This session the Legislature passed a bonding bill with only technical modifications. Since this is a budget year, if a bonding bill did pass it traditionally would be smaller in scope and size. Larger bills are usually completed during the second year of the biennium.
During late summer through the beginning of the winter, the Senate Capital Investment Committee will be traveling the state examining projects to consider funding. These trips are valuable because it gives legislators a chance to see projects as well as ask questions of applicants.
Proposals for general obligation bonds come from state agencies, local units of government, Minnesota State, and the University of Minnesota. The projects can include core infrastructure projects (water, roads, bridges, building maintenance and repair) to new medical training facilities for the colleges. In the previous biennium, there was over $5 billion in requests and approximately ¼of these projects were funded in the bill signed into law. (HF 52)
