Dan Sparks, State Senator

You&8217;d never know from the snow outside, but it&8217;s mid-April, and the Minnesota legislature is winding down its committee work for the year. We were able to pass all major budget bills before the Easter holiday, and every policy bill will meet its fate by Saturday. After that, we will work on finding compromises with the House and send final bills to the Governor before the May 21 legislative deadline.

I had a small mountain of policy bills move through committee this week. Norm Hecimovich, an Austin resident and leader in the Veterans of Foreign Wars organization, joined me at the Capitol on Tuesday to present a veterans bill to the Senate Agriculture and Veterans Policy and Budget Division.

The bill is an important one, both for our state&8217;s veterans and our state&8217;s school children. It would require every school district and charter schools to grant a day off for Veterans Day each year. If schools chose not to take the day off, they would then be required to dedicate time on that day to teaching students about the importance of observing veterans.

Even though our country is in a war now, I think it&8217;s easy for students to forget the kind of sacrifices so many men and women have made for this country. Whether serving during war time or peace time, anyone who has volunteered to serve this country deserves our respect. Too often, people treat Veterans Day as a day off from work or school; if we are able to remind our students at a young age why we celebrate this day, we will be able to give them knowledge and respect they can pass onto their own children someday.

Another bill I presented this week deals with an entirely different subject &8212; ditches. A ditch buffer is a strip of grass or perennial vegetation that borders a ditch. When someone creates or improves a ditch, the ditch as well as the area around the ditch is disturbed. Right now, the disturbed area must be replaced with grass. This bill changes that to perennial vegetation because in some areas of the state, grass does not grow well. That has caused drainage problems in many areas of Minnesota.

The issues are affecting our farms, our lakes and streams, and our environment in general. That&8217;s why this bill had the support of many groups including environmental agencies, the Farm Bureau and Farmer&8217;s Union, watershed boards and county groups. It&8217;s a simple idea, but an important one that needs to be remedied.

Thursday was Transportation Day at the Capitol. The motivation for the rally and informational session was to gather support for needed transportation improvements in our state. You only need to drive the roads in our district to understand how badly transportation funding is needed. We haven&8217;t made new, substantial investments in roads and bridges since 1988, and it shows.

It&8217;s important to find solution to this massive problem. We still have to compromise with the House and the Governor. Hopefully rallies like the one held Thursday will remind folks how important it is to put aside our differences and come up with a smart, responsible plan for transportation before this legislative session is over.

Call or write with any questions or concerns: 651-296-9248; sen.dan.sparks@senate.mn; or 317 Capitol, St. Paul, MN 55155.

State Sen. Dan Sparks&8217; column appears every other Sunday during the legislative session.