Minnesota Organizations Supporting the House Omnibus Bonding Bill

April 7, 2014

Dear Members of the Minnesota House of Representatives:

We, the undersigned organizations, call upon you to support the House Omnibus Capital Investment bill, HF 2490, (“omnibus bonding bill”). Combined, our organizations represent a broad cross-section of Minnesotans who want strong state investments in our Great Outdoors – clean water, public lands, and healthy native habitats complete with sustainable populations of native fish and wildlife, including pollinators like the Monarch butterfly. Our members know that successful bonding is a critical way we as a state invest in, protect, and improve the natural environment on which we all depend.

We gauge success in a bonding bill by whether capital investments for Minnesota’s Great Outdoors are maintained at a level at least equal to the 10-year average of 22% of the total general obligation bonding proposed or authorized. By that measure, the 2014 omnibus bonding bill, as it passed out of the House Capital Investments Committee, is a very strong bill for Minnesota.

Specifically, to name just a few, we note these particularly important pieces of the bill:

Reinvest In Minnesota (RIM) Critical Habitat Match ($3,000,000) helps private citizens and organizations acquire and enhance critical fish and wildlife habitat by matching their donations of land or cash;
RIM Reserve ($20,000,000) combines with the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) administered by the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, to restore wetlands and grasslands through permanent conservation easements on private lands, which provides habitat for important game species and other wildlife, and improves water quality downstream by holding erodible soils in place;
Aquatic Invasive Species and Bee Research Facilities ($12,000,000) will design, renovate, construct, and equip bee and aquatic invasive species (AIS) research facilities; and
Public Facilities Authority State Match for Federal Grants ($12,000,000) will allow the state access estimated federal EPA matching funds for FY 2015-16 at the state-to-federal ratio of 1:5 for the Clean Water Revolving Fund and the Drinking Water Revolving Fund, unlocking ~$60,000,000 in federal dollars to provide low interest loans to local governments for clean water and drinking water infrastructure projects.

Thank you, and please work to ensure that Minnesota upholds its tradition of making strong capital investments in our Great Outdoors, by supporting the House omnibus bonding bill.

Alliance for Sustainability

Audubon Minnesota

Conservation Minnesota

Ducks Unlimited, Inc.

Fish & Wildlife Legislative Alliance

Freshwater Society

Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness

Friends of the Mississippi River

Land Stewardship Project

League of Women Voters of Minnesota

Leech Lake Area Watershed Foundation

Lower Phalen Creek Association

Mankato Area Environmentalists

Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts

Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy

Minnesota Conservation Federation

Minnesota Environmental Partnership

Minnesota Forestry Association

Minnesota Lakes and Rivers Advocates

Minnesota Land Trust

Minnesota Ornithologists' Union

Minnesota Valley Trust, Inc.

Minnesota Waterfowl Association

Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness

Parks & Trails Council of Minnesota

Pheasants Forever

Renville County Soil & Water Conservation District

Save Lake Superior Association

Sportsmen for Change

St. Croix River Association

The Nature Conservancy

Trust for Public Land