Addendum: Minnesotans Will Vote on MN Constitutional Amendment This Election

As the election ap­proaches, which will include a ballot item concerning the Min­nesota Constitutional Amendment written about in detail in the October 4th edition of the North Shore Jour­nal, some discussion has surfaced concern­ing recent changes made to this amend­ment.

Upon visiting https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2023/0/Session+Law/Chapter/67/on the Minnesota Legislature’s website, changes are shown to the amendment, making it more than just a “yes, renew the lottery amendment for 25 years” or “no, don’t renew”. Proposed new wording in the Minnesota Session Laws – 2023, Regular Session CHAPTER 67–H.F. [House File] No. 1900 adds over 1,400 more words to the current amendment and deletes and/or changes approximately 32 words.

Now, in the pro­posed amendment, there is more in­formation to read through under items including “Effective Dates”, “Definitions”, “Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund Commu­nity Grant Program”, “Environment And Natural Resources Trust Fund Commu­nity Grant Advisory Council; Reporting”, and “Council Orga­nization; Report”; each of these with their own subdivi­sions. For example, under “Constitution­al Amendment Pro­posed”, it states that “assets of the fund shall not be used to pay for any costs re­lated to the construc­tion, repair, improve­ment, or operation of any facility or system that processes waste­water”. There are also various parts of the amendment taking ef­fect at different times, as well as some per­centage changes per­taining to loans and market values. The “Environment And Natural Resources Trust Fund Commu­nity Grant Advisory Council; Reporting” section goes into de­tail about who may be on the Grand Adviso­ry Council, along with their terms and duties.

Thank you to those who have brought these changes and up­dates to my attention.