Political Party

Rochester airport to get $1.4 million

U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, DFL-Mankato, announced this afternoon that Rochester International Airport will get more than $1.4 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The grant money will be used to rehabilitate taxiways at the airport.

Two other southern Minnesota airports are also expecting a federal cash infusion. Albert Lea Municipal Airport will get more than $2.1 million and Fillmore County Airport in Preston will get $195,000. The Albert Lea airport plans to use the money for the construction of a runway and the Fillmore County airport will use it for a new hangar building.

In a news release, Walz said these grants will mean more jobs for southern Minnesota.

"These projects are great news for Fillmore County, Albert Lea and Rochester," Walz said. "Regional airports in southern Minnesota are a critical economic development tool and these projects will expand jobs and future economic opportunity."

Green Pipes survives governor's veto pen

Gov. Tim Pawlenty slashed more than $85 million worth of projects out of the bonding bill late Saturday, but an Olmsted County project was spared.

It looks like the county will still get $5 million to build a 1.25 mile steam pipe that would run from the Olmsted County Waste-to-Energy facility to University Center Rochester campus. The project has been dubbed "Green Pipes." The hope is that it will dramatically cut the cost of heating and cooling the campus. The state money requires a 50/50 match from the county.

Another winner in the bonding bill is the St. Charles School District. The bill includes up to $242,000 in state aid to make up for students who may leave the district because of last month's devastating North Star Foods fire.

But there was some bad news for Rochester Community and Technical College. The governor vetoed $3.6 million for classroom renovations for Minnesota colleges and universities. RCTC had expected to receive some of that money.

Green pipes in, volleyball center out of bonding bill

The House and Senate today approved a $299 million capital works bill. Including in the bill is $5 million for Olmsted County's Green Pipes project. The project includes a 1.25 mile steam pipe that would run from the Olmsted County Waste-to-Energy Facility to the Rochester Community and Technical College.

But the National Volleyball Center in Rochester failed to make the cut yet again. Assistant House Majority Leader Andy Welti, DFL-Plainview, said lawmakers knew it would likely be an uphill battle this year to get the money for the project. He said it has been vetoed three times — once by former Gov. Jesse Ventura and twice by Gov. Tim Pawlenty. The Senate version of the bonding bill did include $4 million for the center's expansion.

The bill now heads to the governor, who had been seeking a bill with a smaller price tag. Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem, R-Rochester, said he expects the governor will likely use his line item veto on the bill.

Olmsted commissioners talk 'green pipes' and inmates

Olmsted County Commissioner met with area lawmakers this morning at the Capitol for an update on some of the county's legislative priorities.

One key area of concern is the county's quest to get $6 million for a steam line project from the Olmsted County Waste-to-Energy plant to Rochester Community and Technical College. Dubbed the "Green Pipes" project, the proposal would get $5 million from the state in the Senate bonding bill. But no such luck in the smaller House bonding bill — the Green Pipes project was left out.

So as a House and Senate conference committee meets to hash out differences, county officials were keen to learn whether the Green Pipes project would make the cut.

Sen. Ann Lynch, DFL-Rochester, who serves on the conference committee, said she is optimistic the project will get bonding money.

"The odds are good," Lynch told commissioners.

Meanwhile, county officials also voiced concern that a deal to have the state take back responsibility for housing short-term offenders may not happen. That would come after Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty voiced support for the state taking back these offenders to help cash-strapped counties faced with housing these offenders.

County administrator Dick Devlin told lawmakers that the Olmsted County jail was housing more than 180 offenders this weekend and capacity is 200 to 210. If the state fails to take back responsibility for housing short-term offenders, it means the county may have to start paying to house inmates elsewhere or consider building a new jail.

Rep. Tina Liebling, DFL-Rochester, said it is unclear what is going to happen with this issue. But if the legislature balks at the $8 million price tag for the state, then she said she will try and pitch a compromise floated by local officials. That plan would allow certain well-behaved inmates the chance to get out of prison early and counties would be responsible for probation of these inmates. In exchange, the state would take back responsibility for housing short-term offenders.

Rochester's 65th Street interchange gets big boost

Rochester's long-running battle to get an interchange built at 65th Street and U.S. 52 got a big boost on Thursday.

The Minnesota Senate approved an amendment to a transportation budget bill that would force the Minnesota Department of Transportation to issue the necessary permits for the project, provided there are no significant environmental impacts. Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem offered the amendment, which passed on a voice vote.

