Sen. Dick Cohen forms new finance committee with Sen. John Marty as chairman

Sen. Dick Cohen, DFL-St. Paul, announced in a Monday news release that he is breaking up a committee that previously oversaw money for agriculture, economic development, natural resources, the environment and energy. That committee with wide ranging influence will be broken into two.

A new committee will be chaired by Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville. It will be be called the Environment and Energy Budget Division, with jurisdiction over financial accounts for: Pollution Control Agency; Environmental Quality Board; Board of Water and Soil Resources; Public Utilities Commission; and, three Department of Commerce accounts including Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Board, Energy Resources, and Petrofund.

Sen. David Tomassoni, DFL-Chisholm, will continue to chair what remains of his committee, now called the Natural Resources, Economic Development, and Agricultural Budget Division and have jurisdiction over Department of Natural Resources accounts, economic development and agriculture.

Tomassoni, an Iron Range lawmaker like Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, was criticized sharply last year, especially by fellow DFLers from the metro area, over a number of provisions in environment legislation that were viewed as favorable to business interests at the expense of environmental concerns.