Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk said Monday that the Legislature will have to come up with $6 million, and possibly more, for several state agencies that are battling the outbreak of avian flu at Minnesota turkey farms.
Last week, both the House and Senate approved almost $900,000 in emergency funds for the state Department of Agriculture and Board of Animal Health. But Bakk said the costs are adding up quickly, and that Minnesota Management and Budget had recalculated the total to $6 million by the end of last week.
That total could continue to rise depending on the course of the outbreak, he said.
Bakk said lawmakers would have to work on figuring out a way for Gov. Mark Dayton to be able to allocate additional funds if necessary once the session ends. He said he'd like to figure out a contingency fund arrangement of some sort so that a special legislative session over the issue could be avoided.
Dayton is convening a Monday afternoon meeting of the state Executive Council to extend a state emergency order. By the end of last week, almost 50 turkey farms in Minnesota had been affected by the outbreak, resulting in the loss of almost 3 million birds.
