Minnesota flag redesign commission approves final report

By KSTP

New Minnesota flag design officially submitted to the state legislature

The Minnesota State Emblems Redesign Commission met one last time on Wednesday morning to approve its final report, which must be sent to state lawmakers and Gov. Tim Walz by Jan. 1.

The commission approved the flag design last week after sorting through more than 2,500 submissions.

Unless the Minnesota Legislature blocks it, the design will officially become the Minnesota flag on Statehood Day on May 11.

The commission also selected the design for a new state seal earlier this month.

Wednesday’s agenda included reviewing and approving the final report and discussing the next steps.

The commission met for two hours before approving the design.

Secretary of State Steve Simon commended the efforts made by the committee, which worked in conjunction with the Minnesota Historical Society.

“In the end, we came up with, really, two strong, meaningful enduring new emblems, and we did it in a pretty short time period,” Simon said. “I was one, I’ll admit, who expressed, at the very beginning, some skepticism about whether or not we could get this done within the very short timetable we had. But fortunately, that wasn’t a concern.”

Some spoke out against the new design, including Minnesota State Sen. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa, a non-voting member of the committee who said he plans to file a minority report on the shortcomings of the flag selection process.

“A number of us don’t believe the public was listened to,” Drazowski said. “We put out listening devices and then didn’t follow that input, and didn’t have a process that was long enough in order to fully do so.”