News

Minnesota House Ag Committee chair says session is off to a good start

The chair of the Minnesota House Agriculture Committee tells Brownfield the legislative session is off to a good start.

Democrat Samantha Vang is beginning her second year at the helm.

“So far it’s been pretty great. Second week of committee hearings now, getting updates from the agencies about the programs that we invested (in) last year. And we had many ag groups (that) came to the capitol, they had their day on the hill.”

She tells Brownfield those organizations don’t have a lot of new money requests.

“This year is more of a policy year, and so I think a lot of the priorities are also within the other committee jurisdictions, such as the Environment (committee). So this year, at least for the Agriculture Committee, it’s going to be a pretty quiet session hopefully for us this year.”

Vang says EPA’s request to develop a comprehensive plan to reduce nitrate contamination in drinking water in eight southeast Minnesota counties will be a big topic for the House Ag Committee during the session.