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Minnesota House of Representatives

State Representative Denny McNamara

359 State Office BuildingState Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-3135

For more information contact: Jason Wenisch 651-296-2317

Posted: 2006-03-27 00:00:00
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NEWS COLUMN

NEWS AND VIEWS FROM DENNY MCNAMARA

Hello from the Capitol!

Legislation continues to move forward here at a rapid pace, as many policy issues are being acted on in House committees during this non-budget legislative session. I have some really exciting news about preserving some terrific land in Dakota County for public use. You may have heard I was extremely busy working on that issue most of last
week. In simple terms, the State of Minnesota and the University of Minnesota would make a trade of sorts: the State would help the University build a football stadium, and in return the U of M would give the State 2,840 acres of environmentally-sensitive land located in Empire Township.

The land being discussed is the UMore Park property near Rosemount. Under the agreement, the state would preserve the land for public use with the DNR managing it as a Wildlife Management Area. The University would continue to do environmental and natural resource research on the land. The U of M would use the proceeds from the sale for debt services for a new football stadium. The idea came about from a conversation between myself and Joe Duggan of Pheasants Forever. I was pleased to help incorporate the plan into the Gopher Stadium proposal. A lot of us have been trying to figure out ways to save this land, but Joe was the first to tie it with the stadium, and I appreciate his efforts.

Here's the way I look at it: the odds of Minnesota helping construct a U of M football stadium this session were better than 50-50. By agreeing to spend another $25 million, Minnesota is able to preserve a terrific environmental area whose value is estimated at $50-$100 million, but to me the area is priceless. This way, the State actually receives something for its contribution, while the University receives the football stadium it had been seeking. With this new stipulation, the bill now has strong bipartisan, bicameral support, and I expect we'll be debating the bill on the House floor in the next few weeks.

In other news, the Minnesota Senate approved its version of the bonding bill this week.
The $990 million package is $145 million more than Governor Pawlenty proposed, but it ignored several projects that are important to me and under-funded some others, like the Carlson School of Management. As Vice-Chair of the House Capital Investment Committee, rest assured that I will be working hard to see these included in the House version of the bonding bill. At this time, I expect our bill to be ready by Easter.

Thanks to all of you who responded to my survey. I thought I'd share a few preliminary numbers with you today. According to the surveys received so far, 74% of you think Minnesotans should provide photo ID before voting, 81% favor legislation requiring school districts to spend 70% of state funding in the classroom, and 72% of you support the Twins ballpark proposal that would be paid for with increased sales taxes in only Hennepin County. There's still plenty of time to send in your survey, so I encourage you to do so. And if you need a copy, please call my office at 651-296-3135.

Good news for the Hastings Veterans Home! The Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded it more than $10.5 million to make renovations. Congratulations!

Have a great week!

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