One Minnesota: Putting Words to Action Through a Small Town and Regional Investment Act

Tim Walz was elected governor on the slogan of “One Minnesota.”  At a time when the country and 22 of the 87 counties in Minnesota–better than Clinton did in 2016, but still not a majority of the geography of the state.  Most of his votes came from the Metro region and in many parts of greater Minnesota he lost counties by way more than 30%.  Minnesota is still deeply divided, proof also residing in the only state in the country with split partisan control of its legislature. 
Minnesota are deeply divided, such a message produced the first double-digit for a gubernatorial candidate since 1994.  Yet Walz still only won
The next challenge is putting words to action, formulating decisions in a way that unites the state, and developing policies that address needs not just of the constituencies who voted for Walz and Democrats, but everyone.  A starting step would be to enact a state version of a bill Congressman Tim Walz introduced into Congress this year--The “Small Town and Regional Vitality Act of 2018” (H.R. 6383).
In the spring 2018 I was teaching Urban Politics at Hamline University and I wanted my students to get engaged in real policy work and outside the classroom activities to enhance their learning.  Planning and economic development are passions of mine.  I used to be a city director of code enforcement, zoning, and planning, worked as a housing and economic planner, have assisted local governments with comprehensive plans and economic planning, and taught economic development at the graduate level at Hamline and the Humphrey School.  I contacted colleagues at the Minnesota Chapter of the American Planning Association to find projects for my students.
One of the projects involved an organization working with Tim Walz’s office.  Walz was doing some community engagement work with his constituents to find out their needs and concerns.  I had a chance to meet with Josh Syrjamaki, Chief of Staff for Walz.  In one of our conversations about the economic challenges that rural America and Minnesota faced I argued that one of the glaring failures of national and state policy was that there was no economic development plan for rural area.  The result was that more and more people would be forced to leave rural areas, further burdening metro areas like the Twin Cities.  Josh asked me what I would do, and I suggested that Congress needed to pass a rural capital investment and fund that would give rural areas the resources they need to address local infrastructure needs.  It would provide 85% federal funds, 10% state, and 5% local matching.  It would tie funds to local economic development plans and community planning and engagement.  The bill would provide significant local discretion to make capital investments but require a real plan and community engagement to define these plans.  In many ways, the bill I suggested would combine the best features of the very successful Rural Electrification Act of te 1930s  and the community development programs of the 1970s.
Josh loved the idea and so did Walz.  The result was the drafting of The “Small Town and Regional Vitality Act of 2018” (H.R. 6383).  The Mankato Free Press endorsed it but unfortunately the bill went nowhere given the partisan atmosphere of a Washington election year.
As governor I hope Walz considers adoption of a state version of this bill.  A Minnesota Small Town and Regional Vitality Act of 2019 would be a first good step at creating a One Minnesota by investing in our rural areas.  But even more could be done in terms of developing a real economic and infrastructure development plan for Minnesota that reveals the linkages between the different parts of the state.  Such a plan would really show that Minnesota is one and that all of the parts are really connected to one another.