House members vote overwhelmingly to pass supplemental Legacy funding bill

After adding provisions related to the ongoing reconstruction of the State Office Building on the Capitol Complex, the House overwhelmingly passed a $239.4 million legacy funds supplemental budget bill.

Sponsored by Rep. Leon Lillie (DFL-North St. Paul), HF4124, as amended, now also includes $100,000 in fiscal year 2025 to preserve historic features of the building, including stone carvings of gophers on the main stairwell railing, and $25,000 for the Minnesota Historical Society to research and prepare a report on recent archeological findings at the construction site.

The building’s footprint is being expanded and the existing structure modernized. It was recently reported that construction was briefly halted while archeology consultants inspected the site after butchered animal bones, glass, ceramics, and household objects — believed to be from a neighborhood garbage dump — were discovered.

Passed 118-13 Tuesday, the bill now goes to the Senate.

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Lillie successfully offered an amendment that would do two things.

It would require that an alternative entity be identified if the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission declines to serve as the fiscal agent for Phase 7 of the Knife River habitat rehabilitation project. The bill would appropriate $1.57 million to this project.

Second, the amendment would add requirements to a $275,000 grant in fiscal year 2025 for the relocation of the USS Ward Number Three gun and World War II display. Under the amendment, the grant to the Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum at Camp Riley could also be used for site reclamation and improvements.

Used to fire the first shot by Americans at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the gun currently sits near the Veterans Service Building on the Capitol Complex.