Gov. Pawlenty uses veto pen

By Judy Erickson, Government Relations Director

Presented with a bill that totaled $999 million in general obligation bonding, Gov. Tim Pawlenty used his line-item authority to drop the total to $680 million. Gov. Pawlenty signed a capital investment bill on March 15 that was smaller than his initial request.
 As noted in the bonding bill article, $21.4 million in state trail acquisition and development was included in the line-item vetoes.

"Reducing the bill to this level reflects my commitment to fiscal discipline and an attempt to prioritize important state projects," he wrote in his veto letter.
 Pawlenty repeatedly said he wouldn’t sign a bill in excess of $725 million in general obligation bonding. 


Rep. Alice Hausman (DFL-St. Paul) and Sen. Keith Langseth (DFL-Glyndon), sponsors of HF2700/SF2360 said the reduction will mean about 7,000 fewer jobs would be created.


"(This is) clearly a very muddled message about his priorities, certainly no vision for a Minnesota that takes us to a better place in terms of educating our workforce and rebuilding our economy." Rep. Hausman said at a press conference.


Among the areas hit hardest by Pawlenty's veto is the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, which saw more than $130 million in reductions for 16 projects. "Fully funding all of these requests would reduce consideration of other worthy state projects in order to achieve a reasonably sized bill," Pawlenty wrote.


Rep. Hausman noted that MnSCU has three times as many students as the University of Minnesota, but gets less in the law.


Sen. Langseth said the projects will get built eventually, but at a higher cost. He lamented that Minnesota has lost an opportunity because interest rates are favorable now and construction bids are lower. 


Other items vetoed by Gov. Pawlenty, include $53 million for civic center projects in Mankato, Rochester and St. Cloud; $43.5 million for the Transit Capital Improvement Program; $25 million for the Reinvest In Minnesota (RIM) reserve program; $4.5 million for Scientific and Natural Area (SNA) acquisition and $2 million for the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. However, $47.5 million for an expansion of the sex offender program at Moose Lake remains, as does $21 million for zoos and $16 million each for Orchestra Hall and the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts.


Neither Rep. Hausman nor Sen. Langseth expect a veto override attempt, nor do they expect a second bill to be put together.