Dayton signs bonding bill

On Friday afternoon, Gov. Mark Dayton signed the $496 million Omnibus Bonding Bill (HF 1752) passed by the House and Senate earlier this week.

The relatively modest bonding proposal was developed after Gov. Dayton rejected a smaller package passed earlier this year. The governor supported a $775 million bonding proposal, but ultimately agreed to support a scaled back version.

“I’ve just signed the bonding bill. It’s not as much as I had hoped for, but [...] I signed the bill, and most of them are good and important projects, ones that will benefit the people of Minnesota, and benefit the institutions where they are going, and most importantly, will put thousands of people throughout Minnesota to work, which was the number one priority of this legislative session,” Dayton said in an announcement on Friday.

Highlights of the bill include $64 million to the University of Minnesota, $132 million for MnSCU, $44 million for renovations to the State Capitol, $30 million for flood mitigation, and a several millions more for local roads and bridges.

The bill also grants the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development $50 million for local economic development projects that were not included in the bill.

Last year, the Legislature passed a nearly $500 million bonding bill as part of the compromise to end the record long state government shutdown.  

A full list of the projects can be viewed on the House of Representatives website: http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/fiscal/files/bond12_2.pdf.