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Politics and Government News
Dana Ferguson
St. Paul

Minn. lawmakers pitch $1.9 billion capital investment plan

Signs marking road construction zones
A sign warns drivers of road construction in St. Paul in April 2022. A proposed bonding bill would include road projects, updates to local wastewater treatment centers, college and university buildings, public housing rehabilitation and more.
Andrew Krueger | MPR News 2022

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The chairs of the capital investment committees in the Minnesota Legislature on Monday unveiled a roughly $1.9 billion plan to fund state and local construction projects.

Rep. Fue Lee, DFL-Minneapolis, chairs the House Capital Investment Committee and introduced the bill. Under the proposal, the state would borrow about $1.5 billion and put up around $400 million to fund projects around the state.

The move comes after lawmakers failed to pass a borrowing bill in 2022 to fund projects around the state. And Lee said he hoped that this year’s bill could pass through both the House and Senate early next month.

“This pace is because we have left so many of these projects undone. So it’s important for us to get this done first so we can set ourselves up for the 2023 and 2024 bill,” Lee said. 

The proposed funding would cover preservation and replacement projects on several Minnesota college and university campuses, road work around the state, updates to local wastewater treatment centers, public housing rehabilitation and more.

Lee said that many of the projects included in the bill were part of a bonding proposal that was put together but ultimately abandoned last year. 

The measure is set to come up for consideration in a Senate committee on Tuesday and members of the public can testify on the bill during a House Capital Investment Committee hearing on Wednesday.

The top Republican on the House committee referenced private negotiations he has been involved with on the bill and the inclusion of a pot of money that could be used toward projects GOP members favor. Rep. Dean Urdahl, R-Grove City, didn’t explicitly endorse the bill or promise his members would go along, however.

That matters because it will take at least 11 Republican votes in the House if all 70 DFLers back the bill. General obligation debt requires a three-fifths majority to pass, meaning Republicans will also be crucial in the Senate, where DFLers have a 34-33 edge.

Last month Gov. Tim Walz proposed $3.3 billion worth of construction projects, funded by a mix of bond sales and cash from Minnesota’s massive budget surplus.