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Dahms, Torkelson update constituents on policy matters

Staff photo by Clay Schuldt State Sen. Gary Dahms (R-Redwood Falls), left, and State Rep. Paul Torkelson (R-Hanska) took part in a town hall meeting Friday morning at the New Ulm Public Library.

NEW ULM — State Sen. Gary Dahms (R-Redwood Falls) and State Rep. Paul Torkelson (R-Hanska) took part in a town hall meeting Friday morning at the New Ulm Public Library.

The two gave an update on Minnesota politics ahead of the 2018 legislative session. Dahms and Torkelson answered questions on subjects ranging from legislative funding and education to garlic mustard and nitrate testing in well waters.

“The first topic for this year’s Legislature will be funding the Legislature itself,” Torkelson said. Last year Gov. Mark Dayton line item vetoed the funding for the state Legislature. This resulted in a series of lawsuits that were never officially resolved. Torkelson said the State Supreme Court made no official decision on the legality of Dayton’s veto. The court felt the Legislature had enough money to get by until the next session.

Both Torkelson and Dahms disagreed with Dayton’s veto. Torkelson said the veto affected the separation of the three branches and the court’s lack of a definitive decision allowed future governors to take the same action to put pressure on the Legislature.

Dayton has stated he would sign a bill approving the funding for the legislature in 2018.

Dahms gave an update on the makeup of the state Senate. The Senate has a Republican majority that was at 34-33 split, but a DFL resignation in October placed it at 34-32. Depending on the outcome of the special election, the Republicans could get a greater majority or things could stay the same. However, with the appointment of Lt. Gov. Tina Smith to the Senate, her position was filled by the last elected president of the Senate, Michelle Fishbock, who is a Republican.

A current lawsuit is underway on whether Fishbock can serve in the Senate and as lieutenant governor. If the lawsuit finds she can’t serve in the Senate, the Minnesota Senate could technically have an even 33-33 split. Dahms said this was simple background information.

A key topic of discussion this year will be the opioid crisis.

“That is something really on the radar,” Dahms said. “There is going to be a lot of legislation looked at this year on how we can deal with that.”

Extra beds in mental health facilities are a necessity. Dahms said the need for mental health space went down in the ’60s but the opioid crisis had once again brought the need back.

The campaign to increase Medicare payments to group homes handling handicapped people will continue. The campaign was previously called the 5 percent campaign, which was successful but Dahms feels further compensation is needed.

The first questions from the audience came from Joe Gardner. He asked about the possibility of allowing computer coding and programing classes to be an alternative to a language course in High School.

Gardner was concerned about a shortage of computer experts and felt this could help fill the gap.

Dahms said there were efforts to promote technology on the high school level to give students more access, but admitted they had a long way to go.

“It’s something we can’t overlook,” Dahms said.

Gardner also asked about getting additional information out about the noxious weed garlic mustard. Gardner has worked as a volunteer trying to spread the warning about this invasive species, but is concerned the message is not getting out to the people.

Torkelson said it was a challenge to keep the public informed about invasive species.

Dahms encouraged further research and resources to combat the noxious weeds.

Heather Bregel asked the legislators’ opinion on whether they supported the Brown County commissioners’ choice to opt out of free nitrate testing in well water.

Neither Torkelson nor Dahms offered an opinion on the decision since it was a commissioners’ decision. Torkelson did say that individuals were able to have their wells tested and he encouraged them to do so.

Dahms said he did not know enough to make an informed decision.

One audience member, representing the local Farm Bureau, said they encourage the rejection of the nitrate tests because they feared further regulations. The Farm Bureau prefers the state monitor aquifers rather than private wells.

Brown County Auditor-Treasurer Jean Prochniak wanted to expand the period for early voting. She said it would be a “Godsend” to the county and make the lines move faster. Last year about 10 percent of the votes were from early voters.

“I want the greatest voter turnout,” Prochniak said. “We want to keep this up.”

She asked for a Saturday deadline on early voting to give staff a day to prepare for the deployment at the precinct.

Torkelson was against creating too big of an early voting window in case of late incidents that could dramatically shift the voting. Torkelson cited the death of Paul Wellstone as an example. He did support the Saturday deadline.

On the subject of bonding, Dayton is requesting a $1.5 billion bonding bill. Dahms said he suspected the bonding bill would be reduced to $800 million-$900 million.

“I think the bonding bill will be focused strongly on state infrastructure,” Dahms said.

Torkelson said last year’s bonding bill was mostly a carryover from the 2016 bill that failed to pass. He agreed the next bill would be in the $800 million to $900 million range and would focus on infrastructure over new builds.

At the end of the meeting Torkelson said town hall meetings were one of the ways to gather information from constituents. Torkelson and Dahms could be reached by phone, mail, email or in person.

“We are interested in what people are thinking in the district,” Torkelson said. “Constituent concerns are always the ones that get our first attention.”

The 2018 legislative session starts Tuesday, Feb. 20, and ends in the third week in May.

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