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Politicians plan focus on rural Minnesota in 2015

Driving between the elms
Loretta Jaus drives a tractor down an avenue of elm trees on the Jaus farm in rural Gibbon, Minn. The avenue of trees has existed since Marty and Loretta can remember.
Jackson Forderer / For MPR News

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Minnesota's politicians on both sides of the aisle are shining a spotlight on rural issues heading into the 2015 sessions.

Newly re-elected Democratic Sen. Al Franken, co-chair of the Senate Rural Health Caucus, starts a "Rural Health Tour" in the state in January. The Minnesota House has re-tooled several committees to give them a more rural focus and created two new committees to address agriculture, mining and outdoor recreation in outstate.

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One of the new House committees is called the Greater Minnesota Economic and Workforce Development Policy. It's a name that suggests an exclusively non-metro agenda. State Rep. Bob Gunther, the committee chairman, insists that he wants to help the entire state. But he said rural areas need some extra attention.

"We want to have some way to catch up. For 120 years, Greater Minnesota supported, financially and otherwise, the metro area," said Gunther, R-Fairmont. "I think it's time we try to help ourselves a little bit more."

The latest numbers from the nonpartisan Minnesota House Research Department show the seven-county metro area pays 64 percent of the state's taxes and gets back 53 percent of the major tax aids, credits and refunds. By comparison, the 80 non-metro counties pay 36 percent and get back 47 percent.

On The Daily Circuit, we discuss these efforts. Are these the issues that people living in rural communities are focused on? Is there disconnect between needs and policy?