CCP 08-09-1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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e e e 1 Response: The Legislature should establish and fund reforestation for cities in 2 federally declared disaster areas that have lost trees due to the 1998 storms. The 3 reforestation program should be modeled after the program set forth in Minnesota 4 Statutes, Chapter 18.023 for Dutch elm disease and oak wilt. The program should 5 provide for direct grants to cities, and not establish a reimbursement program. H 6 necessary, the program should allow for in-kind contributions to count if the state 7 requires a matching program. 8 9 SD-19. Board of Firefighter Training (ew) 10 [maintain current policy] II 12 Issue: The quality,ay;ulability, and affordability of firefighter training varies greatly 13 across the state. After several years of discussion, the fire service has endorsed a }4- proposal to create a state board -of firefighter training to ensure the quality of training and 15 oversee state reimbursement of a portion of training costs. The board would not be given 16 authority to mandate specific training requirements or to certify firefighters. 17 18 Response: The League supports the fire service proposal as long as local 19 governments are fairly represented on the board; the powers and duties of the 20 board are not expanded in a way that would undermine local management 21 authority; and the appropriation comes from the state general fund. 22 23 SD-20. Witness Fees (as) 24 [maintain current policy] 25 26 Issue: Court administrators are proposing that the Legislature shift the costs 27 attributable to calling witnesses from counties to cities. The rationale behind this 28 proposal is that city prosecutors have no incentive to limit the witnesses called only to 29 those that will actually testify. Most counties currently receive one-third of the fines 30 collected at the city level. 31 32 Response: Cities oppose the shifting of costs attributable to calling witnesses 33 from counties to cities. City prosecutors responsibly call only those witnesses they 34 expect to testify. Under certain circumstances, witnesses may' not ultimately provide 35 testimony for a variety of reasons. The fine revenue counties receive adequately 36 funds the costs attributable to calling witnesses. 37 38 SD-21. State Appropriation for Government Training Service (GTS) 39 [ eliminate policy] 40 Issue: In 1977, the Government Training Service was created in order to provide a 41 coordinated response to the training needs of state and local governments. GTS was 42 charged with coordinating the needs of the state, cities, counties, townships, and school 43 districts, with the delivery capability ofthe state's institutions of higher learning and 44 other continuing education service providers. 45 10