But spending plan's $1 billion price tag is higher than Pawlenty's request
March 24, 2006
Bill Salisbury
Pioneer Press
The Minnesota Senate on Thursday voted to launch a $1 billion state construction program this spring.
That money would pay for the first of five medical biosciences buildings the University of Minnesota wants to construct over the next 10 years, and it would add scores of new classrooms, laboratories and libraries at public colleges across the state.
The bonding bill also would fund dozens of park and trail improvements, forest and wildlife area enhancements and flood-control projects. It would expand some prisons and a state hospital lockup for sexual predators.
It gives a green light to the Northstar commuter rail line from Minneapolis to Big Lake and to continued planning for a light-rail line in the Central Corridor between downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis.
But some of those projects may be trimmed back in the next few weeks.
The Senate bill, which seeks to borrow $990 million to finance capital improvements, is $145 million richer than Gov. Tim Pawlenty's request for building projects, and the Republican-controlled House is almost certain to demand a lower price tag.
House Capital Investment Committee Chairman Dan Dorman, R-Albert Lea, predicted the final bonding bill would be "somewhere in the $925 million of $950 million range." He said the House would pass its version before Easter.
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