ST. PAUL -- A bill that would authorize funding for a Worthington biosciences training and testing facility has met with approval in Minnesota Senate and House committees.
District 22B Rep. Rod Hamilton, R-Mountain Lake, is sponsoring the bill in the House, which would result in the Worthington Regional Economic Development Corp. (WREDC) securing $2 million for an agriculture-based training center. District 22 Sen. Jim Vickerman, DFL-Tracy, is sponsoring the legislation in the Senate.
"Two years ago, we worked extremely hard to secure funding for the bioscience park in the Worthington area," said Hamilton on Tuesday, recalling that about $2.5 million was provided. "This would simply build on that proposal."
New funding resulting from legislation authored by Hamilton and Vickerman would be specifically for providing training and testing for incubator firms developing new agricultural processes and products. A $1 million grant from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) was sought by the City of Worthington in November on behalf of WREDC, but that request wasn't funded.
Hamilton testified on behalf of the bill Tuesday before the House's Biosciences and Emerging Technology Committee.
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"I talked about the importance of developing a high-quality work force, and how this bill would help not only grow existing businesses but attract new businesses to the region," Hamilton said. "I talked about how the effort is a collaboration between WREDC, Minnesota West and the private sector, and how they're all working together."
Hamilton said the bill passed out of the bioscience committee Tuesday and will now be considered by the House Finance Committee, after which Hamilton said he would push for the bill to go before the House floor. He added that Glenn Thuringer, WREDC's manager, and Prairie Holdings Group CEO and Chairman Wayne Freese were also present Tuesday.
Under tentative plans detailed by Thuringer last month, one-third of the planned 22,000-square-foot facility -- which would utilize the spec building in Worthington's bioscience park -- would be available to a regional entity to establish a testing center with laboratories, classrooms and offices. The remaining two-thirds, he said, would be available for an emerging company that would complement the use of the bioscience park.
In the Senate, Vickerman said the legislation was passed Monday in the Economic Development Budget Division of the Finance Committee, and the veteran legislator said his job now is to make sure the legislation stays intact within that division.
"I'm very confident I can get the money -- otherwise, I wouldn't have put it in there," Vickerman said. "The selling point is that there's a group effort, they're working with the college, and they're training those lab technicians, but they're not going to work for minimum wage. They've got a good salary range."
Vickerman added the $2 million in funding would come in a one-time apportionment that would be available for spending until it's gone.
Preliminary plans for the testing and training facility include two classrooms (one 2,000 square feet, the other 1,500), five office suites of 225 square feet each, a 330-square-foot reception area, a 300-square-foot conference room, a 275-square-foot work room, three incubator spaces of 5,000 square feet each, and two restrooms of 130 square feet each. The facility would be potentially owned by the Joint Powers Board, which is composed of representatives of the City of Worthington and Nobles County.
