Bonding Bill Math
How far apart are DFL legislators and the governor on the bonding bill? Let's look at some of the public statements both sides have made and get out our pencils.
Start with the projects the governor says he wants added to the bill:
Expansion of the Moose Lake sex offender facility-- $89 million
Security improvements at Oak Park Heights prison-- $10 million
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Minneapolis Veterans home improvements-- $9.4 million
For a total of -------------------------------------- $108.4 Million
Add that to the approximately $1 billion dollar bill passed by the House and Senate and you get $1.108 billion in total spending requests.
From that, subtract the projects the governor wants out of the bill:
The Potter Center for the Arts -- $5 million
Minneapolis Sculpture Garden -- $2 million
Theodore Wirth winter sports improvements -- $1 millon
Local civic centers-- $63 million
Princeton public safety building -- $2.8 million
For a total of approximately------------------------- $74 million
That leaves a total bonding package of $1.034 billion, or about $34 million more than the current bill.
In comparison the governor's total bonding proposal was $685 million, but he has indicated that he could go as high as about $725 million.
That would leave it to lawmakers to cut about $309 million dollars in projects that have already been voted on by the Legislature.
And here are the most important numbers of all: 81 and 41.
Those are the number of votes it takes to pass a bonding bill in the House and in the Senate. The question is: would there be that many votes for a bill that has $309 million less in construction projects than the one that has already passed?