Legislators in Minnesota are considering the creation of a new non-regulatory advisory board to handle coordination between the state’s infrastructure agencies, officials said Wednesday.
The Minnesota Advisory Council on Infrastructure would work with stakeholders to identify and promote best practices to preserve the state’s public and privately owned infrastructure, officials said. The council would provide for proper management, coordination and investment, legislators said.
“The goal of this is to educate and have the best practices out there so when we do award a bonding project, we know that these (small) communities know what they’re doing when it comes to our assets, and that they are going to be the very best stewards of the project and the money that we award them,” MN state Rep. Erin Koegel (D-Spring Lake Park) said.
Koegel, the chair of the House Sustainable Infrastructure Policy Committee, said she plans to sponsor a bill that would create the council after it was recommended as part of a report from the Infrastructure Resiliency Advisory Task Force. She said she hopes the committee can finalize details about the bill’s language over the next three committee meetings.
The legislation would create a 26-member board – 11 voting members and 15 non-voting members – that would be in charge of identifying approaches to enhancing and expediting infrastructure coordination across jurisdictions, agencies, state and local governments; identifying objectives and strategies to enhance infrastructure longevity; and developing recommendations on a plan for a statewide asset managers program that focuses on best practices for infrastructure management and training for infrastructure owners and asset managers.
Rep. Spencer Igo (R-Wabana Township) said he was concerned about creating a new agency that would allow unelected officials to create policy.
“It sounds like the accountability of this new state agency would be to us, the Legislature,” Igo said. “But it also sounds like it totally opens the door for the executive branch to create rules out of what this committee would put forth. So my concern … would be we are giving up our legislative authority to unelected bureaucrats.”
Rep. Isaac Schultz (R-Elmdale Township) said creating a new agency would also create new state employees, an added burden on the state’s tax payers.