A bill now awaiting a vote in the Minnesota House would extend through April 2019 the current moratorium that prohibits MN-DOT from enforcing ditch mowing and haying regulations along state highways. Rural lawmakers want more time for public input, and Hopkins Representative Cheryl Youakim is urging her colleagues to examine the issue of liability. “They are operating in the right-of-way of the state and that’s state taxpayer dollars if there is an injury that has to be paid out to. So I encourage you to keep looking at that,” Youakim says.
Bill sponsor Chris Swedzinski from Ghent indicates there haven’t been any incidents. Youakim responds just because something has not happened, doesn’t mean it won’t.