Just ahead: Big votes on MN gas tax hike

02/19/2008

DFLers like their chances despite a Pawlenty veto threat; they'll need Republican help.


By MIKE KASZUBA and KEVIN DUCHSCHERE,
Star Tribune
Last update: February 18, 2008


Six months after the Interstate 35W bridge collapse, state legislators are headed for a political showdown starting Thursday that will determine whether Minnesota makes a major shift in transportation funding, including the first gasoline tax hike in 20 years.

DFL architects of a $7.8 billion plan that includes tax increases to fund transit, roads and bridges are exhibiting a renewed swagger regarding their chances, but also apprehension that success may again elude them. On Monday, the bill's authors dropped a divisive component known as indexing -- which would tie the gas tax to inflation increases -- to try to gain enough Republican votes to override a likely governor's veto.

GOP leaders, meanwhile, said the bill was politically doomed, and Gov. Tim Pawlenty said DFLers were trying to sidestep him because they "believe I'm irrelevant to the discussion."

Whatever the outcome, the drama has the potential to shape the three-month legislative session. DFLers, who control both Houses but probably will need Republican votes to adopt the bill, warn that there will only be one chance to pass the bill when floor debate starts Thursday in both the House and Senate.

Former DFL House Speaker Robert Vanasek, who presided when Minnesota passed its last gas tax increase in the late 1980s, predicts that not nearly enough Republicans will oppose the plan to keep it from ultimately passing. Vanasek, now a lobbyist, warned, however, that should the bill fail, that "kind of poisons the whole rest of the session."

What the bill does

As it now stands, the transportation plan would raise the gas tax by 5 cents a gallon by mid-September and add as much as another 3.5 cents until the costs of issuing bonds for transportation projects are paid.

In another key provision, license tab fees on many cars and trucks, particularly luxury vehicles, would increase.

The proposal also would levy a half-cent sales tax in the seven-county Twin Cities metro area, with most of the money going toward transit, roads and bridges. The move would not require a referendum. Counties outside the immediate metro area could also join in levying the tax, but they could later opt out.

The metro sales tax would be apart from a proposed three-eights-cent increase in the state sales tax to fund outdoors, the environment and the arts. That proposal will be put before voters in November.

"Who's keeping track of [all] the sales tax, sales tax, sales tax, sales tax increases?" asked House Minority Leader Marty Seifert, R-Marshall.

One indication of the DFL's renewed confidence came last week, when Senate Transportation Chairman Steve Murphy was asked about the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce's balking at the size of the plan's half-cent metro sales tax hike. The chamber, one of the state's most influential business organizations, has indicated it would be agreeable to a smaller levy.

"They're Johnny-come-latelys," said Murphy, DFL-Red Wing. "They've protected the governor on this a long, long time."

Overplayed their hand?

Rep. Dean Simpson, R-Perham, an assistant House minority leader, said the confrontation will show that the DFL has overplayed its hand. "It's destined for a veto, [and then] I think it's destined to die a very non-pretty death" by failing to gain enough votes for an override.

With or without the backing of some of the biggest lobbying groups -- and with or without Pawlenty -- House and Senate DFLers and their supporters believe a major overhaul of transportation spending is at hand.

And though the 35W bridge collapse is rarely mentioned, it looms over the discussions as proponents try to convince legislators that the timing is right after years of impasse.

Supporters said the transportation plan would create 33,000 jobs a year -- a figure Republicans say is inflated -- and issue enough bonds to provide $600 million in the first two years to repair or replace the state's worst bridges.

The proposal also would provide money to hire 40 state troopers, give $18.1 million to the Minnesota Department of Transportation to fix its headquarters and stop requiring Hennepin County to help pay the operating costs of the Hiawatha Corridor, the state's first light rail line.

Privately, some lobbyists say that DFLers have packed the proposal with too many wish-list items. But others point to the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, which said it will support a quarter-cent hike to the metro sales tax, as an example of how some of Minnesota's more conservative institutions now recognize the need for a big step regarding transportation spending.

"We do need to make some progress on transportation," said Erin Sexton, the group's director of transportation policy. A chamber report acknowledges that "growing congestion in the Twin Cities" and the "declining transportation system" is hurting business.

Momentum may swing

Despite Pawlenty's opposition, DFLers and even some Republicans said momentum at the Capitol may be swinging the other way, even as polls show voters resistant to tax increases. "We know the governor's put himself in a box," said Sen. Tarryl Clark, DFL-St. Cloud, the assistant majority leader, who said DFLers have requested to talk to Pawlenty before the floor votes.

Rep. Ron Erhardt, R-Edina, said House Republicans will be divided between remaining loyal to Republican leaders and answering voters, who want more money for transportation. "I'm sure there are people -- legislators -- that are under great pressure from their communities," he said. "Does the governor win, or do the constituents win?"

Override may be a win-win

One scenario that may be gaining credence, he said, is a situation where the Legislature would override a governor's veto of the transportation bill, allowing Pawlenty to keep his no-new-taxes pledge and yet have transportation funding increase. "Everybody gets what they want," he said.

"We need a billion [dollars] a year, so it's not outlandish," he said of the DFL transportation bill.