There’s still no deal on a $1.8 billion public construction bill in the Minnesota Legislature.
Days after Gov. Tim Walz predicted he and Republican lawmakers would negotiate a compromise to pass his “local jobs and projects plan,” also known as the bonding bill, House GOP Minority Leader Kurt Daudt of Crown said Monday he and his fellow Republicans would not vote for the measure. It was shot down in the House early Tuesday, the 75-57 vote failing to reach the three-fifths majority needed for passage.
Daudt announced his position as lawmakers returned to the Capitol to resume the second special session of the summer. They had taken a break from floor sessions last week as Walz, a Democrat, and legislative leaders tried to cut deals behind closed doors.
House Republicans had said they would not vote for a bonding bill unless Walz agreed to rescind at least some of the emergency powers he has used to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. Daudt said he and the governor had been talking “almost daily” in recent weeks about a power-sharing agreement, and while they were close to a deal, the negotiations broke off abruptly Sunday.
“Rep. Daudt certainly has a right to dispute the governor’s emergency powers, but it doesn’t make any sense for him to stand in the way of job creation and the improvement of our communities,” said House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park.
Walz had to call the special session to give lawmakers a chance to repeal his emergency rule-making authority. The Republican-controlled Senate voted last week to cancel those powers, but the House DFL majority blocked that move.
The special session gave lawmakers another chance to pass a bonding, which traditionally is their main task in even-numbered years. Walz and the leaders of the House and Senate majority parties agreed to the $1.8 billion construction package last week, but a bonding bill requires a three-fifths supermajority in both chambers to pass, and that means it would need at least seven votes from House Republicans.
While the bill currently is stalled, Daudt held out hope that lawmakers could pass one in another special session in August, which Walz would have to call to extend his emergency powers for another 30 days.
The GOP leader said House Republicans still want a “robust bonding bill… We remain hopeful that we can continue to have conversations and get an agreement.”
But Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake, said time is running out for the construction projects. “If a bonding bill doesn’t happen today, it’s not going to happen,” he told reporters.
That would result in at least a one-year delay for plans to repair and upgrade roads, bridges and other transpiration projects, sewer and water systems, college labs and classrooms, prisons, National Guard armories and flood-mitigation projects, among other public facilities.
