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The more I learn and observe, the more I am convinced that issues come and go but human nature stays the same. This thought follows the MMUA Technical and Operations (T&O) Conference, held earlier this week in St. Cloud. While MMUA does its best to present a program that will be of...

The US House of Representatives just passed S. 808, the Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act. Passage came under the House suspension calendar, which needs a two-thirds vote from Members, so only those bills with broad support get on the calendar. Today's STB reform bill was no...

Had a chance this week to visit the Granite Falls Municipal Utilities. Driving home, I had a few thoughts. One was thankfulness for work that allows me to visit utilities like this and with the people who make them go. If you ever get a chance to visit a municipal power plant, especially a...

It occurred to me Nov. 23 as I was visiting Brent Brown, that this was the third Windom Municipal Utility manager that I had sat with in this particular office. The list starts with Dennis Purrington. Purrington was succeeded by Marv Grunig. Upon Grunig’s retirement, the Windom Commission...

I had the opportunity to attend the Blandin Foundation’s Border to Border Broadband Conference, held Nov. 18-20 in “the cities.” A number of statements at the conference struck me. Bernadine Joselyn, Blandin’s Director of Public Policy & Engagement, said that...

One of the great things about working for MMUA is the opportunity to get around the state a little bit and visit the different utilities and the people that operate them. One of the destinations Nov. 3 was Spring Valley Public Utilities.  The beauty of the day was exceeded only by the...

MMUA held a CIP Summit at its Plymouth offices Wednesday, Nov. 4. ‘CIP’ stands for Conservation Improvement Program and the acronym is pronounced ‘sip.’  The CIP statute has been around since 1980, and has been amended numerous times over the years. MMUA is...

Note from yesterday’s Washington Post : Google Fiber says it's in talks with Oklahoma City, Okla., and Jacksonville and Tampa, Fla., in what could lead to the next round of expansions for Fiber. Google Fiber is not in talks with local governments in Renville and Sibley...

It’s a feeling hard to put into words. I got it some 25 years ago, when I saw the trucks and linemen assembled at an MMUA Hotline School. Pride, but more than that—a palpable sense of something much stronger when joined together than when broken down into its individual parts....

Debate on the Ratepayer Protection Act is well underway. It won't last long--it's a "Structured" rule that allows only 7 amendments--and a vote is expected later this afternoon. (Editor's note: the bill passed late in the afternoon 247-180.) Recall, this bill is high...

Net Metering Reform Passes Special Session On Friday, June 12, Governor Dayton called the Legislature back to St. Paul for a Special Session to pass state agency financing bills that he had vetoed following the Regular Session. Early in the day, the jobs/energy bill passed both the House...

Tentative Agreement Reached on Special Session On Wednesday, Governor Dayton and legislative leaders announced that they had reached a “tentative” budget agreement to call a special session.  Several budget bills passed by the Legislature in the 2015 Session were vetoed by...

Our national affiliate, the American Public Power Association, is coming to Minneapolis for its National Conference in a few days.  This is the first time that APPA has come to Minneapolis for the National Conference in its seventy-five year history, so we’re very pleased to welcome...

Governor Vetoes Energy and Environment Bills On Saturday, after a great deal of pressure from environmental advocacy groups, Governor Dayton vetoed two additional budget bills—the jobs/energy and agriculture/environment bills.  These were the two bills that contained most of the...

A Rush to the Finish The previous issue of The Capitol Letter noted that the Governor and legislative leaders were still negotiating an overall budget deal.  Those negotiations continued until last Friday night (May 15), when House Speaker Daudt and Senate Majority Leader Bakk...

Still Waiting… At the time of publishing, a global agreement on budget targets has not yet been reached between the Governor, Senate Majority Leader, and Speaker of the House.  These three leaders have been holding private negotiations at the Governor’s mansion all...

Senate Assembles and Passes New Energy Policy Omnibus On Thursday, Sen. John Marty (chair of the Environment and Energy Committee) crafted a second energy policy omnibus on the Senate floor ( SF 1735 ).  He noted that many of the provisions contained in his first policy...

Senate Tax Omnibus Includes Utility Property Tax Reform This week, the Senate Tax Committee unveiled its tax omnibus bill ( SF 826 ).  The Senate bill provides about $460 million in tax relief, mostly through reducing the state’s general tax levy (but slightly increasing the...

After Long Debate, House Job Growth and Energy Omnibus Passes House The House took up the Job Growth and Energy Affordability budget and policy omnibus bill ( HF 843 ) on Wednesday.  As detailed in previous versions of The Capitol Letter, this bill contains the budgets of many state...

Springtime in Washington: Congress is busy, go figure. Yesterday the House finally passed their version of the long-awaited energy efficiency bill, the same one that started two Congresses ago. The bill of record is S 535, this year's Senate version of Portman-Shaheen, which has been...

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