Minnesota state Sen.
Rob Kupec, DFL-Dist. 4,
Moorhead

Clay County Commission

Dan Haglund

A local state legislator presented a few updates and progress report for the Clay County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday in Moorhead.
State Sen. Rob Kupec, DFL-Dist. 4, Moorhead, briefed the body on childcare facility grants, a shotgun-only zone bill and future computer upgrades for counties. And he also touched on the issue of wolf hunting.
Kupec said last week, in the Health and Human Services bill, one of the added bills that he authored was for a childcare facility grant. This was a program that was available last year, and proved to be so popular that all the grant monies were depleted in the first year. The program was designed to help smaller childcare facilities, many of the in rural areas, with safety and facility upgrades. The grants averaged about $9,000 each.
“They opened up hundreds of spots of childcare,” Kupec said. He said they were used for kitchen remodels, backyard fences, and other projects.
“But this is not a budget year, we allocated just a small amount to keep that program going until the next budget year,” Kupec said. “In particular rural areas, it’s been a real plus there.”
Another bill that Kupec authored is the elimination of the shotgun-only zone for deer hunting in the state, which, Kupec said, is a bizarre line that runs down Highway 32 in the eastern part of the county, then cuts down to Barnesville, then along Interstate 94.
“So basically, if you live in Hitterdal you could use a rifle,” Kupec said. “and on the other side of the road you could only use a shotgun. It (the law) dates back to the 1940s, and it had to do with when we didn’t have enough deer.”
Kupec said Minnesota is one of the last states with such a law, as Wisconsin amended its shotgun-only law about 10 years ago. He said deer populations have remained static there after the law change, so it only made sense to try to implement the same type of changes here.
And lastly, Kupec said he had a bill directed for computer upgrades for counties for Health and Human Services. He said some of the computers at the state level had been in use since the 1990s received monies for upgrades, so very outdated. But that still left the state’s 87 counties needing upgrades.
Kupec said upgrades for counties’ computers are needed, but that since this isn’t a budget year, he and other legislators may have to go another course for funding.
As far as state bonding bills, Kupec reminded the board that bonding generally gets addressed at the end of sessions, and that nothing has been brought forth on that front as yet.
Commissioners Frank Gross, Dist. 2, inquired about the concern over wolves, and asked if Kupec had been apprised of any movement on that issue.
“There was an omnibus environmental policy bill that was up on the floor of the Senate,” Kupec said. “So there were a couple people who tried to amend the bill specifically to deal with wolves. So the way it is right now, the federal government says no wolf hunting in Minnesota..” Kupec said some legislator wanted to amend this law and open it up to wolf hunting, but there was opposition. He said the Minnesota lawmakers will just wait until there are changes at the federal level before changing state laws.
Commissioner Jenny Mongeau, Dist. 3, thanked Kupec for his legislative work on local concerns and projects, and reminded him of the continued wishes that additional broadband services are needed within the rural parts of the county.
“(Broadband) would be such an equity for accessibility issue,” Mongeau said. “For us to be so close to such a fast-growing metro … if that (broadband bill) were to go through, it would really cut down on the accessibility (issues).”