Governor Mark Dayton says he’s aiming for Friday to announce whether he’ll sign a bonding bill for public works projects that the legislature passed just before adjourning Sunday night. Dayton vetoed two other major bills Wednesday — a tax bill and a budget bill — and Senate Republican Majority Leader Paul Gazelka says he hopes the governor at least signs the bonding bill. Gazelka notes, “That has another 25 million dollars for safe schools.” An identical amount was in another bill which Dayton vetoed.
House Speaker Kurt Daudt has a different view of what Dayton will do on the bonding bill: “I’m gonna predict he vetoes that too, for no other reason than politics. But we’ll see what happens.”
Senate Democratic Minority Leader Tom Bakk, who brokered the bonding deal, predicts the governor will sign it, but says Dayton told him that there “probably would be some line-item vetoes potentially in the bonding bill.”