Governor seeks more than $20 million for Capitol security upgrades

State officials are seeking more than $20 million to improve safety and limit security weaknesses in the complex of office buildings surrounding the State Capitol.

The Department of Administration on Tuesday presented Gov. Mark Dayton’s 2016 recommendation for Capitol Complex security upgrades to the House Capital Investment Committee. The proposal seeks $26.2 million — $18.5 million in bonding proceeds and $7.7 million in General Fund dollars.

The funds would be used to pay for security enhancements called for in a 2013 report by the Advisory Committee for Capitol Area Security that studied potential threats to the Capitol Complex and vulnerabilities that could be exploited in a potential attack.

“It really is a question of do we take steps or not take steps to mitigate what we can” and reduce safety vulnerabilities, said Matt Massman, Department of Administration commissioner, which manages the Capitol Complex.

Proposed upgrades would include:

• installation of traffic bollards in front of buildings;
• projectile-resistant glass in some areas;
• additional security card readers;
• security kiosks;
• additional utility protections;
• parking controls;
• additional emergency call stations;
• secure air intakes; and
• window well protections

The funding would not be used to make security improvements in the Capitol building itself. Massman said those are being completed as part of the ongoing renovation project.

The committee has not yet released its 2016 bonding bill, but fiscal targets that House Republicans released earlier this month indicate a potential bill in the neighborhood of $600 million. That’s far smaller than plans put forward by Senate DFLers and Dayton; those proposals each total around $1.4 billion in bonding projects.