As the Dayton administration again says “no” to House Republicans on tapping the Vikings Stadium Reserve Fund to pay for three new veterans homes in Greater Minnesota (Bemidji, Montevideo and Preston), Senate Republicans have included those projects in their bonding bill. That’s part of what the governor suggested, but his budget chief Myron Frans says 30-plus million dollars is not enough to ensure the vets homes will be built under federal grant requirements and falls far short of the needed state match. Senate Capital Investment Committee Chairman, Rochester Republican Dave Senjem responds the 32 million dollars in his bill, “We’re believing that puts us in the queue with the federal government. They have to make decisions about either one or all of those — maybe one, two or three.”
Bemidji, Montevideo and Preston are in contention with under two weeks remaining in the legislative session. BW at the Cap.)