I am glad to know that State Sen. Dan Sparks wants to see the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Citizens’ Board restored, but his voting record doesn’t indicate that he did anything to try and keep it from being abolished.

1.  In conference committee on the Agricultural and Environmental Bill, which he was on, Sen. Marty made a motion to take out the provision eliminating the Citizens’ Board.  Sen. Hoffman voted for it.  One more Senate vote was needed, but Sparks did not vote for it. If he had, that provision would have come out in conference committee during the regular session.

2.  Sparks then voted for the bill on the floor during the regular session with this bad provision included.

3. During the special session, the bill included the provision to eliminate the citizens’ board. Sparks voted for the bill even though 29 of his DFL colleagues didn’t. Even with his vote, the bill still failed to pass.

4. The Senate then took out the provision eliminating the citizens’ board and sent the bill to the House. The House reinserted that language and sent the bill back to the Senate. We needed the Senate to vote not to concur and send the bill to conference committee. However, Sparks voted to concur, leading to the bill passing with this bad provision included.

As a committee chairman and conference committee member, Sparks had a chance to keep this from passing. His voting record indicates that he fully supported this provision. I hope that Sparks plays an active role in seeing the MPCA Citizens’ Board restored.

 

Brad Trom

Blooming Prairie