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Capitol View®
Tim Pugmire

Dayton wants bonding cap rescinded

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DFL Gov. Mark Dayton made it clear today that he wants to see a bigger bonding bill than the one House Democrats rolled out this week.

The House plan combines $850 million in bonding and $125 million in cash from the budget surplus. But it leaves out some of the key projects Dayton wants.

Dayton proposed a $986 million bonding measure in January to fund the construction of various public works projects.

The governor told reporters he was concerned that the House provided just $20 million of the $126 million needed to complete the state Capitol renovation. He also wants a $7 million upgrade of the sex offender treatment facility in St. Peter, Minn.

"I have tried for three years now in my bonding proposals to get funding for a significant upgrade for St. Peter, the security hospital and the sex offender program," Dayton said. "Both are really decrepit and the Legislature has refused to support either one of those for the last three years."

Dayton also questioned the proposed use of cash by both House and Senate Democrats to augment bonding this session.

“Putting cash into a bonding bill is antithetical to the purpose of the enterprise,” he said.

He suggested instead that DFL and Republican legislative leaders rescind their agreement to keep the two-year bonding total at or below $1 billion. This year’s $850 million bonding target is the result of lawmakers passing a $156 million measure last session.

Dayton said the state has the capacity to do more bonding.

“It’s an impossible task to try to meet all those needs, and many of them are urgent needs and should be funding,” he said.

One of the Republicans who made that bonding agreement was keeping an open mind about Dayton’s suggestion. Senate Minority Leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, said he’s willing to talk about it.

“There are some things that our members would like to see happen, and maybe this would be an opportunity to see if we can reach a compromise,” Hann said.

Senate Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, said he’s willing to discuss the bonding cap too, but doesn't expect it will change. Bakk said the Senate will probably put an additional $40 million in cash toward public construction projects.

“Our bonding bill with cash will look larger than the House bill,” Bakk said.

Senate Democrats are planning to unveil their bonding and cash proposal later this month.