Omnibus jobs and energy bill heads to governor after House, Senate passage

(UPDATED WITH SENATE VOTE TOTAL)

The House voted 78-47 to pass the omnibus jobs and energy bill, HF3 – the first bill to be considered during Friday’s special session. The bill then moved to the Senate with Sen. David Tomassoni (DFL-Chisholm) as the sponsor. It was passed 50-14. It now moves to the governor for action.

Sponsored by Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington), the bill would appropriate more than $509 million during the upcoming biennium. Garofalo said HF3 “is remarkably similar” to legislation passed by the House on the last day of the regular session.

“There are very few changes from the bill that was passed,” Garofalo said. “Ninety to 95 percent of the bill is the same.”

Garofalo said HF3 also spends $24 million less than was budgeted during the previous biennium.

In his May 23 veto letter, Gov. Mark Dayton said the original bill did not adequately fund a number of state agencies, including the Department of Commerce, where he outlined a dozen examples of how the legislation falls short in terms of funding.

HF3 would include an additional $18.15 million in direct appropriations from the General Fund, and its supporters say the bill addresses many of the governor’s objections by putting new funding in places he has concerns about.

However, Rep. Tim Mahoney (DFL-St. Paul) said that while HF3 is now better than when the governor vetoed it, the bill still represents a missed opportunity for Greater Minnesota and economic development around the state.

“This is the jobless jobs bill,” Mahoney said. “This is not a good bill, this is not something to celebrate. It’s got a lot of problems.”

Rep. Erik Simonson (DFL-Duluth) said people in rural Minnesota are worried because the necessary investments are not being made in their future.

“Quite frankly, people are disappointed and you left a billion dollars on the bottom line and didn’t invest in Minnesota’s future,” Simonson said. “We missed an opportunity here.”