ST. PAUL – Rep. Dale Lueck, R-Aitkin, expressed disappointment following Thursday’s news a special session to to re-pass the vetoed tax reform bill and address a transportation/bonding bill. Gov. Mark Dayton refused to agree to a special session unless funding for Southwest Light Rail was included.
“I am disappointed that Gov. Dayton has decided not call us to St. Paul to correct the one-word error and repass the tax reform bill he vetoed and also pass the comprehensive transportation/bonding bill that was torpedoed with the last-minute demand for state taxpayers to fund the Southwest Light Rail project,” Lueck said. “I’m a glass-half-full guy. The excess revenue remains unspent for tax reform, transportation and bonding, it will still be there in January of 2017 when we go back into session to do the next two-year state budget.
“Unfortunately because the governor would not set the Southwest Light Rail project aside, Minnesotans will have to wait until next year for the half a billion dollars in middle-class tax relief, $700 million in road and bridge funding. The rail project did not clear any of the House and Senate committees for a vote on either floor during the 2016 session. It’s a troubled project subject to multiple lawsuits, a judge earlier this month ordered a jury trial that is expected to begin in September 2017. ”
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