Senjem told fellow senators that MnDOT's refusal to issue these permits is preventing valuable projects from moving forward.

"On the east side of that (proposed) interchange, there are $168 million worth of commercial/residential projects ready to go, in the queue," Senjem said.

Sen. Ann Lynch, DFL-Rochester, said the project would create 2,500 construction jobs and between 2,000 to 3,000 permanent jobs.

The measure is still far from a done deal. It remains to be seen whether the interchange amendment will make it in to the compromise transportation budget bill that will be drafted by a House-Senate conference committee.

Swap school dollars for flood mitigation?

During a House floor debate on a $200 million capital works bill, Preston Rep. Greg Davids made a move geared towards getting more dollars for flood mitigation.

The local Republican proposed an amendment that would have taken funding from four MnSCU projects that vetoed by the governor last year and instead have put that money towards flood mitigation projects. That proposal comes as lawmakers are still discussing the serious aftermath of the recent floods in the Red River Valley.

Rep. Alice Hausman, DFL-St. Paul, argued against the amendment saying the House will likely pass another bill to aid flood victims. But it makes sense for the state to wait to see what federal flood dollars will be available.

Davids amendment won support from Austin Democratic lawmakers, Rep. Jeanne Poppe and Rep. Robin Brown. Austin is among the cities hoping to get some of the nearly $13 million in flood mitigation grants. The Senate public works bill has twice the flood mitigation dollars available.

Ultimately, Davids' amendment failed by a vote of 81-52.

Pawlenty to release updated budget

Gov. Tim Pawlenty is expected to release his updated budget proposal at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow. His budget is being adjusted to make sure Minnesota gets federal stimulus dollars that come with certain requirements  — especially in the health care area.

The budget also comes after February's updated budget forecast showed that the state's two-year budget deficit had climbed to $6.4 billion. But thanks to an infusion of $1.8 million in federal stimulus dollars, the deficit amount dropped to $4.57 billion.

Senate Democrats unveiled their budget proposal last week, which includes $2 billion in additional revenue and 7 percent across-the-board cuts to all ares of the budget. Most of the revenue increase would come from a tax hike on the state's wealthiest residents. Here's that story.

House Democrats are expected to release their own budget proposal soon.

A busy day for Roch lawmaker

Rochester Rep. Kim Norton will be making her pitch for four bills today in front of four different committees. The first bill up to bat would provide $6 million to build a steam pipeline from the Olmsted County Waste-to-Energy Facility to Rochester Community and Technical College. Fellow Democrat, Rochester Sen. Ann Lynch, presented the bill yesterday before a Senate committee looking at projects that would be ready to be built soon.

Next up is a bill that would allow public schools to start before Labor Day for the next two school years. It would also require a study to see if that change has an impact on the state's tourism industry. Minnesota resorts and the Minnesota State Fair have traditionally fought this bill, concerned that if schools starts early, it would mean less people traveling that weekend. Meanwhile, supporters argue it should be a local decision when schools start.

The third bill would modify nursing home requirements — including requiring that residents unable to move must have their position changed every two hours.

And finally, Norton will take her bill seeking to require insurance companies to pay for intensive Autism treatment before the House's Commerce and Labor Committee.

Better luck this year for brass band library?

Here is an excerpt from today's Political Notebook column. It appears area lawmakers are trying again to get funding for the Chatfield Brass Band Music Lending Library — despite the harsh criticism the project got last year.

Republican Rep. Greg Davids of Preston and Democratic Sen. Sharon Erickson Ropes of Winona are sponsoring bills that fund a new community center in Chatfield to house the Chatfield Brass Band Music Lending Library.

Last legislative session, the library garnered some unwanted attention from Pawlenty. Pawlenty vetoed the $400,000 project and said the DFL legislative leaders' decision to fund the sheet-music library while refusing to fund a veterans home in Minneapolis reflected their "misplaced priorities."

Supporters say the volunteer-run library has built an international reputation, collecting hard-to-find sheet music from throughout the world.

Under these bills, funding for the library is part of $1 million being sought to fund historical societies in flood-damaged regions. That money would go to the Minnesota Historical Society for grants to renovate Hokah City Hall, renovate and expand the Houston County Historical Center and build the Chatfield community center.