UPDATE: Great news! On Monday, May 15, Gov. Mark Dayton stood up for strong local control and vetoed House File 330, a bill that would have weakened local control. Like us, he knows that strong rural communities need strong local control. Governor Dayton is doing right by using his veto power to protect Minnesota from rollbacks and reckless budget cuts on this bill and the others he has vetoed. Read Governor Dayton’s veto letter here.

House File 330, the bill weakening local control, passed the Minnesota Legislature and is now on Governor Mark Dayton’s desk. He must decide whether to sign the bill by midnight, Monday, May 15. LSP has requested that Governor Dayton veto this bill and calls are needed today.

House File 330 weakens local control for cities by requiring in some cases a 2/3 super majority to enact an interim ordinance. Currently, an interim ordinance can always be enacted by a simple majority—that’s how democratic rights should work. The interim ordinance allows a city to quickly enact a moratorium when unanticipated development is proposed that is of concern to the community. This is an emergency power that allows the community time to study the issue, review its zoning ordinances, and, if needed, adopt new zoning controls. When the bill was on the Senate Floor on May 10, Sen. Matt Little offered an amendment to take out the 2/3 provision. The amendment narrowly failed on a 32-35 vote with all DFL Senators—with the exception of Sen. Melisa Franzen—voting for the amendment, and all Republican Senators voting against it.

The Governor used his veto power Friday on five budget bills because they contain policies that move Minnesota backwards by making it more difficult for state agencies to protect the public, and don’t provide enough investment in programs essential for a healthy state. This is especially true of a half-billion dollar cut in the Health and Human Services budget. LSP supports these vetoes by Governor Dayton and wants him to add House File 330 to the list. Links to Governor Dayton’s veto letters on the bills LSP is working on are below. They lay out how these bills would move Minnesota backwards.

• Governor Dayton’s veto letter for Omnibus Agriculture Finance Bill.
• Governor Dayton’s veto letter for Omnibus Environment and Natural Resources Finance Bill.
• Governor Dayton’s veto letter for Omnibus Health and Human Services Finance Bill.

Take Action! Call Governor Dayton now at 800-657-3717 and urge him to add House 330 to the veto list and keep local control strong.

Suggested message: “Governor Dayton, I am calling about House File 330, a bill that weakens local control. Minnesotans value local control. This bill goes against those values by requiring a 2/3 majority for a city to enact a moratorium on development. This is wrong and puts development interests above those of the community. I support your vetoes on Friday of budget bills that contained bad policy and didin’t make the investments we need to keep our communities strong. Please, use your veto power once again to keep local control strong and veto House File 330.”

You can also e-mail Governor Dayton here: https://mn.gov/governor/contact-us/form.

Keeping local control strong has always required LSP members speaking up and demanding our elected officials put community interests before corporate interests. Take action now and we can keep this bad bill from becoming law with a veto from Governor Dayton.