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Legislative News and Views - Rep. John Lesch (DFL)

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RELEASE: ‘Unbalanced’ House GOP bonding bill fails to pass; lacked important St. Paul projects

Thursday, May 19, 2016

St. Paul, Minn. – Today the Minnesota House considered its public works bonding bill. Not having received a three-fifths supermajority vote as required by the state constitution, it failed to pass.

“The bill brought forth today highlights the hyper partisanship the GOP majority caucus has displayed all session,” Rep. John Lesch (DFL – St. Paul) said. “They’ve had upwards of 10 weeks to come to the table and seriously work with us to pass a bill truly taking care of statewide needs. Instead, they waited until Wednesday night to even release their draft; I hope they aren’t surprised it went down today.”

Despite many opportunities to work with House Democrats to craft a bill that could pass on a bipartisan basis, the bill was put together behind closed doors with no DFL input. The top priority for the city of St. Paul, the Kellogg/3rd St. bridge reconstruction, was left out of the bill. Also left out were requests from the Como Zoo, Roy Wilkins Auditorium, and the Dorothy Day Center, among others. Other areas funded inadequately include higher education institutions, safety upgrades at rail crossings, and significantly, no appropriation for housing.

Rep. Lesch, who chairs the St. Paul Legislative Delegation, didn’t see today’s events as promising for an orderly and productive end to the session.

“The bill skipped over many priorities of the City of St. Paul and elsewhere in the state in favor of politically motivated goodies for GOP members,” Rep. Lesch continued. “Minnesotans are counting on us to get things done; I hope we can change course quickly and pass a bill including priorities all across the state.”