Newly adopted legislative agenda will drive GMPT’s advocacy for 2019

The GMPT adopted its 2019 legislative policies and agenda at its annual membership meeting on Oct. 17. These documents guide our organization’s work at the Legislature. The legislative policies are general statements of principle that guide our legislative goals and change little from year to year (no changes were made to the policies this year), while the legislative agenda reflects the specific issues GMPT plans to work on in the upcoming year.

All of the items in the 2019 agenda should be familiar to members:

• The first item reflects the ongoing discussions we have been engaged in with the Greater Minnesota Parks & Trails Commission now that the three-biennium agreement on how to divide the Legacy parks and trails funds has expired. The language reflects our desire for Greater Minnesota to continue to receive at least 20 percent of the available funds, as well as an interest in sharing all funds above current levels equally between Greater Minnesota, Metropolitan Parks and the Department of Natural Resources.
• In the second item, the GMPT supports paying for the operating costs of the Commission out of general funds rather than Legacy funds. This would free up additional money for parks and trails projects.
• The third and fourth items reflect our continuing work to provide more funding for local parks and trails grant programs, seeking money from both the Legislative-Citizens Commission on Natural Resources and the state’s general fund.

Over the next several weeks we will be working behind the scenes to develop our legislative strategy and next steps. We’ll be asking for your help to reach out to legislators to achieve our goals.

If you have any questions regarding our legislative activities, please contact our lobbyist Elizabeth Wefel at eawefel@flaherty-hood.com.