by Rep. David Dill and Rep. Tom Anzelc
MN House of Representatives
 
Rep. Anzelc and I have received numerous letters, emails and phone calls regarding Governor Pawlenty’s unallotment of funding for landowners enrolled in the Sustainable Forest Incentive Act (SFIA) program.  The unallotments affect the largest landowners, primarily industrial landowners, receiving $100,000 or more from the program.  Forest Capital, Blandin Paper, Potlatch, US Steel, and The Nature Conservancy will all have their payments capped at $100,000.  The unallotments do not change smaller landowners’ payments.
SFIA was designed to ensure the sustainable management of enrolled Minnesota privately owned forest lands and has been well received by small and large landowners alike.  In fact these past few years there has been so much land enrolled, mainly smaller tracts that the original estimated size and cost of the program has been far exceeded.
Most of the communications we have received regarding SFIA have included statements that contain misinformation.  The most troubling point made by many is that the land affected by the unallotments is public land.  The land affected by the cuts is private land, owned by large corporations.  As such they are free to manage the lands subject to agreements with others as they see fit.  Only if they enroll more than 1,920 acres must it be made open to public non-motorized access.  To date the industrial landowners have been very receptive to leasing land, allowing hunting, snowmobile trails and in general open access to the public.  But those who have had use of the land should not lose sight of the fact the land is privately owned and the ownership and management of such may change over time, especially in light of the unallotments.
In recent years, mounting pressure on state financial resources, mainly the state general fund has wrecked havoc with many popular and needed programs.  Education and healthcare get most of the attention, but valuable programs like SFIA have been under scrutiny.  Many times financial cuts have been proposed by Governor Pawlenty.  Rep. Anzelc and I have fought for full funding for SFIA each time.  In the House of Representatives the Chair of the Environment Finance Committee, Rep. Wagenius, is from downtown Minneapolis, far from the vast majority of the land enrolled in SFIA.  Forested areas and forest users have been fortunate that our pleas have been heard by her and she has agreed to work with us to pass bills in the House (Senator Saxhaug and Bakk have done the same in the Senate with Chair Ellen Anderson) that included full funding for the SFIA program.
The Governor operates as a part of the Executive Branch of state government and has duties prescribed in the Constitution.  One of them is the ability to line-item veto appropriations and expenditures passed by the Legislature.  An override of a Governor’s veto may be accomplished with a 2/3 vote of the House and Senate.  In the absence of the ability of the Legislature to override a veto, legislation that forces the Governor to authorize an appropriation/expenditure is not possible.
Another option available to the Governor in years that the budget is not balanced because of ongoing deficits is the power of unallotment.  Unallotment is something that is totally outside of the control of the Legislature.  Governor Pawlenty, over the objection of Northern legislators and in the face of the will of the Legislature unallotted (not line-item vetoed) the funding for the large landowners in the SFIA program as a part of an executive decision he made to balance the budget.  
As 2010 approaches we have no doubt that the importance of the SFIA program will again be debated.  We will again fight for the program and restoration of the unallotted funding. Don’t forget that we use these lands as well, just like our friends and neighbors.  But please don’t lose sight of the fact that regardless of how much we disagree with the Governor on the unallotments, he and only he can veto or unallot funding regardless of how important and near and dear it may be to many.