MN Senator: White Earth Reservation land bill does not have votes or time needed to pass

(St. Paul, MN) -- A Minnesota State Senator says he and a colleague would not support a proposed bill that would transfer 155 thousand acres of state forest land to the White Earth Nation. 

Senator Rob Kupec (04A-DFL) spoke in an interview with The Flag's Scott Hennen, saying he and Senator Grant Hauschild (03-DFL) would not support the measure. With the one vote margin the state's Democratic NPL party has in the Senate, it would require both of the Senators to support the legislation in order to progress through to the state house. 

"Myself and Senator Hauschild who's up in the Arrowhead, we both signaled to our leadership that we don't want this going forward. So far, our leadership last year and this year has done a pretty good job counting votes and they don't want to bring something up that would go down in defeat, so I think they understand," said Sen. Kupec, who cited property access, tax concerns, and timber industry problems in the bill that were not addressed. 

The comments were made as several landowners, recreationalists, and others expressed concerns regarding the transfer of land to the tribal White Earth Nation. Many in opposition believe that although the current leadership at the White Earth Reservation would not change land access, they were not quick to trust a future leadership team that could potentially remove those land use privileges. Senator Kupec spoke to many who disliked the current version of the bill in a Detroit Lake meeting late last week. 

Sen. Kupec also spoke on the bill being tabled, which has a wide variety of possible meanings; between the bill is effectively dead, considerations are being made before bringing it forward again, or scheduling it for a future meeting. The Senator said tabling a bill at this point in time makes it far less likely to progress through the needed committees and meetings in time for legislative deadlines. He expects the bill will not be able to "cross the finishline" in time. 

You can read our current and previous reporting on the bill by clicking here.