Governor Mark Dayton and Republicans, facing next Sunday’s deadline for the legislature to finish its business, remain far apart on a bonding bill for state public works projects. The House and Senate have each come forward with 825-million-dollar proposals, and Speaker Kurt Daudt discounts chances of that number going up. “I think the fact that our numbers match up is an indication to the public that that’s where we’re gonna be,” Daudt says.Governor Dayton has proposed a 1.5-billion-dollar bonding bill, saying even that is not enough to address critical needs. Republicans respond under their proposal the state would borrow a record amount over two years for public works projects.
Daudt says, “Hopefully Democrats aren’t gonna choose to defeat or take down a bill just because it isn’t twice the limit that we’ve done in a previous biennium.” But Republicans need Democratic votes to pass a bonding bill and will likely have to make concessions. Some G-O-P lawmakers are talking about tapping money in a trust fund for environment and natural resources projects that comes from State Lottery proceeds.
More in this interview: