Local legislators appointed to committees
Published 1:00 pm Friday, December 31, 2010
By Amanda Lillie
amanda.lillie@austindailyherald.com
AUSTIN — State legislators received their committee assignments Monday for the looming legislative session, and Rep. Jeanne Poppe and Sen. Dan Sparks — both DFL-Austin — are optimistic about the tasks ahead.
“Overall I think these committees will be able to serve the district very well,” said Sparks, who was placed on Commerce and Consumer Protection; Energy, Utilities, Technology and Communications; and Agriculture and Rural Development.
Sparks said he is looking forward to serving on the agriculture committee, which he was on in 2003 and 2004 but hasn’t revisited since.
“I’m kind of excited to go back to the agriculture (committee) because we know that here in southern Minnesota agriculture is a huge part of who we are and what we are,” he said. “The rural development could be used for job development here in greater Minnesota.”
Poppe, who was placed on Agriculture and Rural Development, Higher Education and Redistricting, said she is happy with the assignments and thinks her role on the committees could benefit the Austin area.
“Certainly agriculture and rural development is critical to our area, especially in our district,” she said. “It’ll be important to serve on that committee so I can continue to serve our district.”
Higher education is also a point of interest for Poppe, who works at Riverland Community College, so her continuing involvement on that committee is important, she said.
Her main concern regarding higher education is to “make sure we don’t go down a road that we shouldn’t” when it comes to cutting spending and potentially increasing tuition costs.
Poppe said she was pleased to learn of her future role on the Redistricting Committee, as well.
“Redistricting will impact the legislative seats … and we’ll kind of see how we make a difference in representation of the state,” she said. “That is one I didn’t seek but was asked to serve on, so I’m proud of that.”
Sparks said he is confident that he and Poppe will continue to have influence in committees other than those on which they serve, despite no longer being in the majority.
“It’s a little bit different obviously now that we’re not in the majority any longer,” Sparks said.
Since both legislators have democratic colleagues on other committees, there should be some form of checks and balances between parties.
“(Colleagues on other committees will) make sure we monitor what happens there,” Sparks said. “Even though we don’t serve on them directly, that doesn’t mean we don’t have strong influence in those areas.”
The senator emphasized that the budget is the number one priority heading into the 2011 legislative session.
“We need to make sure all the people back home are engaged in this discussion because we know we have some difficult decisions to make,” he said. “Hopefully we can get this done.”