Senate OKs bill for new U research labs

05/12/2006

It allows school to bypass bonding process

BY BILL SALISBURY
Pioneer Press

Minutes before voting to construct a University of Minnesota football stadium, the state Senate on Tuesday approved a bill authorizing the university to invest $330 million in five new bioscience research laboratories over the next 10 years.

The labs would give Minnesota’s economy a huge boost, said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Richard Cohen, DFL-St. Paul. They would attract top bioscience researchers from around the world to produce medical and scientific breakthroughs that would save lives and bring new jobs and businesses.

The legislation, passed on a 51-15 vote, calls for creation of a Biomedical Sciences Research Authority that could borrow $330 million by selling state general obligation bonds to finance the construction and furnishing of the labs. That would cover 90 percent of the cost, with the university paying 10 percent. The authority could finance construction of one new building every two years.

No senator opposed the labs, but several questioned the wisdom of allowing the university to bypass the Legislature’s bonding process, which would require the school to return to the Capitol every two years to ask for funding for each facility. The $330 million commitment could reduce the money available for other projects, and the research authority would assume some of the Legislature’s power to set construction priorities.

“Our current bonding process is inadequate and too slow” to make the long-term commitment needed to build the labs on a 10-year schedule, said Sen. Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul.

Cohen said the state must make the investment to compete with other states that already have launched big scientific research programs.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty supports the lab project. A companion bill is pending in the House, but some leaders there oppose the idea of giving the university special treatment in setting construction priorities.