The 2024 Legislative Session felt like a whack-a-mole game. Using the hammer to push back on the partisanship and gridlock, while working to drive up the score for Lake County. With the session wrapped up, I can proudly say our score reached records for the Northshore.
Last year, I visited several communities across Northern Minnesota to listen to constituents as part of my ‘Northland Strong’ initiative. After hearing from residents and stakeholders, I developed a Northland Strong legislative agenda that included addressing the EMS rural ambulance crisis, supporting outdoor recreation opportunities, providing historic property tax relief, creating a framework for helium exploration, investing in innovative educational programs, and so much more. I’m proud to say that all these initiatives were delivered during this session.
I was excited, as I’m sure you were, to learn that Lake County is home to the highest concentrated helium deposit in the world. Most know Helium from its past use in party balloons, but the gas has far more critical uses in modern technologies like MRI’s, fiber optics, computer chips, and even space exploration. That is why I led a bipartisan effort alongside Representative Roger Skraba (R-Ely) to create a framework and royalty structure so that our local communities and schools in Lake County benefit from this rich resource because we should benefit most from our own resources. I’m grateful to Lake County Commissioners Rich Sve and Rick Goutermont for their steadfast advocacy and committee testimony on this critical issue for Lake County.
Last year, I promised to address the rural ambulance crisis we face in Northern Minnesota because your zip code should never determine whether an ambulance can reach you or a loved one in time. After visiting with the Lake County Ambulance Service and others across Northern Minnesota, I quickly realized that Northern Minnesota is at the epicenter of these challenges. That is why I called for the creation of the EMS Statewide Taskforce, which brought us to communities across Greater Minnesota to hear about people’s concerns. After, we worked in a bipartisan fashion to draft an EMS legislative package to provide short-term aid for our rural communities and the mid-to-long term reforms needed to sustain the services. The EMS Legislation chiefly authored alongside a bipartisan group of legislators received unanimous support and is an example of how government should work.
Early on in the Legislative Session, Lake County Commissioner Rick Goutermont came to me with an idea for creating an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) training program in partnership between the Lake Superior School District and Lake County Ambulance Service. I thought it was a great idea to help us look upstream at the workforce challenges we face for our rural ambulance services. I continue to be impressed by the innovative approach local leaders are taking in Lake County and I was proud to help support this initiative. As such, we secured two funding sources for this program from the Jobs and Economic Development Committee and the Tax Committee bills, which will support this initiative for several years.
Taconite mining proceeds have often gone towards big industrial project incentives, large recreational facilities like Giants Ridge, and other large-scale initiatives through the IRRRB agency. However, this session, my goal was to focus our taconite taxes back on the people and communities where mining happens, like Northshore Mining in Lake County. After this year’s tax bill, every resident of Lake County will receive a 65% increase in their Taconite Homestead Credit, decreasing their property taxes by $200/year forever. In addition, we invested back into critical community infrastructure projects. These include $6 million for Silver Bay’s road infrastructure, $250,000 for Two Harbors Odegard Park Band Stand, $100,000 for the Clair Nelson Community Center in Crystal Bay Township, and $200,000 for the Leif Erikson restoration project in Knife River. This comes after securing $11 million for the reconstruction of Highway 61 through Two Harbors and $8 million for Lake Superior School District renovations last year.
No matter how partisan the legislature gets, my promise to the Northland is that I will always be a Senator focused on ‘just delivering’ for our region. It is an honor to represent Lake County in the State Senate. If you ever want to get in touch with me, please reach out at sen.grant.hauschild@senate.mn.
