Special Session Disaster Relief Package for Duluth Area Passes, Shakopee Rep. Plays Leadership Role

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Lawmakers ended a one-day special session Friday by overwhelmingly approving a $167.5 million disaster relief package for and storm damage in June and July. 

Passed 125-3 by the House and 60-7 by the Senate, Rep. Mike Beard (R-Shakopee) voted in favor of the Special Session disaster relief package, HF1*/ SF1, which provides the 25 percent state match to federal Disaster Recovery funds. 

As Chair of the House Transportation Committee, Beard served on the governor’s disaster relief task force, giving advice and counsel on the bill’s transportation provisions, which amounted to nearly half of the final bill.

“Government has a core function of providing basic infrastructure to its citizens. Unfortunately sometimes bad things happen to good people, and when that happens it becomes necessary to come together in a bipartisan fashion to fix the roads and bridges and other structures that are damaged. That is exactly what this disaster relief package aimed to do, and I believe, will accomplish,” said twice this summer.

Rep. Mark Buesgens (R-Savage), however, expressed concern that the bill was being passed in an expedited manner. He said lawmakers were abdicating their responsibility by allowing Dayton and the legislative leaders to negotiate the bill’s provisions in private, and by not discussing them in the appropriate House committees. His motion to adjourn the session so that legislators could work on the bill over the weekend failed on a voice vote.

The bill now awaits action by Gov. Mark Dayton, who is expected to sign it. Earlier this week, Dayton and the leaders of all four legislative caucuses signed an agreement limiting the special session to one legislative day and to disaster relief only.

The bill will also provide individual relief for homeowners and businesses that were denied federal assistance. (See the spreadsheet.)

Funding will come from the state’s budget reserve and surplus funds left over from the last budget year. A number of transportation-related funds will also be tapped, and some of the spending will be reimbursed by the federal government.

*Some information from this story came from the Minnesota House of Representatives Public Information Services.