, especially where a disproportionate number of vulnerable residents (children, the elderly and those with impaired immune systems) live.
House bill #HF3293
https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/revisor/pages/search_status/status_detail.php?b=House&f=HF3293&ssn=0&y=2007
Senator Scott Dibble introduced a property tax exemption bill, SF 3617, that extends a deadline for Kandiyohi's Midtown burner. This legislation passed with NO discussion! There is a companion bill in the house, HF 3149 , which also extends the Midtown burner tax credit statute. Jim Davnie (Mpls) is on the House Tax Committee and covers areas that would be hit hard by the Midtown burner. Call him TODAY at 651-296-0173 and tell him to vote no on HF 3149 -- or that part of HF 3149 that gives Midtown the tax break. The senate version has already passed. If the house version passes, this is one more action that supports Kandiyohi's Midtown burner project. However, by defeating this bill we communicate that the community, and the city as a whole, does not support subsidies to private companies at the expense of community health and well-being.
Contact info for the rest of the House Tax Committee is available here:
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/comm/committeemembers.asp?comm=3000
House Bill #HF 3149 https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/revisor/pages/search_status/status_detail.php?b=House&f=HF3149&ssn=0&y=2008
Senate bill #SF 3617
https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/bldbill.php?bill=S3617.0.html&session=ls85
2 comments:
Update - it was tacked onto the Senate Tax Omnibus bill and was passed yesterday by the full Senate. YESTERDAY!!! Per Tom Bakk: "The provision is included in the senate tax bill that was
debated yesterday and was passed. The issue of the exemption never
came up in the committee or the floor of the senate, I believe members of the Minneapolis legislation are divided on this. If you want to continue to pursue this you should spend your time on the house side as they are still in the process of putting their tax bill together Hope this helps clarify the status of the provision in the senate. Tom"
So on to the House. For House Tax committee agendas, email and ask to get on list: Sarah.Carlson-Wallrath@house.mn
Members of House Tax Committee here:
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/comm/committeemembers.asp?comm=3000
Message: Don't give Kandiyohi's Midtown a Minn. Stat. 272.02 Utility Personal Property Tax exemption in the Omnibus Tax Bill.
Here's info on Utility Personal Property tax:
http://legalectric.org/weblog/172/
And some other posts (this is an issue that's come up fighting Simon Industries gas plant and Mesaba Project and others):
http://legalectric.org/weblog/category/utility-personal-property-tax-for-local-governments/
In HF 3201, there's no 272.02, Subd. 82, but it's an old engrossment, March 4
https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/bldbill.php?bill=H3201.4.html&session=ls85
One plus is that Sandy Wollschlager is Vice Chair, she championed the Host Fee Agreement for the Invenergy gas plant and she knows what this stuff is about.
rep.sandy.wollschlager@house.mn
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