This week, the &8220;Your Comments&8221; section of this newspaper has seen a letter campaign in favor of two bills &8212; one in the Minnesota House and one in the Senate &8212; to benefit water and wildlife in Minnesota through a new tax revenue. The proposal ultimately would go before the voters as a constitutional amendment.

The Tribune wants to add its voice to the letter writers. We, too, support the bills. After nine years of campaigning and patiently waiting for St. Paul to act, the people of Minnesota deserve a chance to vote on this. And this year it seems the capital leadership is taking action.

Good for them.

Minnesotans want clean lakes. They want habitat for wildlife. They want the future generations to know the treasured landscapes they experienced as children.

Senate File 6 calls for a sales tax of three-eighths of 1 percent. Forty-three percent of the revenue would go to water and parks, 37 percent to habitat and 24 percent to arts and access to arts education.

House File 2285 also calls for a sales tax of three-eighths of 1 percent. This bill says at least 25 percent would go to water, at least 25 percent to habitat, at least 15 percent to parks and trails, at least 15 percent to sustainable drinking water, at least 10 percent to arts and culture, and it leaves 10 percent undefined.

We feel more should go to water and habitat and less to arts and parks, but after nine years of legislative bickering preventing action, conservationists aren&8217;t complaining and neither should we.

Legislators in St. Paul should pass these bills with alacrity, find a good compromise in conference committee, let the governor sign it and get an amendment on the ballot for voters decide.

The environment of Minnesota isn&8217;t waiting.