The Cook County News-Herald spoke with Minnesota House District 3A Representative Rob Ecklund on May 27, a few days after the end of the legislative session. Asked if he was disappointed by the session, Ecklund said it was chaotic as the session came to a close, but added that he was pleased to see some Northland projects approved.
Ecklund said the trouble with the 600-page supplemental tax bill that did pass was that legislators didn’t get to see it until a few hours before they were supposed to vote on it. Unfortunately that led to errors in the bill and the legislature needs to meet to correct language on several matters.
Ecklund said he is very disappointed that bipartisan negotiations on the transportation plan broke down, basically over a language change. He said the Senate tried to add an amendment regarding the Southwest Light Rail, which would have allowed the Hennepin Rail Authority to leverage federal funds. It didn’t call for additional state funding, but that change became an obstacle.
Ecklund supports a special session, noting, “If the governor calls a special session we should get things done in a day. I agree with Governor Dayton that we should come together, fix the tax bill so we can help hard working Minnesotans, pass a bonding bill that includes vital improvement projects across the state, and fix our long term transportation needs.”
“The unfortunate part is the expense,” he said.
And although some important Northland projects—like the Gitchi Gami Bicycle Trail through Tofte—are hung up in the transportation bill, there were some successes.
Ecklund noted that he was able to obtain funding for Wolf Ridge Env i ronme nt a l Center and there is $450,000 for the Lutsen Water District in the supplemental budget bill.
Also important to Cook County was a language change that will allow the Tofte township to proceed with its housing project. “A lot of the successes were things that Senator Tom Bakk and Representative David Dill were working on last year,” stressed Ecklund.
A personally meaningful bill that passed both the House and Senate was the naming of the David Dill Memorial Trail, a multi-use trail running from Koochiching County to Cook County.
Although his first session at the Capitol was a bit frustrating, Ecklund said he enjoyed it. “I worked a lot of long, hard hours. I got a reputation of being the first on the floor—me and Mary Murphy.” Murphy is the House District 3B Representative from Duluth.
When he was running for the House seat, Ecklund pledged to work across the aisle. The News- Herald asked if that was possible with the current make-up of the legislature. Ecklund said yes. “I have an old friend, Dave Baker of International Falls, who is a Republican. I worked with Denny McNamara of Hastings on the funding for Wolf Ridge. There are some Republicans I can work with. We have to work together,” he said.
He recalled working as Koochiching County commissioner with both late DFL Representative David Dill and Republican Tom Hackbarth on social or union issues. “We can all work together on things that are important to our districts,” said Ecklund.
He gave kudos to the Cook County Chamber and its legislative specialist Judy Erickson of Conservation Strategies Inc.
Ecklund is back at home in International Falls, back at work at Boise Paper. The next legislative session—after a special session, if it is called—will be in January 2017. “I’m already working on some school stuff,” said Ecklund, “some legislative changes for schools that are struggling.”
He also hopes to work with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to address the concern about the invasive pest the emerald ash borer. He will continue to work to fund the necessary work on the Prospector Trail Loop for ATVs
Ecklund added that if he were a constituent, he would be disappointed in what happened—or didn’t happen—during the session. “But we have some rule changes that may prevent this,” he said.
He had voted for a legislative reform that would have ensured bills are available to the public for at least 24 hour before a final vote. The legislation did not pass, but Ecklund said, “It makes sense to get a bill to review 24 hours prior to voting. If this had been in place this year, we would have avoided the errors in the transportation bill.”
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