Terry testifies with the Minnesota Valley Regional Rail Authority’s

Gene Short and Bruce Pinske

in support of Minnesota state bond support

for improving the Minnesota Prairie Line

Terry and Senator Kathy Sheran at a 

Farm Bureau Breakfast hosted by 

Mary and George Peichel

State Representative Terry Morrow introduced legislation on Thursday to streamline the state process for providing local natural disaster assistance. Working with local emergency management experts and with Hank Sadler, recently retired Nicollet County emergency management director, Representative Morrow crafted a bill that will bring rapid, responsive relief to hard-hit communities.

From Le Sueur County to Browns Valley to Hugo to Rogers and more, Minnesota’s local communities have had to wait for legislative action before receiving state assistance after a natural disaster.

Because Minnesota law currently requires legislative action before assistance can be provided, victims and communities are left waiting until the next legislative session, or a special session, to complete clean-up and recover after a tornado or flood or other natural disaster. When power is lost, when water is polluted, it’s bad policy and it’s wrong to make people wait.

Representative Morrow’s bill addresses local natural disasters that fall below the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) threshold, which does not begin until damage reaches a $5 million threshold.

Even in a budget crisis, the sad reality is that tornadoes and floods will strike and the state will be called upon to help,” Morrow said. “Rather than pay the expenses of a legislative special session and continue treating disaster relief as a political decision, Minnesotans are better and more quickly served by letting state and local disaster relief experts lead the way.