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Rep. Nash advances bill to give AMPERS funding after network reports $3.5 million federal cut
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Summary
Representative Nash moved House File 45 91 to the general register to provide a targeted funding allocation to AMPERS, the statewide association of community public radio stations; AMPERS told the committee it lost $3.5 million in federal funding and asked for money to hire one FTE, pay for software and ease grant FTE thresholds.
Representative Nash moved House File 45 91 to the general register on behalf of AMPERS, the Association of Minnesota Public Educational Radio Stations, which the sponsor said needs targeted funding to reduce fiscal strain.
Joel Glaser, president and CEO of AMPERS, told the committee that the network represents 17 community radio stations across Minnesota and that “collectively, we lost $3,500,000 in federal funding.” He said those cuts have hit some stations particularly hard, in some cases equaling “as much as 50% of their operating budget.”
Glaser described a consolidation plan that would use the bill’s funding to hire one full-time equivalent employee to centralize work now split across many stations, to pay for software, and to reduce the grant-eligibility threshold from 2 FTE to 1.5 FTE so more stations remain eligible for grants. “So we are looking at hiring 1 FTE to do the work that many of the stations have between 0.1 and 0.2 FTE doing that work,” he said.
Representative Lilly and Representative Gomez both voiced support for the measure. Lilly thanked Representative Nash for bringing the bill and praised AMPERS stations as “incredible” community institutions. Gomez noted stations that serve her district, naming KFAI, KMOJ and KBEM as local examples.
The committee encountered a brief procedural mix-up when the chair inadvertently read the wrong file number during a roll call check; staff members corrected the pages and the chair repeated the motion. The committee then voted by voice to refer House File 45 91 to the general register. The chair said the bill was "on its way."
No statutory citations, appropriation account numbers beyond the line-item figure referenced in the bill text, or roll-call vote tallies were provided in the transcript.
