Dear Neighbor,
As I write this, sitting on the House floor this Friday afternoon, we are close to wrapping up the session.
A marathon meeting that ended at 3 a.m. today took us a long way to reaching the finish line. The main item of business was a bonding bill that had been the subject of much speculation and negotiation in recent days. An agreement going back to last year capped the size of the bonding bill at roughly $850 million, but a separate, related bill spent another $200 million in cash on other bonding projects.
A water project in southwest Minnesota, known as the Lewis and Clark Project, garnered most of the attention during negotiations because of the need for increased water supplies in that part of the state and the lack of promised federal funding. The project, which also provides water for the states of South Dakota and Iowa, had literally stopped at the Minnesota border because the funding from Washington had stopped flowing. The project will now receive $22 million in state bonding dollars to get work started again. Local cities and counties affected by the project will also be allowed to levy for additional local funding.
I voted in favor of the actual bonding legislation because it contained funding for roads and bridges in Greater Minnesota. It also contained $1.4 million to help the city of Alexandria with the demolition of its old high school building. I did not vote for the cash bill, which included funding for several projects that I feel were not necessary, such as money for the revitalization of the Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis.
Two main bills remain to be worked on yet today before we adjourn. They include the second tax bill of the session, in addition to a supplemental omnibus budget bill. Both of these pieces of legislation would spent or refund part of the projected state surplus. I will have more information for you on what transpired during the session in future updates and also in my newspaper column.
Thanks for the privilege of serving the residents of District 12B. I’ll be back soon.
Sincerely,
Paul