2014 legislative session winding down: Water project plan provides way to end session

ST. PAUL - Rewriting two major bills to fund a water project for dry southwestern Minnesota appears to have broken a legislative logjam.
Finding a way to pay for the Lewis and Clark water system opens the possibility that the 2014 Legislature could end as early as today.
The late Thursday afternoon deal would pay Lewis and Clark $22 million in cash and allow local officials to sell bonds to fund the remaining $45 million of project costs. Local governments would repay a third of the bonds over 20 years, with the state paying the other two-thirds, Senate Taxes Chairman Rod Skoe, D-Clearbrook, said.
“We are stepping up,” said House Taxes Chairwoman Ann Lenczewski, D-Bloomington. “The state is going to pay 85 percent of the whole thing.”
Minnesota is getting involved because the federal government backed off a promise to pay for the system, which is to bring water from near the Missouri River in South Dakota. Federal funds dried up when the project reached the Minnesota-South Dakota line.
“The federal government really has dropped the ball here,” said Rep. Paul Torkelson, R-Hanska, adding that lack of water is hampering economic growth throughout southwestern Minnesota.
The issue has become the biggest problem to writing a public works funding bill, the main job of lawmakers this year.
The solution was to remove the system from the state bonding bill and instead pay to get water to Luverne from the state budget surplus. The rest of the project is being funded by provisions in a tax bill.
That required juggling other provisions, including reducing Local Government Aid increases House and Senate tax negotiators had planned to send to cities.
“There still is quite an increase in LGA,” Lenczewski said.
The Lewis and Clark solution was coming together late Thursday afternoon and evening, and House leaders hoped for a vote later in the night or early today as they push for adjournment.
The bonding and cash public works bills would spend more than $1 billion on projects ranging from college building repairs to developing Vermillion State Park to funding flood prevention programs.
Word spread in the Capitol that the Legislature could adjourn today, although many said the weekend was a better bet. The state constitution requires lawmakers to cast their final votes of the year no later than Sunday, although they may meet Monday and not take votes.
Throughout Thursday, lawmakers met off and on. They took up what were considered mostly minor issues and have several smaller bills left to consider along with bonding, cash spending, taxes and a budget adjustment.
One of the items included in the budget bill is $20 million for broadband high-speed Internet expansion.
Gov. Mark Dayton and rural lawmakers praised the inclusion.
“Border-to-border access to reliable cellphone and high-speed Internet coverage will be essential to Minnesota’s continued economic growth,” Dayton said. “These new investments in broadband infrastructure will help move our state closer to that important goal.”
A health and human services bill the House passed 93-35, with the Senate expected to follow suit, includes a provision that limits youths’ access to electronic cigarettes. It does not ban their use in all public places, as a Senate bill did, but gives local governments the authority to do that. They also could not be used on government-owned buildings.
E-cigarettes, which use water vapor but not tobacco, would not be allowed in schools and other locations children often visit.
The bill also prohibits minors from using tanning beds.
Also on Thursday, a legislative committee struck an agreement that would force the state lottery to discontinue sales of online instant scratch-off tickets as well as sales at gasoline pumps and ATMs by November.
The deal House and Senate negotiators made would leave in place the online sales of lotto-style games like Powerball that the lottery has offered since 2010.
The bill now heads for votes in both chambers.
Lottery Executive Director Ed Van Petten said he would recommend that the governor veto it, arguing the lottery needs an online presence to remain viable into the future with young players.
Lawmakers have objected to the lottery venturing into online gaming without legislative authorization, particularly the implementation in February of the scratch-off games. Some have expressed concerns that those games’ instant-win nature make them potentially more addictive than draw-type games like Powerball, where players enter their numbers and find out later if they’ve won.
The spotlight for much of the past few days was on public works projects, especially Lewis and Clark.
Rep. Rod Hamilton, R-Mountain Lake, said that while the Lewis and Clark provisions would provide full funding for the water system, southwest Minnesota leaders will continue to pressure federal officials to pay what they promised.
Among provisions that tax negotiators would give Nobles and Rock county officials, as well as Luverne and Worthington, is the ability to raise taxes without a public referendum to fund local water system costs. Sales taxes up to a half percent could be added, and an existing Worthington sales tax could be extended. They also could raise property taxes.
Doug Belden of the St. Paul Pioneer Press contributed to this story. The Pioneer Press is a Forum News Service media partner.