House committee adopts supplemental calendar after debate over amendment to LCCMR funding bill

The Committee on Rules and Legislative Administration voted to adopt a supplemental calendar for Thursday, March 13, 2025, after a roll-call vote late in the committee meeting. The motion to place five bills on the calendar passed 8-6, with the committee chair and a majority of members voting aye.

The move puts five bills on the floor calendar for the day, including House File 550 (Torkelson), House File 1218 (Heintzeman), House File 1247 (Nadeau), House File 2131 (Rarick) and House File 2133 (Davids). The most extended debate in the committee was over House File 1218, which carries Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) recommendations and an amendment affecting a DNR-administered community grants program.

Representative Hollins spoke against the amendment to HF1218, saying it “has been amended to include projects that didn't go through that process” and arguing the change bypassed the bipartisan LCCMR review. Hollins also said money set aside for a community grants program was “raided” to fund projects added by amendment, and warned those projects were “hand picked” rather than vetted by the commission.

Representative Purcell and other members said the amended language represented a significant change that should have been considered in the Environment Committee. Purcell, identifying herself as the upcoming co-vice chair of the Environment Committee, said the process “isn't a great look” and expressed concern for small, rural nonprofits that rely on the community grants program to compete with larger institutions.

Representative Heintzeman, the author of HF1218, defended the amendment and said the LCCMR recommendations “are entirely intact” in the underlying bill. Heintzeman said the amendment responds to a community grants program that was created in the last biennium and transferred to the Department of Natural Resources without the same procedural protections that LCCMR provides. “We have $58,000,000 over this next biennium … 1.5 percent of the trust, $28,000,000 per year,” Heintzeman said, and described the amendment as creating four buckets of funding “40 percent, 40 percent, 15 percent, and 5%.”

Members pressed whether the amendment changed the percentage available for the community grants program; Representative Cahill said the amendment reduced the amount available and characterized that as a change to the LCCMR recommendations. Representative Hollins also said the amendment appeared to delete an advisory council that had been intended to advise DNR on spending decisions.

Several members asked for the bill to return to the Environment Committee for review. Representative Jordan, who serves on that committee, said the changes were not discussed there and asked whether HF1218 would be returned to the Environment Committee; the chair indicated that would require a floor motion and that the current motion before the committee was only to place the bill on the supplemental calendar.

After debate, Leader Long requested a roll-call vote on the motion to adopt the supplemental calendar. The clerk took the roll; the vote count was 8 ayes and 6 nays and the motion prevailed. The committee also approved the minutes from the March 10, 2025 meeting by voice vote before taking up the supplemental calendar motion.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to adopt minutes for the March 10, 2025 meeting — adopted by voice vote (no roll-call recorded).

- Motion to adopt the supplemental calendar for Thursday, March 13, 2025, pursuant to rule 1.21 — adopted, 8 ayes, 6 nays. The supplemental calendar lists House Files 550, 1218, 1247, 2131 and 2133 for the floor on March 13, 2025.

Next steps and context

Placing HF1218 on the calendar allows the full House to consider the underlying LCCMR recommendations and the amendment allocating funds through the DNR program. Members opposing the amendment said they would seek further committee review or floor motions to refer the measure back to the Environment Committee. Representative Heintzeman said the LCCMR’s original project recommendations remain in the bill and that the amendment creates a funding structure he believes adds transparency to distribution by defining funding “buckets.”