GOP unveils bonding proposal

04/06/2006

Construction plan tops governor’s

BY BILL SALISBURY
Pioneer Press

The University of Minnesota could construct the first of five planned biosciences buildings on its Minneapolis campus, and preliminary work would continue on the state’s first commuter-rail line and a light-rail transit line in the Central Corridor between St. Paul and Minneapolis under a surprisingly generous state construction program unveiled by House Republican leaders Tuesday.

The House proposal called for funding $999.9 million in construction projects across the state. To pay for them, the state would borrow $949 million, and state colleges and universities would finance the balance with student fees.

The plan represents the largest bonding bill constructed by the House since Republicans took control in 1999. It calls for borrowing $40 million less than the bill passed by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor-controlled Senate, but it’s $138 million more than Gov. Tim Pawlenty proposed in his capital budget.

That surprised Pawlenty, who usually works closely with House Republican leaders on budget issues.

“I’m somewhat taken aback by the overall size of the House bill,” he said.

While he said he would “work with the Legislature on a bipartisan basis to get things done” on the bonding bill, he hinted that he would pressure lawmakers to hold down the cost.

“Somebody has to be the adult and make sure we don’t start digging another hole when we just dug ourselves out of one in the form of a large financial crisis,” he said.

Despite the big price tag, House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, predicted the bill would pass with a lopsided, bipartisan majority. Rep. Alice Hausman of St. Paul, the lead DFLer on the House Capital Investment Committee, agreed, saying, “The House bill will be met with a love fest.”

It got a loving reception during its first stop at the House Capital Investment Committee, where it passed on a unanimous voice vote just hours after it was introduced.

The committee chairman, Rep. Dan Dorman, R-Albert Lea, said he planned to bring his bill to the House floor for a vote next Wednesday. Then House and Senate negotiators would craft a final version after the Legislature’s Easter-Passover recess.

Senate Capital Investment Committee Chairman Keith Langseth, DFL-Glyndon, said the House and Senate bills are similar in many respects, and the two sides should be able to resolve their differences with little difficulty.

“It sets the stage for a very well-balanced, responsible product,” he said.

For several years, the Republican-run House has been stingier in its bonding bills than the DFL-controlled Senate. But in this election year, members in both houses appear eager to bring popular construction projects back to their districts.

The House leaders split sharply from Pawlenty by recommending $40 million for the University of Minnesota’s medical biosciences building, which would provide new laboratories for research into infectious diseases and biohazardous substances.

Pawlenty had requested $4.3 million for that project, while the Senate approved the full $40 million. The university would contribute an additional $20 million for the building.

Pawlenty is willing to compromise on that project.

“That is something we want to work out,” he said. “I want to help the university move forward with their bioscience initiative, whether it shows up in the bonding bill or a separate authority” that could borrow money to build all five buildings over 10 years.

The House also recommended giving the university the full $26.6 million it requested to expand the Carlson School of Management. The Senate cut that allocation in half, but Langseth has said that’s a negotiable item.

Unlike previous years, when the House has balked at funding rail transit projects, this year’s bill allocates $50 million for the Northstar commuter-rail line from Minneapolis to Big Lake and $2.5 million to continue planning a Central Corridor transit system — either light-rail or a busway — between downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis.

The House was a “little greener than the Senate,” Dorman said, because its bill provides more money for water cleanup efforts and wastewater treatment and drinking water projects.

Like the Senate, the House bill provided funding for prison expansions at Stillwater and Shakopee. It granted just $3 million of the $28 million Pawlenty requested to expand the Faribault prison. Both bills allocate $41 million for a new sex offender treatment center at Moose Lake.

“We love zoos,” Dorman said, and his bill provides $10 million for St. Paul’s Como Zoo, $9 million for the Minnesota Zoo and $1 million for zoos in Duluth and Little Falls.

In addition to the zoo money, St. Paul would get $1 million to help convert downtown’s Union Depot into a transit center and $2.5 million for its Great River Park. But the city got none of the $12 million it requested for its No. 1 priority, renovating the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts.

Dorman said St. Paul city official’s only argument for the Ordway was that since Minneapolis had previously gotten state funding for theaters, it was their turn.

“It seemed that at the end of the day I heard, ‘That gol’ darn Minneapolis, they got the Guthrie, so we need an arts project,’ “ he said.