ST. PAUL - Gov. Tim Pawlenty promised to veto a $1.2 billion public works bill passed by the Legislature, but the Legislature decided not to send it to him.
In a move House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, called "somewhat extraordinary," she said lawmakers would exercise rules that allow them to return the bill to the Senate for an unknown period of time as a "cooling off period."
She called on the governor to provide specific projects and funding amounts he wants inserted and removed from the current bill and called on him to actively negotiate an agreeable alternative.
"Our intention is to put Minnesotans back to work with this bill," she said.
"To be able to accomplish this we need to be able to get that done as soon as possible," Kelliher said. "But we need some specific information from the governor as well."
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Pawlenty had planned have a news conference this afternoon to officially announce that he would vetoe the bill. He has argued for a $685 million bill with several items the Legislature left out of its version, especially $89 million to expand a Moose Lake sex offender treatment center.
Tellijohn reports for Forum Communications Co.
