Daily Digest: Bonding, stadium, schools and buffers

Good morning, and welcome to Thursday. Sources tell me time is getting short in the legislative session. Let's hurry up and check the Digest.

1. Dayton vetoes first bill of 2018. Gov. Mark Dayton on Wednesday vetoed an attempt by a bipartisan group of lawmakers to nullify the state’s wild rice sulfate standard. Dayton said in a letter that the bill “ensures ongoing litigation that will prolong, not relieve, the current regulatory uncertainties.” “The bill you have sent me is in direct conflict with federal law,” Dayton wrote, citing the Clean Water Act. Minnesota has had a sulfate discharge limit in waters where wild rice grows since 1978, but it’s rarely been enforced. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, at the Legislature’s direction, attempted to revise the rule using updated science, but an administrative law judge rejected the move. Lawmakers from the Iron Range introduced bills that would get rid of the longstanding standard while a longer-term solution is worked out, but Dayton said doing so would be going backward. (MPR News)

2. Senate Republicans release bonding bill plan. Minnesota Senate Republicans Wednesday released an $825 million borrowing proposal for public construction projects. The Senate bonding bill matches the size of the House Republican plan announced last week. But there are differences in the project mix. Both proposals are significantly smaller than the $1.5 billion plan that DFL Gov. Mark Dayton outlined back in January. Sen. Dave Senjem, R-Rochester, the chair of the Senate Capital Investment Committee, called it a balanced bill. “We put together a bill that will do the most good for Minnesota families,” Senjem said.  “There are a lot of important projects around the state, but our plan uses taxpayer dollars responsibly, on the most critical projects.” In addition to $825 million in general obligation bonds, the Senate plan uses $224.1 million in trunk highway bonds. In total, nearly a third of the Senate plan, or $343 million, goes toward roads and bridges.The proposal also includes $217 million for projects on college campuses and $120 million for drinking water and waste water infrastructure projects. The Senate also has $32 million for veterans homes in Bemidji, Montevideo and Preston. (MPR News)

3. Dayton goes to school to pitch spending plan. Gov. Mark Dayton took his pitch for emergency school aid from the halls of the State Capitol to Minnesota school hallways on Wednesday. From Rochester to Rosemount, the governor is touring the state’s schools to appeal to local legislators to pass his $137.9 million plan that would boost education funding before Minnesota school districts are forced this summer to lay off hundreds of teachers and draw down reserves. “This is an emergency,” Dayton said outside Parkview Elementary School in Lakeville, part of the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District, which has a $12 million budget deficit this year. “The effects of that are going to be just devastating on the children ... there’s no going back to third-grade or fifth-grade; if the resource isn’t there, they miss out. This couldn’t be more important.” But no bill has been introduced in the Legislature, which has less than two weeks before it adjourns. And Senate Republicans said Wednesday in a statement to the media that districts already received new money less than a year ago. (Star Tribune)

4. House GOP wants to use stadium money for veterans homes. In a Minnesota popularity contest, the Vikings and the state's military veterans would each be hard to top. So, what happens when their interests collide? We're about to find out. Lawmakers are poised to fulfill a goal of veterans groups by authorizing three new 70-bed care centers in greater Minnesota. But a House Republican plan relies on money from a Vikings stadium reserve account with a healthy balance. Rep. Bob Dettmer, R-Forest Lake, says the veterans homes have been on the drawing board for too long. "The Vikings have a home. Now it's time to make sure we have homes for our veterans," Dettmer said. The reserve account is fed by corporate taxes and tax revenue from pulltab gambling, including the electronic pulltab games that were a flop early on but have lately become popular. Projections show the balance climbing above $100 million within the next few years. Gov. Mark Dayton has said repeatedly he won't allow what he sees as a raid on the stadium fund. Dayton is pushing back on the notion he's trying to scuttle the veterans homes. "Because I don't support taking the stadium reserve fund I don't support the new veterans homes? That's just absolutely untruthful," he said. The Vikings don't like the House plan either.  (MPR News)

5. Farmers want compensation for buffers. A coalition of 15 Minnesota farm organizations called on Gov. Mark Dayton and legislative leaders to approve property-tax credits for farmland that is taken out of production to meet the requirements of the state's buffer law. A strongly worded letter sent Wednesday said farmers have done their part to comply with the 2015 law and that they are "highly frustrated with the lack of action" to compensate them for converting valuable cropland to protect waterways. "Let us be absolutely clear," the letter said. "Anything other than final passage of the buffer property tax credit this year with your signature will be considered a failure and this WILL be a major issue in the elections this fall." The letter was addressed to Dayton and copied to House Speaker Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, and Minority Leader Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, and to Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-Nisswa, and Minority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook. It was signed by the Minnesota Corn Growers Association, the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association, the Minnesota Milk Producers Association, the Minnesota Farm Bureau and groups representing other crops and livestock operations. (Star Tribune)

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