ST. PAUL -- Legislators don't agree whether Minnesota voters will support constitutionally dedicated funding for the outdoors if given the opportunity to vote on the issue in November.
But apprehension over a possible statewide ballot initiative in might be premature as the proposal is having difficulty making it through the Legislature.
Lawmakers in the House on Tuesday grappled with a bill asking voters whether the state constitution should be amended to dedicate sales tax revenue to conservation programs, water cleanup efforts, parks and trails projects and the arts. The question would appear on the Nov. 7 ballot.
Rep. Tom Hackbarth, had authored a bill asking voters whether one-eighth of one percent of existing sales tax revenue should be set aside just for conservation uses.
As Hackbarth's bill went through committees, it was changed considerably. The amount of dedicated funds was increased to three-eighths of one percent of the 6.5-percent statewide sales tax, and the bill was expanded to include the money for water cleanup and arts and cultural institutions.
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Hackbarth told the House Rules Committee that he opposes the three-eighths proposal because he said it's too broad and voters won't support it. Still, he urged the panel to advance the bill.
"I'm not going to give up the ship in the middle of the stream," the Cedar Republican said.
The three-eighths version passed 19-4 after House Republican leaders failed to gather enough votes to trim the proposal back to Hackbarth's initial plan. A visibly frustrated House Speaker Steve Sviggum said he had expected the committee to approve the more streamlined approach. Two Republicans joined 10 DFLers to oppose the amendment.
Sviggum voted against advancing the bill because he said it's become "enlarged" and the original intent has been lost amid a flurry of efforts to expand the proposal.
"The bill gets so heavy it dies under its own weight," Sviggum, R-Kenyon, predicted.
The proposal Hackbarth wants approved and put before voters would direct about $90 million toward conservation projects beginning in 2009. Dedicating three-eighths of one percent of the current sales tax would generate at least $276 million.
While House members haggle over their outdoors amendment proposal, the Senate already passed its bill.
Authored by Sen. Dallas Sams, the Senate's proposal, if approved by voters, would dedicate money from a sales tax increase to natural resources programs, water cleanup efforts, parks and trails development and arts and cultural institutions. That plan would raise the tax by three-eighths of one percent.
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Sams, DFL-Staples, has said a tax increase is needed because using funding from existing revenue would mean it must be taken from other uses, such as education or health care.
