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I was honored to speak at this year’s National Deaf Rally at the Capitol in St. Paul. Thanks to those who attended!
Dear Neighbors,
Early this week, the Senate released details of its bonding proposal. In total, they are proposing a $1.5 billion bonding bill that, if passed would be the largest ever in state history.
Historically, every two years the state legislature passes a bonding bill that calls for the state to issue bonds to help pay for the construction and upkeep of public buildings and other infrastructure. In selling these bonds, the state is taking on debt which it then makes payments on each biennium. Each biennium, the state pays $1.5 billion on debt from previous bonding bills.
The average size of a bonding bill is around $800 million. Given this, the Senate’s proposal is nearly double that of an average proposal.
Bonding bills are usually filled with renovation or construction needs for public college and university campuses, safety upgrades to hospitals or prisons, sewer or other water infrastructure fixes, road and bridge repairs, transit, parks, trails, airports or public buildings like civic centers.
The House’s proposal calls for a $600 million bonding bill this year. Given the gap between the Senate and House’s proposals, I would expect the final bill to be somewhere in the middle. This is even more evident as the Senate’s proposal failed to pass yesterday—falling a single vote short of the needed 3/5ths super majority needed for passage.
Before we turn to borrowing priorities, I hope to settle the spending of existing resources on roads and bridges and tax relief.
Staying in Touch
As always, please do not hesitate to contact me if you have a questions regarding this piece of legislation or any other matter before the legislature. I can be reached by phone at 651-296-8237 or via email at rep.brian.daniels@house.mn.
Have a great weekend,
Brian