Bonding bill heads to floor

A bill containing $13 million for flood mitigation is headed to the House floor.

The $247.6 million omnibus capital investment bill, HF855, sponsored by Rep. Alice Hausman (DFL-St. Paul), would provide $55 million for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, $29.5 million for the Department of Transportation and $23 million for the University of Minnesota. Of the total, $200 million would be general obligation bonding.

Hausman, chairwoman of the House Capital Investment Finance Division, said she focused on projects that would help get people to work right away.

“I would have preferred a much larger bill,” she said during a March 31 division hearing, but added that the state’s budget problems prompted a restraint in borrowing.

Rep. Morrie Lanning (R-Moorhead) said the nearly $13 million for flood mitigation is inadequate, adding that he and other members representing the Red River Valley would be bringing a recovery bill forward in the near future to deal with current flood damage.

“I don’t begin to think we have the money to fund the floods going on right now,” Hausman said.

During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on the bill April 1, Rep. Kent Eken (DFL-Twin Valley) successfully amended the bill to include the city of St. Vincent, which is located on the Red River, for flood hazard mitigation grants.

The bill would also provide:

• $24 million for the Department of Human Services, including $20 million for an expansion of the sex offender program in Moose Lake;

• $5 million to the Department of Corrections for asset preservation;

• $4 million to the Housing Finance Agency for public housing; and

• $3.6 million to the Department of Military Affairs for asset preservation.

The Senate’s $329 million omnibus capital investment bill, SF781, sponsored by Sen. Keith Langseth (DFL-Glyndon), was passed 56-8 on March 16. A conference committee is expected to work out the differences.