The Sixth Annual meeting of the international Legislators Forum was held in St. Paul, Minnesota from May 24 to May 26 with thirty legislators from North and South Dakota, Minnesota and Manitoba participating. This year's meeting saw a new emphasis on water-related issues, and the legislators also continued discussions on energy, rural health care practitioners, methamphetamine use and other cross-jurisdictional justice issues as well as concerns relating to upcoming cross-border identification requirements.

On water issues, legislators heard from two sets of panelists who described efforts at water appropriation and the potential for drought, particularly in the Red River Basin. A working group to develop potential joint solutions relative to water apportionment/appropriation has been formed by the Red River Basin Commission, and legislators of the Legislators Forum may hear from that group about potential solutions. Some questions about the continuing concerns surrounding Devils Lake arose as well, and legislators agreed that the U.S. federal government should provide funding for better filtration of Devils Lake water.

Relative to inter-jurisdictional justice issues, the legislators agreed that they needed to continue the growing cooperation across the international border on reduction and control of methamphetamine precursors, such as ephedrine and ammonia, and address together the 80% of methamphetamine that is coming into the region from such locations as Mexico and the Southwest US. They also agreed that steps taken by the four Attorneys General in their respective jurisdictions to coordinate tracking of sexual offenders and expand the cross-border use of Amber Alerts were necessary and positive steps. The four Attorneys General from the four jurisdictions presented to the legislators, then signed an agreement to work together on developing a multi-jurisdictional Amber Alert system.

Legislators also agreed that higher health care costs and lack of adequate reimbursement are threatening the financial viability of all of the health care systems as well as limiting access, especially in rural areas, to treatment options. They agreed that more emphasis needs to be placed on getting health care practitioners to work in rural areas. They agreed, too, that it was important to learn more about each others’ health systems so they could have discussions at subsequent meetings about whether and how to adopt the best features of the other jurisdictions’ health care systems and create greater efficiencies and economies of scale, especially in rural areas.

Regional efforts continue to enhance the production of renewable energy, energy from cleaner coal and hydrogen. The legislators again heard from the Powering the Plains Project and the Upper Midwest Hydrogen Initiative relative to these issues. Legislators also expressed their continuing frustration with the lack of transmission capacity to move energy produced in this region to areas of higher population.

Special guest speakers included Canadian Consul General in Minneapolis, Kim Butler; U.S. Consul in Winnipeg, Todd Schwartz; W.R. (Bill) Crosbie of the North American Bureau of Foreign Affairs Canada, and Minnesota Speaker of the House, Steve Sviggum.

South Dakota has agreed to host the Seventh Annual Forum in Pierre, and agreed that the hospitality shown by Minnesota and Manitoba over the last two years has raised the bar so high that it will take a significant effort on the part of South Dakota to match. Several of the jurisdictions have succeeded in obtaining legislative appropriations for future Forum meetings that will provide a base to ensure the continuation of the Legislators Forum.

For a complete report of the 2006 international Legislators Forum, please contact Shelly Dillinger at the Consensus Council at shelly@agree.org

The Consensus Council has facilitated and staffed this effort during all six annual meetings of the international Legislators Forum and, this year, had significant support from numerous employees of the Minnesota legislature and the Canadian Consulate in Minnesota, for which the Council is deeply grateful.