River corridor critical area legislation introduced

A bill to amend the law governing the Mississippi River Critical Area, a corridor that extends from Dayton to Hastings, has been introduced in both houses of the Minnesota legislature. FMR has been leading the effort to update the 30-year old law, a statute that can be difficult to understand and cumbersome to enforce. Many stakeholders had input into the direction and language of the final version of the bill, which maintains the critical area framework, and directs the DNR to conduct rulemaking.

FMR has been busy at the Capitol this session meeting with legislators to brief them on the bill and ask for their support. Several legislators have signed on as co-authors, and we expect more to join in the next few weeks. Lead author in the House of Representatives Rick Hansen is joined on the bill (HF424) by Jim Abeler, Joe Atkins, Karla Bigham, David Bly, Kent Eken, Jeff Hayden, Frank Hornstein, Sheldon Johnson, Phyllis Kahn, Diane Loeffler, Erin Murphy, Frank Hornstein, Carlos Mariani, Erin Murphy, Nora Slawik, Phil Sterner and Jean Wagenius. In the Senate, Satveer Chaudhary, Michael Jungbauer, Jim Metzen and Patricia Torres Ray join lead author Katie Sieben on the companion bill (SF671).

We are also picking up support from several other organizations, which to date include Audubon Minnesota, Clean Water Action, Friends of the Parks and Trails of Saint Paul and Ramsey County, and Sierra Club Northstar Chapter.

The bill has passed in the Senate Environmental Policy Committee and the State and Local Government Operations Committee and will move on to the Environmental Finance Committee in the coming weeks. It is scheduled to be heard in the House Environmental Policy Committee on Tuesday, March 24th and will follow a similar path to the Senate through two more House committees. You can check meeting agendas online at the Minnesota Legislature website.

To learn more, please contact Irene Jones, FMR's River Corridor Program Director at 651-222-2193 ext. 11 or via our contact form or view the resources linked below:

• Learn about the proposed bill and the history of the Mississippi River Critical Area on FMR's fact sheet page.
• Read more about the bill and the stakeholder process behind it in last month's Mississippi Messages.
• For information about the Minnesota Legislature including bill text and status, committee schedules and how to contact legislators, visit the Minnesota State House and Senate sites, as well as the pages for bills HF424 and SF671.