In a $850 million settlement of environmental claims by the state of Minnesota against 3M, private attorneys hired by the state will get $125 million, and the settlement fund is structured so as to evade the legislative appropriations power [Youssef Rddad, AP/St. Paul Pioneer Press]
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“State Rep. Sarah Anderson, R-Plymouth, said she shares other lawmakers’ concerns that the settlement money “we have left isn’t consumed by bureaucracy and it actually goes out to people in the east metro who’ve been impacted by this.”
How many members of the legislature reside in the east metro area? Or are they thinking of moving there?
Bob
Considering that it’s a water contamination case, directing it towards a particular geographical area makes sense – people halfway across the state didn’t have their water contaminated.
The Minnesota constitution says: “No money shall be paid out of the treasury of this state except in pursuance of an appropriation by law.” If the settlement is somehow being structured to avoid this (I guess they’re paying money to a fund that isn’t part of “the treasury” even though “a clean water fund and a sustainable drinking water account” are part of the treasury) then it’s violating the spirit of the constitution, if not the letter.
$125 million for the attorneys is ridiculous, by the way. Yes, it was an 8 year lawsuit on the verge of trial, but that’s still way too much. Did they have a hundred attorneys working on this full-time for the full 8 years, each pulling down $156,250 per year? That’s what it would take to get to that number.