 Last fall, many new faces were elected to the Minnesota State Legislature. Today, our Josh Peterson sat down with two freshman representatives from the Bemidji area and got their thoughts on how their first session went. It was a year of many changes at Minnesota's Capitol, beginning with the high influx of newly elected freshman representatives that had high hopes for a successful first year. Now that the session is complete, many of the representatives have started to reflect on the 2017 session. I really enjoyed being there. It was very humbling and very honoring to be able to represent the people in my district. While the House took on key issues that often went head to head with Governor Mark Dayton, some House representatives were disappointed in the final outcome on some of the bills. For Representative Grossell, it was the removal of the Veterans Home. We had the funding for it. We had the commitment from the state for it, but the governor didn't want it at this time, but we're going to keep pushing on it until we get it through. Another project that was hoping to get the governor's signature this session was the funding for the replacement of Hague-Sauer Hall at Bemidji State University. Even though the funding fell through this year, Representative Matt Bliss has a plan to make it happen next session. We're going to do some bonding tours and I'm going to push to get them up into the building to see the physical condition of the building and the needs. And I think that'll go a long way. Another project that surfaced during the session was the ongoing discussion on the expansion of the Paul Bunyan Expressway. Representative Bliss had a bill in place but pulled it, so that the communities of Walker and Bemidji could work together. Bemidji is not going to agree with Walker and we just need to come up with a plan to how to move forward because we have to move forward. With the 2017 legislative session completed, preparations for the 2018 session have only just begun. Josh Peterson, Lakeland News. Now we reached out to Governor Dayton's office today for more information on the money for a Bemidji Veterans Home that was taken out of the budget bill. Dayton's press secretary Sam Fettig sent us this statement saying quote, once again legislators are wrongly trying to blame Governor Dayton for their failures. At the very end of the legislative session, they tossed $10 million into a budget bill for one new veterans home. They had made no responsible evaluation of the cost to build a new home, the cost to operate it or the possibility of federal funds. Fettig goes on to say that quote, in the final negotiations once they had made their political show for a new veterans home, they readily dropped the funding for it. Governor Dayton proposed the responsible course of action to make a comprehensive assessment of the project's total cost before the next legislative session. His administration will make that analysis. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.