ST. PAUL -- The Minnesota Legislature cannot change a proposed constitutional amendment that many rural leaders fear will eat into their road construction funds, an assistant attorney general has ruled.
The opinion came this week, after a House attorney said the wording can be changed.
The conflicting opinions make an already controversial issue more so.
The proposed amendment, which will be on the Nov. 7 ballot for voters to decide, was passed last year. It dedicates all of the state's existing motor vehicle sales tax collections to transportation, guaranteeing at least 40 percent will go to transit needs.
The amendment's wording could allow transit to get much more than 40 percent. However, many legislators say they thought the proposed amendment's numbers were firm -- 60 percent of the funds to highway construction and 40 percent to transit.
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Rep. Morrie Lanning, R-Moorhead, said the "sliding scale" the amendment provides is not fair.
"When we put on an amendment to the Constitution, it is about as close as we can do to putting it in stone," Lanning told the House Transportation Finance Committee Thursday in arguing for a change in the amendment's wording.
A Lanning bill would put the firm 60-40 split in the Constitution.
Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Raschke Jr. put Lanning's proposal in question with a Wednesday opinion that the amendment's wording cannot be changed.
Committee Chairwoman Mary Liz Holberg, R-Lakeville, sought the opinion after receiving one from a House attorney that said the amendment can be changed.
Holberg said the new wrinkle leaves in doubt what the committee can do. Others said the conflicting opinions probably will lead to a lawsuit if the Legislature tries to make any changes. That would dump the issue into the court's hands, and there is no guarantee when a ruling would be made.
The chairwoman plans to talk to House leaders before her committee writes its transportation finance bill on Tuesday, but on Thursday she did not know what the committee will decide.
"I think this committee will be split half and half," Holberg said.
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Rep. Ron Abrams, R-Minnetonka, offered a proposal that he said would be allowed under Raschke's opinion. It would change what voters see on the Nov. 7 ballot, but leave the constitutional amendment wording alone.
