Riding the Central Corridor rail

published 5/9/2008

The clock is ticking on $450 million in federal money for the Central Corridor light rail line, and the chairwoman of the House Capital Investment Finance Committee said the loss would be unacceptable.

Earlier this session, a $70 million appropriation for the project was line-item vetoed out of the omnibus capital investment law. Rep. Alice Hausman (DFL-St. Paul) is proposing a supplemental bonding bill, specific to the project as a means of leveraging the federal funds in hopes of meeting the September application deadline.

She said it is zero hour, and that funding for the corridor should not be used in a game of political chicken to resolve the ongoing deficit budget negotiations. “It is unacceptable to think of turning our back on hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding if we don’t get this done this session,” Hausman said.

So far this session, more than $766 million in bonding has been allocated. The law came in at approximately $717 million in general obligation bonding, after the governor sliced $208 million from the plan receiving legislative approval, including the $70 million for the Central Corridor project. More than $60 million has been allocated for transportation projects through another law.

“If the governor would accept the proposal, the total bonding amount for 2008 would still be under the governor’s stated threshold of $885 million,” leaving room, she said, for other projects he might want to consider.

- Lee Ann Schutz